Best Solo Mining Pool in 2026: CKPool vs Public Pool vs AtlasPool

What Is a Solo Mining Pool?

A solo mining pool is not a pool in the traditional sense. It does not split rewards among participants. Instead, it provides stratum infrastructure so individual miners can compete for the full block reward (currently 3.125 BTC plus transaction fees) without running their own Bitcoin node. This process is often referred to as lottery mining.

If your miner finds a valid block, the entire reward goes directly to your Bitcoin address, minus a small service fee (in some cases). If it does not find a block, you receive nothing. This is pure lottery mining. According to Hashrate Index, Bitcoin’s network hashrate exceeded 1,024 EH/s with a difficulty if 144.4T in early 2026, meaning a miner running 6 TH/s faces roughly a 1-in-170-million chance per block attempt.

Despite those odds, solo miners found 22 verified blocks in 2025, per tracking data compiled by Bennet’s solo mining tracker.

How We Evaluated Each Solo Mining Pool

This comparison focuses on three dedicated Bitcoin solo mining pools: Solo CKPool, Public Pool, and AtlasPool. We evaluated each across seven categories that matter most to home miners running open-source hardware like the Bitaxe or NerdAxe.

• Fee structure: What percentage is deducted if you find a block?
• Open-source status: Can you audit the code and verify the pool pays to your address?
• Server locations: How many endpoints, and does geographic proximity reduce rejected shares?
• Self-hosting option: Can you run the pool software on your own hardware?
• Track record: How many solo blocks have been found through the service?
• Registration requirements: Is the pool anonymous?
• Minimum hashrate: Can low-hashrate devices like a Bitaxe Gamma connect?

Solo CKPool, Public Pool, and AtlasPool: Side-by-Side Comparison

What Is Solo CKPool?

Solo CKPool is the longest-running solo mining service for Bitcoin. Created by Dr. Con Kolivas (also the creator of cgminer) and operational since August 2014, it provides stratum work coordination so miners can compete independently for the full block reward.

Solo CKPool explicitly states it is “NOT a pool despite its name.” There is no reward splitting. Each miner’s hashrate competes independently, and if a connected miner finds a valid block, the coinbase transaction pays that miner’s address directly, minus a 2% service fee.

As of early 2026, Solo CKPool has facilitated 299 solo block finds totaling 5,553 BTC in rewards since its creation, per mempool.space statistics. Blocks mined through Solo CKPool are tagged with “/solo.ckpool.org/” in the coinbase transaction. Approximately 20,950 users contribute around 1-2 EH/s of combined hashrate, according to CryptoSlate reporting. The service runs on ckpool software, which is open source under the GPLv3 license. The official source code is hosted on Bitbucket (ckpool-solo).

Server locations: Solo CKPool operates four endpoints: a primary US server (solo.ckpool.org:3333), a European server in Germany (eusolo.ckpool.org:3333), and an Australian server (ausolo.ckpool.org:3333). High-difficulty/rental ports are available at :4334.

Notable block wins via CKPool: The first-ever Bitaxe solo block find occurred on CKPool when a miner using a Bitaxe Supra at ~480 GH/s found block #887,212 on March 10, 2025, earning 3.125 BTC (~$258,000). A Solo Satoshi customer running six Bitaxe Gamma 602 units at ~6.6 TH/s found block #924,569 on November 21, 2025, earning 3.083 BTC (~$310,000) at a best-ever difficulty of 221.39 T.

Best for: Miners who want the most proven, battle-tested solo mining infrastructure with the largest user base and longest track record. CKPool’s 2% fee is the trade-off for a decade of reliable operation.

What Is Public Pool?

Public Pool is an open-source Bitcoin solo mining ecosystem created by Benjamin Wilson, a prominent contributor to the Open Source Miners United (OSMU) community and the Bitaxe project. It offers two distinct operating modes: a hosted service at web.public-pool.io with zero fees, and self-hostable software that miners can run on their own hardware for complete sovereignty.

