FPPS vs PPS vs PPLNS: Pool Payouts Compared

Short answer: PPS, FPPS and PPLNS are the three main ways a mining pool turns your shares into Bitcoin payouts. PPS pays a fixed amount for every accepted share and leaves transaction fees with the pool. FPPS does the same but adds an estimated share of transaction fees. PPLNS pays only when the pool actually finds a block, splitting that block’s reward across the last N shares, so you carry the luck instead of the operator.

This guide goes deeper than our overview of mining pools, shares and pool setup: it works through the payout maths, who carries the risk, how fees are treated and how to read a pool’s payout terms. All numbers in the worked examples are round illustrations, not current network data or forecasts. Bitminers does not guarantee mining profitability.

The starting point: the value of one share

A pool gives each miner an easier target than the network’s, and any hash below it is a share. Finding a block takes about difficulty × 2^32 hashes on average, per the Bitcoin Wiki difficulty page, so a share at share difficulty d has a chance of d ÷ D of also being a block at network difficulty D. That gives:

Expected value per share = (d ÷ D) × block reward

Illustration: suppose network difficulty is exactly 1,000,000 times your share difficulty, and the block subsidy is 3.125 BTC, or 312,500,000 satoshis (one bitcoin is 100 million satoshis). Each share is worth 312,500,000 ÷ 1,000,000 = 312.5 satoshis of subsidy on average. Each scheme below pays out that value differently and decides who absorbs bad luck.

How many shares you submit depends on your machine’s hashrate in TH/s; the scheme only changes how that work is paid for.

PPS mining: pay per share

Under PPS the pool credits a flat amount for each accepted share, based on the block subsidy and current difficulty, and pays it from its own balance without waiting for a block. The Bitcoin Wiki describes this as the lowest-variance method for miners, with the risk transferred to the pool operator.

Worked illustration: a machine that submits 10,000 accepted shares in a day is credited 10,000 × 312.5 = 3,125,000 satoshis before fees, or 3,062,500 satoshis after an illustrative 2% pool fee. The result is the same whether the pool found three blocks that day or none. The catch: classic PPS pays on the subsidy only, and transaction fees in the pool’s blocks stay with the pool.

FPPS: PPS plus an estimated fee component

FPPS (full pay per share) keeps the fixed per-share payment and adds transaction fees to the reward used in the calculation. As Bitcoin Optech notes, pools usually work from averaged fee data rather than their own blocks. Braiins Pool’s documentation, for example, describes a trimmed average of fees across all blocks mined by the whole network in a UTC day, calculated once the day is over.

Worked illustration: if the fee average were 0.125 BTC per block, the reward used would be 3.25 BTC, or 325,000,000 satoshis. Each share is worth 325 satoshis instead of 312.5, and the same 10,000 shares are credited 3,250,000 satoshis before fees.

Because the fee portion is an estimate, two FPPS pools can credit different amounts for identical work.

PPS+: a hybrid

Some pools offer PPS+. ViaBTC’s documentation, for instance, pays the block subsidy on PPS logic and distributes transaction fees on PPLNS from blocks the pool actually finds, with a separate fee rate on each part.

PPLNS: paid from blocks the pool actually finds

Under PPLNS (pay per last N shares) nothing is credited until the pool finds a block. The full reward, subsidy plus that block’s actual transaction fees, is then split across the last N shares, regardless of round boundaries. Pools define N differently; ViaBTC, for example, uses the last five difficulty rounds and credits after six confirmations.

Worked illustration: the pool finds a block worth 3.325 BTC (3.125 subsidy plus 0.2 in fees), or 332,500,000 satoshis. The window is 2,000,000 shares and 10,000 are yours, which is 0.5%, so you are credited 1,662,500 satoshis before fees.

The expected value matches the per-share formula. With the network 1,000,000 times harder than a share, a 2,000,000-share window stays open long enough for the pool to expect two blocks, so each share expects two payouts of 166.25 satoshis, 332.5 in total. What differs is the spread: in a dry spell your shares can leave the window unpaid; in a lucky run the same shares are paid several times.

A new member has few shares in the window, so early credits are small. A member who leaves stops adding shares, and older ones are paid only if the pool finds a block before they drop out. Bitcoin Optech also notes that PPLNS moves the risk of block withholding attacks from the pool to its miners.

