Bitcoin Mining Software Development vs. Free Versions of Miners

The Bitcoin mining software development service is becoming extremely popular in the era of cryptography and blockchain technology. By optimizing the cryptocurrency mining process, a miner can significantly increase the profits, which is why the costs often pay off. 

There is also an alternative — free software that can be deployed and used by almost anyone. In this article, you will find information about both advantages and disadvantages of each approach.

Important Bitcoin Software Development Parameters

When choosing Bitcoin mining software, pay attention to its performance. The most crucial points are:

• the hash rate that determines the number of hashes per second. There should be no restrictions, or they should not exceed the computational power of your device;
• data security which is the main priority of solo miners;
• the ease of use that should allow customizing the interface and simplifying the configuration process;
• the opportunity to overclock the graphics card in order to increase capacity;
• switching between various devices;
• heating control necessary for equipment management.

Besides, you should make sure that the Bitcoin mining software is efficient — it should ensure energy-efficient processing.

Free Bitcoin Mining Software

CGMiner

The Bitcoin mining software is most often recommended for use by crypto communities. The software includes useful functions:

1. Cross-platform support. Works on any operating system.
2. Support for application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), GPU, and FPGA technologies.
3. Compatible with mining equipment from less popular manufacturers, such as Black Arrow.

The program features include the following:

• process monitoring;
• fan speed adjustment;
• simple scalability implemented by changing the hashing speed;
• work with different pools.

Professionals note the main drawback – the lack of a graphical interface. For beginners, the software will be difficult to master since all settings are done manually via the command line.

MultiMiner

Like the software above, MultiMiner supports various mining equipment, but it also has a GUI that is easy to use even for complete beginners. Regular notifications about important events allow you to set up entire strategies and easily switch between different cryptocurrencies, even without being near a computer. It can also be controlled by a smartphone.

BFGMiner

BFGMiner is much easier to set up and manage than similar Bitcoin mining software. GPU, FPGA, and ASIC class hardware is supported. A proxy server is sewn into the kernel to distribute threads. Thanks to this approach, the software does not freeze and works with a high degree of optimization. Analytical reports on soft and hardware, as well as device management parameters, are available at any time.

Automatic mining is designed for the lazy. However, in this case, you will need to share with the developers by paying a transaction fee for each mined block.

Kryptex

The open-source program connects to a server and solves the assigned tasks. Users can connect several computers to one account. It automatically chooses the most profitable cryptocurrency for mining. The in-built wallet allows exchanging coins for fiat money. The software always chooses the optimal algorithm for Bitcoin mining.

Computta

This software is designed for PCs. It has an intuitive interface and allows the withdrawal of mined coins. The platform also offers an affiliate program.

Writing Your Own Mining Software

Many enthusiasts write programs suitable for their needs and publish them on various code hosting platforms such as GitHub. However, it is highly unlikely that you will find a program that is fully optimized for your devices. The code is rarely finished, and not all developers write and publish patches for their codes.

Disadvantages of Free Mining Software

The first and most important drawback is that you are left alone with the program. You can look for help on forums and community chats, but you will rarely find comprehensive answers and will most likely end up even more confused. 

Free mining software serves multiple purposes, which means that there will likely be lots of problems concerning highly-specific issues.

Below, you will find the most common errors of mining software.

CAN’T FIND NONCE WITH DEVICE CUDA_ERROR_LAUNCH_FAILED

It results from the excessive overclocking of the graphics card.

UNABLE TO ENUM CUDA GPUS: INVALID DEVICE ORDINAL

The graphics card cannot be found, or the installed drivers are incorrect.

NBMINER MINING PROGRAM UNEXPECTED EXIT.CODE: -1073740791, REASON: PROCESS CRASHED

This error results from equipment conflicts. It can be caused by NVidia and AMD.

NBMINER CUDA ERROR: OUT OF MEMORY (ERR_NO=2)

This error appears when the RAM is not enough.

These are only some of the annoying notifications that can appear if you are using a free miner.

Another vulnerable security risk is that the Bitcoin transaction fees may be transferred not to your wallet but to the developer’s storage. Inexperienced miners sometimes fall into this trap when the developer incorporates commands into the software that transfer the obtained digital asset to another wallet.

When Is Free Software Worth It?

In 2021, mining was taken to an industrial level. Solo mining has become impractical unless you own a huge farm with tens of thousands of mining devices. Currently, there are only two types of users who can benefit from using free software.

Beginning Miners Who Have Their Small-Scale Equipment

Solo mining is not profitable due to the highly competitive environment, and most beginning miners will join a mining pool to profit proportionally to the provided technical capacity. In this case, free software helps to cut the initial costs, and the mining might pay off. However, mining pool profits are relatively low.

Proficient Users Who View Mining Primarily As A Fun Challenge

They enjoy overcoming obstacles and configuring programs and computers. If they can code and know hashing algorithms, they become software developers.

Custom-Built Software for Mining

Most often, mining software is offered by companies that specialize in establishing and developing the crypto ecosystem. Mining systems are rather complicated, which is why creating a code requires a team of professionals, with each of them responsible for their own area of work.

There is often a need to additionally obtain secure Bitcoin services or implement Bitcoin API integration. In large systems created to generate income, Bitcoin payment processors are required. Many additionally order Bitcoin wallet development. If you need a full range of Bitcoin services, then you cannot do without an individual approach to Bitcoin miner development. In order to write a software code for mining, a developer must have a good command of the following:

• the English language;
• the operation of mining pools;
• the operation and interaction between devices of various manufacturers;
• the specifics of operating system operations related to hardware and memory allocation;
• the operation of multithreaded applications and multiple exchanges;
• the hashing algorithm of the specific blockchain targeted by the miner (for example, Bitcoin core for BTC);
• programming languages, including С++.