The hosted version charges no fees. If you find a block, you keep 100% of the reward. The project sustains itself through affiliate partnerships with hardware vendors. When miners purchase equipment using the referral codes. Half the affiliate earnings fund operations, and the other half goes to miners who submit the highest difficulty shares each month.

The full codebase is available on GitHub (benjamin-wilson/public-pool) under the MIT license, written in NestJS and TypeScript. This makes Public Pool the most accessible self-hosting option for solo miners. It installs with one click on Umbrel and Start9 platforms, connecting directly to your own Bitcoin node.

Server locations: The hosted version runs on a single US-based server (public-pool.io:21496 or :3333, TLS on port 4333). Self-hosted instances run wherever your hardware lives, connecting to your own Bitcoin node for block template construction.

Notable block wins via Public Pool: All four blocks found on Public Pool to date have come from self-hosted instances, not the hosted service at web.public-pool.io. The coinbase tags on mempool.space confirm “Public Pool on Umbrel” for each block. The most recent, block #937,218, was found on February 18, 2026, earning 3.14 BTC. A Solo Satoshi customer running a NerdQaxe++ Rev 6 cluster at ~6 TH/s found block #920,440 on October 23, 2025, using a self-hosted Public Pool instance on Umbrel. The miner earned 3.141 BTC (~$347,000) and used the proceeds to pay off his home. This remains the largest confirmed open-source home miner payout.

All four Public Pool blocks (per mempool.space):
Block #937,218 (Feb 18, 2026): 3.14 BTC, 3,817 TXs
Block #928,985 (Dec 22, 2025): 3.13 BTC, 1,135 TXs
Block #920,440 (Oct 23, 2025): 3.14 BTC, 2,181 TXs
Block #888,989 (Mar 22, 2025): 3.15 BTC, 2,532 TXs

Best for: Miners who prioritize sovereignty, zero fees, and the ability to self-host. The self-hosted option on Start9 or Umbrel represents the highest level of decentralization achievable in Bitcoin mining today.

What Is AtlasPool?

AtlasPool is the newest entrant in the solo mining space, launched in November, 2025. it is operated by Matt Weinberg, a long-time networking and critical internet infrastructure specialist. AtlasPool takes a unique approach into its global deployment by making the service available through a technology called BGP Anycast, which allows an address (solo.atlaspool.io) to be announced through 100+ Points of Presences (POPs) worldwide. A miner routes through the closest POP and then connects to one of eight servers worldwide. Anycast greatly reduces latency and improves availability (uptime) of the service. In November, 2025, Matt made some waves in the solo mining community when he found and published definitive proof of three scam pools. That research contributed to the new scam pool detection in AxeOS v2.13.0.

AtlasPool charges a 1.5% fee on any block found, landing between CKPool’s 2% and Public Pool’s 0%.  98.5% of transaction fees from the block go to the miner, per AtlasPool’s terms of service. The 1.5% applies only to the block subsidy.

Under the hood, AtlasPool runs instances of the open-source ckpool stratum server at each endpoint, paired with well-connected local Bitcoin nodes. While the backend uses open-source software, AtlasPool’s user interface itself is not open source. You cannot self-host it or audit its full infrastructure code. The team does publish open-source tools on GitHub (atlaspool/atlaspool_tools), including a stratum speed test script for comparing latency across solo mining pools.

Server locations: AtlasPool operates eight endpoints announced from 100+ points of presence worldwide: Ashburn, VA (US), Portland, OR (US), São Paulo (Brazil), Frankfurt (Germany), London (UK), Hong Kong, Mumbai (India), and Sydney (Australia). This is the widest geographic distribution of any solo mining pool in 2026. Users are automatically routed to the closest server based on their geographic region while using the same common stratum server name (solo.atlaspool.io). High-difficulty ports are available at :4334.

Block wins via AtlasPool: AtlasPool has not yet had a confirmed block find as of early 2026. As a newer pool (launched late 2025), its track record is still developing. The pool’s infrastructure is built on battle-tested ckpool software, but no blocks have been solved through the service yet.

