How much does a 1% pool fee cost me per month?
A 1% mining pool fee costs you 1% of the mining rewards you earn before that fee. If your monthly rewards are worth $10 before the fee, you pay $0.10 and keep $9.90, before electricity costs or any other charges.
Work out your monthly cost
A mining pool combines your mining work with work from other miners and shares the rewards. Its fee usually comes out of your rewards automatically, rather than arriving as a separate bill.
You can calculate the monthly fee with two simple steps:
- Monthly fee = rewards before the fee × 0.01
- Rewards after the fee = rewards before the fee × 0.99
For example, if you earn 0.02 XMR before fees in a month:
- The pool takes 0.0002 XMR.
- You keep 0.0198 XMR.
XMR is the currency symbol for Monero. You can use the same calculation whether your rewards are shown in XMR, dollars, or your local currency. Just keep both amounts in the same unit.
What that looks like in money
Here are a few examples using the value of your monthly rewards before the pool fee:
- $1 earned: $0.01 fee.
- $10 earned: $0.10 fee.
- $50 earned: $0.50 fee.
- $100 earned: $1 fee.
These are examples, not earning estimates. Your actual rewards depend on your mining speed, how long you mine, and mining conditions.
If you mine in your browser, do not assume you will reach any of those amounts. Browser mining can produce very small rewards, and electricity may cost more than you earn.
The pool generally deducts its fee in cryptocurrency. Its value in dollars changes with Monero’s price. To estimate that value, multiply your fee in XMR by a live XMR price. For a consistent monthly comparison, use the same valuation method each month.
Check whether your earnings already include it
Before subtracting 1%, check what your pool or browser-mining dashboard displays.
A figure described as “net rewards” or “after fees” may already include the deduction. Subtracting another 1% would count the fee twice.
If your monthly amount is already after a 1% fee, you can work backward:
Fee already paid = after-fee rewards ÷ 99
For example, if your after-fee rewards are 0.0198 XMR, dividing by 99 gives a fee of 0.0002 XMR.
Check the service’s fee explanation if its labels are unclear. A balance awaiting payout may also include rewards from earlier months, so it is not necessarily your earnings for this month.
Separate the pool fee from other costs
A 1% pool fee is normally charged on rewards, not on your profit after electricity. You can therefore pay it even when mining loses money overall.
Also check for:
- A separate browser-mining platform fee.
- Any payout or withdrawal charge.
- Electricity costs.
A minimum payout, the balance you must reach before receiving a payment, is not itself a fee. It can still mean your small monthly earnings remain unpaid for some time.
The bottom line
A 1% pool fee takes one cent from every dollar’s worth of rewards before fees. Use your actual monthly rewards, check whether the deduction is already included, and keep other charges separate.
