Switching mining pools isn’t just a technical tweak-it’s a direct way to put more coins in your pocket. If your current pool is paying less, dropping shares, or going silent for hours, you’re leaving money on the table. The good news? Moving to a better pool doesn’t require buying new hardware or retraining your team. It’s mostly about changing a few settings in your miner’s configuration. But do it wrong, and you could lose rewards, waste electricity, or even get banned. Here’s how to do it right.
Why Switch Mining Pools at All?
Not all mining pools are created equal. Some charge 3% fees. Others pay out every hour. Some have servers in Europe that connect fast. Others have 20,000 miners competing for the same block. Your reward depends on which one you’re on.Let’s say you’re mining Bitcoin with a 100 TH/s ASIC. At a 1.5% fee pool with PPLNS payouts, you might earn $120/day. Switch to a 1% fee pool with PPS payouts and better uptime, and suddenly you’re at $135. That’s $5,000 extra a year-just by changing where your hashpower goes.
Pool switching also helps avoid downtime. If your pool’s server crashes, your miners sit idle. Good pools offer backup servers. Better ones let you run two pools at once. Some even auto-switch when profitability drops.
What You Need Before You Switch
You can’t just pick a new pool and click “go.” You need four things:- Your wallet address-This is where rewards get sent. Make sure it’s correct. A typo means lost coins.
- The new pool’s server address and port-For example: stratum+tcp://btc.pool.com:3333. This is different for every pool.
- Worker name and password-Most pools let you create worker IDs. These are like usernames for your miners. Passwords are often just “x” or left blank.
- Current payout status-Check if you have pending rewards. Some pools have a $5 minimum payout. If you switch before it hits, you lose it.
Don’t skip step four. I’ve seen miners switch pools, then realize they had $87 waiting in their old account-and the pool deleted it after 30 days. Always cash out first.
How to Switch: Step-by-Step
For ASIC Miners (like Antminer, Whatsminer):- Find your miner’s IP address. It’s usually on the device screen or in your router’s connected devices list.
- Open a browser and type in that IP (like http://192.168.1.50).
- Log in with your admin password (default is often admin or root).
- Go to Pool Settings or Mining Pool.
- Delete the old pool URL. Add the new one: server address, port, worker name, password.
- Click Save or Apply.
- Wait 2-5 minutes. Your hash rate should reappear on the new pool’s dashboard.
If your miner has multiple pool slots (most do), set the new pool as Primary and keep the old one as Backup. That way, if the new pool goes down, you don’t stop mining.
For Software Miners (like HiveOS, CGMiner, Awesome Miner):- Open your mining software interface.
- Find the pool configuration section.
- Replace the old pool’s details with the new ones.
- Save and restart the miner.
- Check the software’s dashboard to confirm the new pool is receiving hashpower.
Some software like Awesome Miner supports External Profit Switching. This means it automatically checks which pool is paying the most every 10 minutes and switches without you lifting a finger. You don’t need to change settings manually-it just happens.
Choosing the Right Pool: What to Look For
Don’t just pick the pool with the lowest fee. Here’s what actually matters:| Factor | What to Look For | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Fees | 1%-3% | Lower fees = more of your reward. But don’t pick a 0.5% pool if it’s unreliable. |
| Payout Method | PPS, PPLNS, Proportional | PPS pays instantly but has higher fees. PPLNS pays more over time but with more variance. |
| Server Location | Closest to your miners | Latency over 100ms causes stale shares. You lose rewards for those. |
| Uptime & Reliability | 99%+ in reviews | If the pool goes down 5 times a week, you’re mining for free. |
| Payout Threshold | Below $5 | High thresholds mean you wait weeks to get paid. Low = more cash flow. |
| Pool Size | 5%-15% of total network hash | Too big? You get smaller shares. Too small? Blocks are rare. Mid-size is best. |
Top pools in 2026 include Antpool, F2Pool, and ViaBTC for Bitcoin. For Ethereum (before the merge) and altcoins, pools like SparkPool and 2Miners are popular. Always check their websites for real-time stats.
Monitoring After the Switch
Switching is only half the battle. Now you have to watch what happens.- Check your miner’s dashboard every hour for the first 24 hours. Hash rate should match what you set.
- Log into the new pool’s website. Does it show your hash rate? Are shares being accepted?
- Wait for your first payout. If it’s missing or way lower than expected, something’s wrong.
- Watch for “stale shares.” If they’re over 5%, your connection is too slow. Switch to a closer server.
Tools like HiveOS or Awesome Miner give you live graphs of hash rate, power usage, and earnings. Use them. Don’t guess.