Minimum hashrate: AtlasPool sets a minimum difficulty of 2,000, requiring a minimum of approximately 400 GH/s to connect. Devices like the Bitaxe Supra (650 GH/s) and above work fine. Lower-hashrate devices like NerdMiners will not register.

Best for: Miners anywhere who want the lowest possible latency and highest uptime through automatic geographic routing, reduced rejected shares, and professional-grade infrastructure. The 400 GH/s minimum means AtlasPool is designed for modern solo mining devices, not display-only devices.

What Is TLS Encryption and Why Does It Matter for Solo Mining?

TLS (Transport Layer Security) is an encryption protocol that secures data transmitted between two systems. It is the same technology that protects online banking, email, and any website displaying “https” in the URL. When applied to mining, TLS encrypts the stratum connection between your miner and the pool server.

Without TLS, stratum traffic travels in plaintext, meaning your ISP or anyone monitoring your network can see your Bitcoin address, worker names, and mining activity. For miners who value privacy, TLS is an important consideration.

• Public Pool supports TLS on port 4333 for its hosted service and on self-hosted instances where the operator configures it.
• AtlasPool supports TLS on port 4333 across all global endpoints.
• Solo CKPool does not currently offer TLS on any of its four endpoints. All connections use plaintext stratum+tcp on port 3333. This means mining activity is visible to network observers.

For home miners on a trusted private network, plaintext stratum is generally low risk. But for miners connecting over public Wi-Fi, shared networks, or in jurisdictions where mining activity may attract unwanted attention, TLS support is a meaningful security and privacy advantage.

How Do Fees Compare Across Solo Mining Pools?

Fees only apply when you find a block, but they matter. At the current block subsidy of 3.125 BTC (worth approximately $290,000+ in early 2026), the fee difference between pools is significant.

Public Pool’s zero-fee model saves approximately $5,800 compared to CKPool if you find a block. AtlasPool’s 1.5% fee sits in the middle, saving roughly $1,450 over CKPool while still funding global infrastructure.

Which Solo Mining Pool Has the Best Open-Source Credentials?

Open-source software lets miners verify that the pool actually pays block rewards to their address, not to the operator. This matters in solo mining where a single block could be worth $300,000+.

Public Pool leads in this category. The entire codebase (server and web app) is available on GitHub under the MIT license. It was built from scratch by Benjamin Wilson using NestJS and TypeScript. Anyone can fork it, audit it, or deploy it. The Umbrel and Start9 service stores offer one-click installation, making self-hosting accessible to non-developers. Per the home server setup process, self-hosted Public Pool connects directly to your own Bitcoin node for block template construction.

Solo CKPool is built on ckpool, which is open source under the GPLv3 license with source code on Bitbucket. Dr. Con Kolivas has maintained the codebase since 2014. Self-hosting ckpool traditionally required compiling from source on Linux, but the Bassin app on Umbrel now provides one-click CKPool deployment comparable to Public Pool’s ease of use.

AtlasPool uses ckpool as its stratum backend but is not itself open source. You cannot audit the full infrastructure, self-host your own instance, or verify the routing logic. The team does publish a stratum speed test tool and a pool address verification tool on GitHub, both under the GPL-3.0 license.

How Does Server Location Affect Solo Mining?

Latency (the time it takes your miner to communicate with the pool server) directly affects rejected shares. Rejected shares are wasted work: your miner performed work that no longer counts because a new block was already found. Lower latency means fewer rejected shares and more of your hashrate going toward productive work.

According to AtlasPool’s rejected share analysis, even a 1% rejection rate wastes 3.7 days of mining per year. The goal is to keep rejections under 0.5%.

AtlasPool has the clear advantage here with eight globally distributed endpoints and BGP Anycast routing. Miners in Australia, South America, or Asia who previously dealt with 200+ ms latency to US-based pools can now connect to a nearby endpoint automatically. You can test latency from your own location to all three pools using the stratum_test.py script (python required) available on GitHub

Solo CKPool offers three manual endpoint choices: US (solo.ckpool.org), EU/Germany (eusolo.ckpool.org), and Australia (ausolo.ckpool.org). Miners must manually select the closest server. This covers most major regions but still requires manual selection, unlike AtlasPool’s automatic BGP Anycast routing.

