PPS vs PROP vs PPLNS:
Mining Pool Payout Systems Compared
A comprehensive guide to the three major payout systems used by mining pools, with real math, earnings simulations, and clear recommendations.
Mining pools use three main payout systems. Each distributes block rewards differently:
- PPS (Pay Per Share) — Fixed pay per share. Stable income, higher fees (2–5%). Pool absorbs all risk.
- PROP (Proportional) — Pay per round based on your share %. Simple but vulnerable to pool hopping.
- PPLNS (Pay Per Last N Shares) — Sliding window of recent shares. Rewards loyalty, lower fees (0.5–2%). Most popular system.
How Pool Payouts Work
Before comparing systems, let's understand the basics. When you mine in a pool, you're combining your hashrate with other miners to find blocks faster. The question is: how does the pool split the block reward among everyone?
→ Pool tracks each miner's contribution
→ Pool finds a block (earns block reward)
→ Reward distributed to miners (how? depends on payout system)
A share is a proof-of-work solution that meets the pool's difficulty target (much lower than the network target). Shares let the pool measure each miner's contribution. Think of them as receipts proving you did work.
A round is the period between two consecutive blocks found by the pool. Rounds can be short (lucky) or very long (unlucky). The randomness behind round lengths is explained in depth in our article on mining luck and variance.
PPS — Pay Per Share
The pool pays you a fixed amount for every valid share you submit, regardless of whether the pool actually finds a block. Your earnings are completely predictable and independent of pool luck.
The Formula
Payment per share = Block Reward / Network Difficulty
// Example: Bitcoin with 3.125 BTC reward and difficulty 80T
Per share: 3.125 / 80,000,000,000,000 = 0.0000000000000391 BTC
// Your daily earnings = shares_per_day × payment_per_share
// With 100 TH/s: ~8,640,000 shares/day
Daily earnings: 8,640,000 × 0.0000000000000391 = ~0.000338 BTCPPS is like a salaried job. You get paid the same amount every day regardless of how well the company performs. If the company has a bad month, your paycheck doesn't change. The employer (pool) absorbs all the business risk.
Pros & Cons of PPS
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Predictable, steady income | Highest fees of any system |
| No luck variance — earnings are flat | Pool can go bankrupt during bad luck |
| Doesn't matter if pool finds blocks or not | Slightly lower long-term earnings due to fees |
| Easy to calculate expected daily revenue | Pool must have financial reserves |
PROP — Proportional
When the pool finds a block, the reward is divided among all miners proportional to the number of shares they submitted during that round. If you contributed 10% of the shares in a round, you get 10% of the block reward.
The Formula
Your payout = (Your shares in round / Total shares in round) × Block Reward
// Example: Pool finds block worth 5 GRS
// Round had 100,000 total shares, you submitted 8,000
Your share: (8,000 / 100,000) × 5 = 0.4 GRSThe key concept in PROP is the round. A round starts the moment one block is found and ends when the next block is found. All shares submitted during that window count toward the payout.
PROP is like splitting a restaurant bill equally among everyone who ate dinner. If you were at the table the whole time, you get your fair share. But if someone shows up just for dessert, they still get charged the same per-item rate — which isn't quite fair to those who were there all night.
The Pool Hopping Problem
PROP has a critical weakness: pool hopping. Smart miners can exploit the round-based system by joining at the start of a round (when shares are "worth more" statistically) and leaving when the round gets long. This steals earnings from loyal miners who stay.
This exploit is the #1 reason most pools abandoned PROP in favor of PPLNS.
Here's why hopping works: In a short (lucky) round, each share is worth more because there are fewer total shares splitting the reward. A hopper joins many pools, catches the lucky short rounds, and skips the unlucky long ones — at the expense of loyal miners.
Pros & Cons of PROP
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Simple and transparent to understand | Vulnerable to pool hopping |
| Low fees | Earnings vary widely round-to-round |
| Fair in theory (proportional to work) | Loyal miners subsidize hoppers |
| No pool solvency risk | Long rounds = long waits for payment |
PPLNS — Pay Per Last N Shares
When the pool finds a block, the reward is distributed based on shares submitted in a sliding window of the last N shares (not the current round). This eliminates pool hopping because late-joiners don't immediately qualify for full payouts.
The Formula
Window size (N) = typically 2 × expected shares per round
Your payout = (Your shares in last N shares / N) × Block Reward
// Example: N = 200,000 shares, pool finds block worth 5 GRS
// You have 15,000 shares in the window
Your payout: (15,000 / 200,000) × 5 = 0.375 GRSThe "N" value is crucial. A larger N means the window covers more history, which smooths earnings but means new miners take longer to reach full payout. Most pools set N to 1–3 times the expected shares per difficulty period.
PPLNS is like a loyalty rewards program. The longer you've been mining consistently with the pool, the more of your shares are in the active window, and the larger your cut of each block. If you just joined, you haven't built up enough history yet. This naturally rewards loyalty and punishes hopping.
The Loyalty Advantage
PPLNS naturally rewards miners who stay on the pool. Once you've been mining long enough for the window to fill with your shares, your payout ratio stabilizes at your true percentage of pool hashrate. Hoppers who mine for a few minutes and leave won't have enough shares in the window to earn significantly.
