How many phones would it take to mine one Monero per month?

You would likely need hundreds or thousands of phones to mine 1 Monero (XMR) per month, not just a few. The actual number depends on each phone’s sustained mining speed and the total mining power competing on the Monero network, so you need current network data and a real phone test to estimate it.

How to calculate the number of phones

Monero creates a new block—a batch of confirmed transactions—about every two minutes. Its base mining reward is 0.6 XMR per block, which works out to roughly 12,960 XMR over a 30-day month, excluding transaction fees.

To earn an average of 1 XMR in that time, your phones would need about one thirteen-thousandth of the network’s total mining power.

Mining speed is called hashrate. It measures how many mining calculations a device performs each second, written as H/s.

Use this estimate:

Phones needed = network hashrate ÷ (12,960 × sustained hashrate per phone)

Both hashrates must use the same units. Find the current network hashrate on a live Monero explorer, which displays blockchain activity, or use a mining calculator.

What that could look like in practice

Here is a made-up example, not a current network measurement or earnings promise.

Suppose the network hashrate were 5 billion H/s. You would need about 386,000 H/s combined to average 1 XMR per 30-day month.

Under that assumption:

• At 100 H/s per phone, you would need about 3,860 phones.
• At 500 H/s per phone, you would need about 772 phones.
• At 1,000 H/s per phone, you would need about 386 phones.

Those phone speeds are calculation examples, not claims about what your phone can achieve. If the network’s mining power doubled, you would need twice as many phones at the same individual speed.

Allow extra capacity for downtime and fees. Even then, 1 XMR is an expected average, not a guaranteed monthly payment.

Why a quick phone test is not enough

Monero uses RandomX, a mining method designed to favor CPUs—the general-purpose processors inside computers and phones. Its fast mode uses a dataset of about 2,080 MB and needs substantial processor cache, a small area of very fast memory.

Phones face practical limits:

• Heat: Your phone may slow its processor to avoid overheating.
• Browser restrictions: Switching tabs, locking the screen, or background limits may pause mining.
• Implementation differences: Browser mining software can perform very differently from software running directly on the device.
• Battery wear: Continuous heat and charging can shorten battery life.

Measure the sustained speed after the phone warms up, using the same software you plan to run. Do not base your fleet estimate on a brief peak result or a desktop benchmark.

Earning a monthly amount versus finding a block

For reasonably regular earnings, you would normally use a mining pool: a service that combines miners’ work and divides rewards.

Mining alone is unpredictable. Your phones could run for months without finding a block, even if a calculator shows an average return. Pool fees, payout minimums, and any browser-service fees also affect what reaches your wallet.

The bottom line

Plan on a potentially enormous phone fleet, not a handful of spare devices. Test one phone, check live network figures, and use the formula above. Buying phones specifically to mine 1 XMR monthly is generally impractical once you include equipment, electricity, cooling, and wear.