Public Pool (hosted) runs on a single US-based server. Miners outside the United States will experience higher latency. However, self-hosted Public Pool eliminates this problem entirely. Your miner connects to your own hardware on your local network, achieving near-zero latency.

Can You Self-Host a Solo Mining Pool?

Self-hosting means running the pool software on your own hardware, connected to your own Bitcoin node. This provides zero fees, zero trust assumptions, maximum privacy, and complete control over your block templates. It is the most decentralized way to mine Bitcoin.

Public Pool is the best option for self-hosting. It installs in one click from the Umbrel or Start9 app stores and auto-configures with your existing Bitcoin node. Solo Satoshi sells the Start9 Server One 2026, which can run both a Bitcoin node and Public Pool simultaneously. Docker deployment is also available for custom setups.

Solo CKPool can be self-hosted using the ckpool-solo source code from Bitbucket, but traditionally this required compiling from source on Linux, configuring bitcoind RPC credentials, and manual maintenance. This was viable only for experienced Linux administrators. However, since November 2025, the Bassin app on the Umbrel App Store makes self-hosting CKPool dramatically easier. Bassin is a zero-fee, one-click CKPool installation built specifically for umbrelOS that auto-configures with your existing Bitcoin node. This brings CKPool self-hosting to the same ease-of-use level as Public Pool’s Umbrel app, eliminating the Linux expertise barrier for most home miners.

AtlasPool cannot be self-hosted. It is a managed service only.

Which Pool Has the Strongest Block-Finding Track Record?

Track record matters because it proves the pool’s infrastructure actually works when it counts.

Solo CKPool dominates here with 299 confirmed solo blocks totaling 5,553 BTC in rewards since 2014, per mempool.space statistics. Blocks are tagged with “/solo.ckpool.org/” in the coinbase transaction. This includes blocks found by miners ranging from a single Bitaxe Supra at ~480 GH/s to multi-petahash industrial rigs. CKPool is where the majority of documented solo block wins occur.

Public Pool has facilitated 4 confirmed block finds, all through self-hosted instances running on Umbrel. The coinbase tags on mempool.space confirm “Public Pool on Umbrel” for each block. The most recent is block #937,218 (February 18, 2026), earning 3.14 BTC. The most notable is block #920,440 (October 23, 2025), found by a Solo Satoshi NerdQaxe++ customer who earned 3.141 BTC (~$347,000) and used the proceeds to pay off his home. The hosted version at web.public-pool.io has not yet had a confirmed block find.

AtlasPool has not yet had a confirmed block find as of early 2026. As a newer pool (launched late 2025), its track record is still developing. The infrastructure is built on proven ckpool software, and the global endpoint network is operational and tested.

Does a Pool’s Block Count Improve Your Odds?

No. This is one of the most common misconceptions among new solo miners. The number of blocks a solo mining pool has found does not change your individual probability of finding a block.

In a solo mining pool, each miner competes independently. The probability of finding a block on any single hash attempt is 1 / (difficulty × 2^32). Your expected time to find a block is calculated as (difficulty × 2^32) / your hashrate. At current network difficulty of approximately 114T, a single Bitaxe Gamma 602 at 1.2 TH/s would statistically need thousands of years to find a block.

Every hash is an independent attempt, meaning past results have no effect on future odds. That is what makes solo mining a lottery. A Bitaxe Gamma 602 running at 1.2 TH/s has exactly the same probability per block whether it is connected to Solo CKPool (299 blocks found) or AtlasPool (1 block found). The pool’s historical block count reflects how many miners use the service and how long it has operated, not any mathematical advantage for your miner.

Bitcoin mining follows a Poisson process, which is a statistical model for random independent events. There is no accumulated “progress” toward finding a block. A pool that found a block yesterday has no higher or lower chance of finding one today. Similarly, a pool that has never found a block is not “due” for one.

What a pool’s track record does prove is that its infrastructure works. If CKPool has facilitated 299 solo blocks, that confirms the stratum server correctly relays work, the Bitcoin node stays synchronized, and the coinbase transaction pays the miner. That operational reliability matters. But it is a trust signal, not a probability booster.