Advanced: Auto-Switching for Maximum Profit
If you’re mining multiple coins or have dozens of ASICs, manual switching is a waste of time. Use profit-switching software.These tools monitor real-time profitability across dozens of pools and coins. If Ethereum mining suddenly becomes 12% more profitable than Bitcoin, the software switches your entire farm automatically. No alerts. No delays.
Platforms like Awesome Miner and MinerStat support this. Setup takes 30 minutes. Once done, you can forget about it. Your miners will always be on the most profitable option.
But don’t flip every 5 minutes. Constant switching causes overhead. Most systems wait 15-60 minutes before switching to avoid ping-pong effects.
Common Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
- Switching during a block reward - Wait until after payout. You might lose your share of the block.
- Using the wrong worker name - Worker names are case-sensitive. “Worker1” ≠ “worker1”.
- Ignoring fees - A 3% fee on $100/day = $3 lost. That’s $1,000 a year.
- Not testing backup pools - If your main pool dies, your backup should kick in. Test it before you need it.
- Switching too often - Temporary dips happen. Wait 72 hours before deciding a pool is bad.
When Not to Switch
Don’t switch just because you saw a post online saying “Pool X is killing it today.” Mining is a long game. A pool might pay more today because it found a block. Tomorrow, it might go quiet for a week.Track your earnings for at least two weeks before making a move. Use a spreadsheet. Record:
- Daily hash rate
- Number of shares
- Payouts received
- Stale share percentage
If your current pool is consistent, pays on time, and has low fees-stay. Don’t chase hype.
Final Tip: Keep a Backup Plan
Always keep your old pool’s settings saved somewhere. Not just in your head. Write them down. Save them in a text file. You never know when you’ll need to switch back.And if you’re using automated profit-switching, set a safety limit. Don’t let your miners jump to a pool that pays $0.01 more but has a 10% chance of going offline. Reliability beats pennies.
Switching mining pools is one of the easiest ways to boost your mining profits. Do it right, and you’ll see results in days. Do it wrong, and you’ll waste weeks chasing ghosts. Take your time. Verify everything. Monitor after. And never stop learning.
Can I switch mining pools without stopping my miners?
Yes, if your mining software or ASIC supports failover. Most modern devices allow you to set a primary and backup pool. When you update the primary pool’s settings, the miner reconnects automatically within minutes. Your hash rate may dip briefly, but you won’t lose mining time. Avoid manually restarting unless necessary.
Do I need to change my wallet when switching pools?
No. Your wallet address stays the same. The pool just sends rewards to it. What changes is the pool’s server address, worker name, and password. Your wallet is only used once-when you set up your mining account on the new pool.
What’s the difference between PPS and PPLNS payouts?
PPS (Pay Per Share) pays you immediately for every valid share you submit, regardless of whether the pool finds a block. It’s stable but has higher fees. PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares) pays only when the pool finds a block, and rewards are distributed based on your shares over the last N shares. It’s riskier but can pay more over time, especially if the pool is lucky.
How often should I switch pools?
Only switch if there’s a clear, lasting advantage-like consistently higher payouts, lower fees, or better uptime. Don’t switch daily. Most miners stay with a pool for months. Automated profit-switching tools handle frequent changes, but manual switches should be rare-every 2-4 weeks at most.
What happens to my pending rewards if I switch?
You keep them-unless you switch before the payout threshold is met. Always check your current pool’s dashboard for pending balance. If it’s below the payout minimum (like $5), wait until it clears. Once paid, you’re free to switch. If you switch before payout, the reward may be lost forever.
Can I mine on two pools at once?
Yes, with multi-pool support. Some ASICs and software allow you to split your hashpower between two pools-for example, 80% to Pool A, 20% to Pool B. This reduces risk. If Pool A goes down, you still earn from Pool B. This is common among professional miners.
CHISOM UCHE
January 12, 2026 AT 10:22PPS vs PPLNS isn't just a fee difference-it's a risk-reward calculus. PPS is the corporate bond of mining payouts: stable, predictable, but with a yield penalty. PPLNS? That's the speculative crypto ETF-high variance, potential alpha, but you're gambling on pool luck. If your hash rate is >50 TH/s, PPLNS can net you 12-18% more over 30 days if the pool hits 3+ blocks. But if you're solo-mining on a 10 TH/s Antminer? Stick with PPS. No point in waiting weeks for a payout that might never come.
Dustin Secrest
January 13, 2026 AT 22:14The notion that switching pools is a ‘direct way to put more coins in your pocket’ is technically true, but it ignores the deeper epistemology of mining economics. Profitability isn’t a static variable-it’s a dynamic equilibrium shaped by network difficulty, energy arbitrage, and pool saturation. To treat pool switching as a simple optimization problem is to mistake the map for the territory. The real profit isn’t in the switch-it’s in the discipline of monitoring, the patience to wait out volatility, and the humility to admit that sometimes, the best move is no move at all.