PROP and SOLO

PROP (proportional) splits each block among the shares submitted in that round, since the pool’s previous block. SOLO is not a sharing scheme: the miner whose hardware finds the block receives the whole reward minus the pool fee, and nothing otherwise. Our guide to solo mining and lottery miners works through those odds.

Who carries the variance and the fee risk

Scheme	Block subsidy	Transaction fees	Luck carried by	When credited
PPS	Fixed per share	Kept by the pool	Pool operator	Per share, usually summed daily
FPPS	Fixed per share	Estimated average, paid per share	Pool operator	Usually daily, once the fee average is known
PPS+	Fixed per share	Actual pool fees, shared PPLNS-style	Operator for subsidy, miners for fees	Subsidy daily, fees after blocks confirm
PPLNS	Share of actual blocks	Actual fees of those blocks	Miners	After each block is found and confirmed
SOLO	Whole block if you find it	Whole block’s fees	The individual miner	Only when your machine finds a block

Fee risk is separate from luck: under FPPS the operator carries the gap between its fee estimate and its real blocks, while under PPLNS miners receive whatever fees the pool’s blocks contain.

What the pool fee pays for

Every pool runs stratum servers, Bitcoin nodes that build block templates, monitoring and payout systems, whatever the scheme. PPS-style pools add a second cost: a reserve large enough to keep paying for shares through long stretches without a block. The Bitcoin Wiki’s pool comparison notes that PPS is risky for operators and its fee is highest for that reason. A PPLNS fee mainly covers infrastructure; a PPS or FPPS fee also prices in the operator taking your variance. So compare a fee together with its scheme and its treatment of transaction fees, not on its own.

How to read a pool’s payout terms

Pools separate crediting (adding to your balance) from paying out (sending Bitcoin to your address). PPLNS credits wait for confirmations because an orphaned block pays nothing, and payouts follow the pool’s schedule; Braiins Pool, for example, creates payouts daily at 09:00 UTC with separate minimums for on-chain and Lightning withdrawals. When you read a pool’s terms, check:

Scheme. Which parts are PPS and which are PPLNS; “PPS+” and “FPPS” vary between pools.
Fee component. An average or the pool’s actual blocks, over what window, network-wide or pool-only.
Fee rates. Some pools charge one rate on the subsidy and another on transaction fees.
Cut-off and window. The UTC time that closes the daily calculation, and how N and confirmations are defined.
Minimum payout. With a small home machine, a high threshold can mean weeks between payouts even under PPS; also check who pays the withdrawal transaction fee.
Stale and rejected shares. They are not paid under any scheme, so latency to the nearest server matters.

Hardware and payout schemes

Any SHA-256 machine can use any of these schemes; it is a pool setting. Bitminers prices at the time of writing (October 4, 2026): the Antminer S21 Pro (234 TH/s, 15.0 J/TH) is $2,379.00, the NerdQaxe++ (4.8 TH/s) is $279.00 and the Bitaxe Gamma 601 (1.2 TH/s) is $77.17. Browse all Bitcoin miners to compare hashrate and efficiency.

Frequently asked questions

What is FPPS in mining?

FPPS (full pay per share) pays a fixed amount for every accepted share, covering the block subsidy plus an estimated share of transaction fees. The pool absorbs the luck of finding blocks.

FPPS vs PPLNS: which is better?

Neither suits everyone. FPPS gives steady credits and usually carries a higher fee. PPLNS pays from blocks the pool actually finds, so credits swing with luck, but you receive the actual transaction fees. Over a long period both aim to pay the expected value of your shares, minus fees.

What is the difference between PPS and FPPS?

Both pay a fixed amount per share. PPS pays on the block subsidy only and the pool keeps transaction fees. FPPS adds an estimated transaction-fee component to each share’s value.

Why do PPLNS payouts change from day to day?

You are credited only when the pool finds a block, and both the number of blocks found and their transaction fees vary.

Do I lose anything if I leave a PPLNS pool?

Possibly. Shares still in the window are paid only if the pool finds a block before they drop out. Check the pool’s rules before switching.

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FPPS vs PPS vs PPLNS: Mining Pool Payout Schemes Compared