What actually affects your odds:

• Your hashrate: More hashrate means more hash attempts per second, which directly increases your probability per block.
• Network difficulty: Higher difficulty reduces your probability per block. As of early 2026, difficulty exceeds 148 trillion.
• Uptime: Every second your miner is offline or submitting rejected shares is a lottery ticket you did not buy. Pool reliability and low latency indirectly help by keeping your miner productive.

Use the Solo Satoshi mining calculator to estimate your individual block-finding probability based on your specific hashrate.

Which Solo Mining Pool Should You Choose?

The best solo mining pool depends on your priorities. Here is a decision framework based on common miner profiles.

Choose Solo CKPool if:

• You want the most battle-tested infrastructure with 10+ years of operation.
• You value simplicity: point your miner, use your BTC address, done.
• You are comfortable paying a 2% fee for reliability and the largest user base.

Choose Public Pool (Hosted) if:

• You want zero fees and maximum reward if you find a block.
• You are US-based or have acceptable latency to the US server.
• You do not need or want to run your own Bitcoin node.

Choose Public Pool (Self-Hosted) if:

• You want maximum sovereignty: your node, your block templates, your rules.
• You already run or plan to run a Bitcoin node on Start9 or Umbrel.
• You want zero fees and zero trust assumptions.
• You value decentralization above all else.

Choose AtlasPool if:

• You want the lowest possible latency through automatic BGP Anycast routing, regardless of your location
• You want automatic geographic routing without manually selecting servers
• You run 400+ GH/s of hashrate (Bitaxe Supra or higher)
• You want a middle-ground 1.5% fee with enterprise-grade infrastructure

For a complete breakdown of how different mining pool types work, including PPLNS, PPS, and solo, read our guide to understanding mining pools.

How to Connect Your Miner to Each Pool

All three pools use your Bitcoin wallet address as the username. No registration is required on any platform. The connection process is the same: enter the stratum URL, your BTC address as the username, and “x” as the password in your miner’s configuration.

You can add a worker name after your address with a dot separator (e.g., YOUR_BTC_ADDRESS.gamma1) to identify individual miners in pool dashboards. For a complete step-by-step setup, read the Bitaxe setup guide or the NerdQaxe setup guide.

What Hardware Works Best for Solo Mining?

All three pools support open-source ASIC miners running SHA-256. The only exception is AtlasPool’s 400 GH/s minimum, which excludes very low-hashrate display miners.

All Bitaxe and Nerdaxe miners sold by Solo Satoshi are assembled in the USA, ship same-day from Houston, Texas, and include a 90-day warranty. Canaan products carry a 1-year manufacturer’s warranty. Use the Bitcoin mining profitability calculator to estimate your electricity costs before choosing a miner.

Final Verdict: Best Solo Mining Pool in 2026

There is no single best solo mining pool for every miner. Each of these three platforms serves a different priority.

Solo CKPool is the industry standard. With 299 confirmed blocks, 20,000+ active users, and a decade of proven operation, it is the safest choice for miners who simply want reliable solo mining infrastructure. The 2% fee is the highest of the three, but CKPool has earned that fee through an unmatched track record. If you are new to solo mining and want a simple, proven starting point, CKPool is where most miners begin.

Public Pool is the best choice for sovereignty-focused miners. The zero-fee hosted option is ideal for budget-conscious miners in the US. The self-hosted option on Start9 or Umbrel is the gold standard for decentralized mining: your node builds the block templates, you pay zero fees, and no third party touches your reward. The $347,000 block win on self-hosted Public Pool proves this approach works.

AtlasPool is the best choice for miners who want the lowest possible latency and maximum reliability. Eight global endpoints with automatic routing solve a real problem for miners everywhere. The 1.5% fee is competitive, and the infrastructure is professional-grade. The trade-off is a newer track record with no confirmed blocks yet and no self-hosting option.

If you are new to the concept of mining entirely, start with our beginner’s guide to what is Bitcoin mining.