Josh V
January 14, 2026 AT 22:35Just switched to F2Pool last week and my daily earnings jumped from $118 to $132 in 48 hours no drama no restarts just updated the URL and boom profit up 12% you guys are overcomplicating this
Stephen Gaskell
January 15, 2026 AT 06:43Stop wasting time on pools. Buy more ASICs. More hashpower beats any pool optimization. The US needs to lead in mining not play games with server addresses.
Telleen Anderson-Lozano
January 16, 2026 AT 16:50I love how this guide is so thorough… but I also feel like it’s missing one big thing: what if your ISP blocks mining ports? I had this happen in Texas last year-every pool I tried refused connections until I switched to a VPN with port forwarding. Also, some pools don’t even mention that they throttle connections after 100+ miners. I lost $200 in a week because my Antminer was silently throttled. Always test with a single miner first. And use Wireshark to monitor the traffic. I know it sounds nerdy… but trust me, it saves money.
Haley Hebert
January 18, 2026 AT 13:34Okay I just wanna say… I’m not a tech expert but I’ve been mining since 2021 and this guide actually made me feel like I can do this without crying. I was so scared I’d mess up my setup and lose everything… but breaking it down into ‘here’s what you need’ and ‘here’s how to click the buttons’? That’s the kind of clarity people like me need. Thank you for not assuming everyone knows what ‘stratum’ means 😊
Jill McCollum
January 19, 2026 AT 04:17just switched to viabtc and my hashrate dropped by 15% for like 3 hours then bounced back 😅 turns out my worker name had a capital W and they dont like that lol. also i used the same password as my gmail (oops) so i changed it to ‘x’ like the guide said. now im back up and earning more than before. also i found a pool in germany that has lower latency than the us one so i switched again. who knew location mattered this much??
Hailey Bug
January 20, 2026 AT 14:52One thing no one mentions: always verify your wallet address with a test transaction. Send 0.0001 BTC to it from another wallet before connecting your miner. If it arrives, you’re good. If not, you’ve just saved yourself from losing thousands. Also, if you’re using a hardware wallet like Ledger, make sure it supports receiving mining payouts-some don’t. I learned this the hard way after a week of zero payouts. Turns out my address was a segwit bech32, but the pool only sent to legacy. Simple fix, huge consequence.
Anthony Ventresque
January 20, 2026 AT 18:26I’ve been mining for 5 years and I’ve switched pools 17 times. The biggest mistake I made? Thinking a pool with 0.5% fees is automatically better. I switched to one called ‘CryptoFast’-super low fee, great reviews. Turned out they were just a front for a 51% attack simulation. My shares kept getting rejected. My hash rate looked fine on the dashboard… but I wasn’t earning anything. Always check the pool’s blockchain explorer history. If they haven’t found a block in 30 days? Run.
Nishakar Rath
January 22, 2026 AT 07:19lol you all think this is complicated? you’re all brainwashed by the big pool cartel. antpool and f2pool are owned by chinese state-backed entities. they’re watching your hashrate. they’re manipulating payout timing. why do you think every pool has the same uptime stats? fake. go to a small pool in canada or brazil. they dont care about your data. they just want your hash. real miners dont trust the big boys
Jason Zhang
January 22, 2026 AT 12:20Guys I literally read this whole thing and now I feel like I need a PhD to mine Bitcoin. Can we just… agree that mining is a scam and the real profit is selling ASICs to people who read Reddit guides?
Katherine Melgarejo
January 24, 2026 AT 10:15So let me get this straight… you’re telling me I can make $5,000 a year by… changing a URL? My cat could do that. I’m just impressed the internet still lets people believe this is innovation and not just glorified spreadsheet tweaking.
Patricia Chakeres
January 24, 2026 AT 23:26Of course they didn’t mention the NSA’s mining pool monitoring program. Every pool you switch to is feeding your hash data into a centralized surveillance matrix. They’re tracking your power usage, your location, your miner model. This ‘profit switch’ guide? It’s a honey trap. Don’t switch pools. Don’t even mine. Burn your ASICs. They’re watching.
Alexis Dummar
January 25, 2026 AT 12:07the real lesson here isnt about pools its about patience. i used to switch every time my payout dipped for a day. then i started tracking for 30 days. turns out my old pool was actually the most consistent. the ‘better’ ones had big spikes then long lulls. mining is like gardening-you dont dig up the plant every time a leaf turns yellow. also i spell ‘hashrate’ wrong all the time but it still works so maybe spelling isnt that important