Pros & Cons of PPLNS
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Immune to pool hopping | Payouts fluctuate with pool luck |
| Lower fees than PPS | New miners start with reduced earnings |
| Rewards loyal, consistent miners | Harder to predict daily income |
| Most widely used and battle-tested | Earnings can swing on lucky/unlucky streaks |
Side-by-Side Comparison
Here's how all three systems stack up across the key factors that matter to miners:
| Factor | PPS | PROP | PPLNS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who bears risk | Pool operator | Miner | Miner |
| Typical fee | 2–5% | 0.5–2% | 0.5–2% |
| Income stability | Very stable | Variable (per round) | Variable (smoothed) |
| Pool hopping protection | Immune | Vulnerable | Immune |
| Long-term earnings | Slightly lower (fees) | Fair (if no hoppers) | Highest net earnings |
| Pool solvency risk | Yes (bad luck drains reserves) | No | No |
| Best for | Risk-averse miners | Small transparent pools | Loyal, consistent miners |
| Popularity | Common (large pools) | Declining | Most popular |
30-Day Earnings Simulation
Let's simulate what happens to a miner contributing 1% of pool hashrate over 30 days across three luck scenarios. The pool mines a coin with a 5-coin block reward and finds ~144 blocks/day on average.
Scenario 1: Lucky Month (120% luck — found 20% more blocks than expected)
With above-average luck, PROP and PPLNS miners earn more because they share in the extra blocks found. PPS miners earn the same fixed amount regardless — the pool keeps the surplus to cover future bad luck.
Scenario 2: Normal Month (100% luck)
At exactly expected luck, all three systems produce nearly identical earnings. The small difference comes from fee structure: PPS at 4% fee gives 259.2 coins (guaranteed), while PROP/PPLNS at 1% fee gives 257.0 coins (before luck adjustment). PPS appears slightly higher here because the fixed-rate calculation slightly favors the miner at exactly 100% luck.
Scenario 3: Unlucky Month (80% luck — found 20% fewer blocks)
During an unlucky month, PPS shines — your earnings don't change at all. PROP and PPLNS miners earn ~20% less because the pool found fewer blocks. This is the trade-off: PPS gives you insurance against bad luck, paid for by higher fees.
// How the simulation numbers are calculated:
Expected blocks/month: 144 × 30 = 4,320 blocks
Expected total reward: 4,320 × 5 = 21,600 coins
Your 1% share: 216 coins (theoretical max)
PPS (4% fee): 216 × 1.2 × (1-0.04) = 259.2 always
// PPS pays based on expected value, not actual blocks
PROP/PPLNS (1% fee):
Lucky (120%): 216 × 1.2 × (1-0.01) = ~257 + luck bonus
Normal (100%): 216 × 1.0 × (1-0.01) = ~214
Unlucky (80%): 216 × 0.8 × (1-0.01) = ~171Which System Should You Choose?
- You want predictable daily income for budgeting or electricity costs
- You're mining as a business and need reliable cash flow
- You're willing to pay higher fees for income stability
- You don't want to worry about pool luck at all
- You plan to mine consistently on one pool (not switch frequently)
- You want the lowest fees and highest long-term net earnings
- You're comfortable with some daily variance that smooths out over weeks
- You value fair, hopping-resistant reward distribution
- You're in a small, trusted community pool where hopping isn't a concern
- You value simplicity and transparency above all
- You want to see exactly how your payout was calculated per round
What Suprnova Uses
Suprnova pools support multiple payout systems depending on the coin. Most of our pools use PPLNS as the default because it offers the best balance of fairness, low fees, and hopping resistance.
We also offer PPS and PROP on select pools where they make sense for the community. You can check the payout system for any specific pool on its dashboard page. If you are new to mining, our how to start mining guide walks you through the full setup process.
- Low fees: Typically 0.5–1% on PPLNS pools
- Transparent: All payout calculations visible on your dashboard
- Automatic payouts: Sent to your wallet when threshold is reached
- No hidden charges: Fee is clearly stated on each pool's page
- Secure infrastructure: Learn about our approach to mining pool security
Explore all available pools at suprnova.cc.
Bottom Line
| System | Best For | Avoid If |
|---|---|---|
| PPS | Business miners, risk-averse, need budgeting certainty | You want maximum long-term returns |
| PROP | Small community pools, simplicity | Pool has unknown miners (hopping risk) |
| PPLNS | Loyal miners, lowest fees, highest long-term earnings | You switch pools frequently |
For most miners: PPLNS is the best choice. It offers the lowest fees, protects against hopping, and rewards consistent mining. Daily earnings will fluctuate, but over weeks and months they converge to your fair share.
For business miners: PPS removes uncertainty entirely. If your mining operation depends on predictable revenue to cover electricity and hosting costs, the premium is worth paying. Use a profitability calculator to estimate whether the higher PPS fee is offset by the income stability you need.
The math is clear: Over long periods, all three systems converge to the same expected value. The difference is in the variance of your income and the fees you pay. Choose based on your risk tolerance, not on which system you think "pays more." For help deciding which coin to mine in the first place, see our guide to the best cryptocurrencies to mine.