The easiest way to find such a highly-specific skill set is to assemble a team of programmers.

What Are the Benefits of Custom Bitcoin Software Development?

Every Bitcoin development specialist may provide their own set of services, but they are all aimed at achieving the individual objectives of their customers. You can order software designed for farming or cloud Bitcoin mining.

In the case of the former, you will be offered the following features:

• the support of several GPUs;
• the support of CPU Bitcoin mining, FGPA, GPU, ASIC;
• versions for various operating systems;
• a convenient and personalized graphic interface;
• optimization and energy-saving modes;
• Bitcoin API integration;
• intuitive real-time reports.

It is also important to pay attention to faster transaction authorizations and payouts, integration with application-specific equipment, scalability, and implemented algorithms.

Another method for Bitcoin mining crypto is cloud mining.

Currently, it is more popular due to the fact that only a very powerful farm can be profitable. Those who would like to increase their share in the mining pool have numerous options:

• participation in Hashflare that allows the creation of various mining strategies;
• building secure platforms similar to Genesis Mining that will allow building your own business based on an existing farm;
• equipment rent and configuring chains using such clouds as Hashing24;
• development of new cloud services, either based on existing platforms or from scratch.

Options vary from Bitcoin software development to building a business analytics system and creating business deployment plans.

Benefits of Customized Bitcoin Mining Software Development

The secure and decentralized applications will correspond to the individual needs of your business. Such software will be best adapted to your capacities, and all the settings will be configured exactly as you need them to be. It is enough to prepare correct technical specifications and supervise the Bitcoin software development process, and you will get a miner that is perfect for you.

Another advantage is quality assurance. Unlike a freelance programmer, a respectable company always cares about its reputation and will never try to ignore you, refusing to support your software product. Developers bear responsibility for their work, and you will never be left alone with your problems, unlike in the case of free software.

If you have not made up your mind about the exact specifications, another advantage is the flexibility of Bitcoin software development. You can order an MVP (minimum viable product) to test various hypotheses. All the detailed functions can be determined later.

Disadvantages

The development of customized software is expensive. You should analyze everything to find out whether it will pay off. If you are going to start mining, do the calculations first. Find out the hash rate of your equipment, input power, cost of KWh, current blockchain complexity, and blockchain costs. You can use any online calculator, many of which automatically enter known values.

How Expensive Is It to Order Customized Software for Mining?

The costs of customized software for Bitcoin mining usually start from $20,000 and can only increase. This is analyzed individually for each assignment, but you can be sure that it will be quite expensive.

How Does Mining Work?

Blockchain technology is designed so that Bitcoin development does not stop and keeps attracting more and more investors. The Bitcoin protocol includes such concepts as public and private keys, ensures the security of transactions, and provides tools for developing new financial services such as smart contracts. All of this is based on cryptography.

At the heart of cryptocurrency mining is a math problem. The Bitcoin core contains an algorithm for the calculation of a unique hash — a number that provides a solution to a specific problem. The Bitcoin network is built on the hash function SHA256.

All Bitcoin transactions conducted on a blockchain are saved in a memory pool. When a new block is created in the network, it records information about transactions for which the miner claims transaction fees. Block owners validate Bitcoin transactions to prevent repeating payments and using false data. This is the operating principle of any blockchain technology.

Moreover, you get a reward for successfully mining a block. The reward size is cut in half after every 210,000 blocks or approximately every 4 years.

How to Become a Miner?

There are two options.

Rent Capacity Using Cloud Services

If you have a computer but its capacity is not enough for solo mining, you can also take part in a mining pool. In this case, the block reward will be distributed proportionate to the provided capacities, and you will not need to install any software, with all transactions conducted by web services that are interfaces of secure platforms.

Recently, mobile mining has been gaining popularity. In this case, you can mine cryptocurrency using a mobile app. This is a great passive income source that does not require any investment. However, the profits are also quite small and depend largely on the device’s capacity.

Buy Equipment

Purchasing your own farm is very expensive. Only large companies can afford that. However, Satoshi Nakamoto’s rule of one vote per computer is no longer true. 

Mining Bitcoin using the CPU mining (central processing unit) of one computer is no longer profitable due to the high competition and constantly increasing complexity of hash function calculations. Even though the CPU will solve the problem sooner or later, someone will likely do it before you, and the efforts will be wasted.

GPU mining is actively used by the miners of other digital assets (altcoins) where the rules are not as high as in the case of the Bitcoin blockchain. This method of BTC mining is no longer profitable.

ASIC Mining

As of now, the best option for creating your own mining farm is buying an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). This is a calculation device with an integrated circuit that goes over cryptographic data very fast, searching for the nonce (the number that allows obtaining the necessary hash). The only objective of this computer is to use a specific algorithm for mining digital assets. This is why ASICs are developed for specific blockchains. Their design is minimalistic compared to PCs. However, the price of an efficient ASIC starts at $3500.

There are options below $1,500, but you will need several such devices due to the low hash rate of this equipment. Another aspect is the high demand for such equipment. Often, it is only available for pre-order.

The main factor that should be considered when choosing this device is the hash rate — the computational power of searching for the hash. 

Another factor is the input power. By using an online calculator, you can analyze your profits and find out the farm’s payback time.

You should take into account certain specifics of ASIC operation:

• the equipment is very noisy and can thus only be operated in non-residential premises;
•  the equipment requires serious attention to maintaining the right microclimate, as dust and temperature fluctuations can cause equipment failure;
• high humidity also affects the operational characteristics;
• finding a service center might prove difficult.

You will also need a stable Internet connection and electric power for mining. Mining farms are usually located in countries with low utility commissions and electricity costs, such as Argentina.

Equipment can be ordered at exchange platforms or directly from manufacturers.

How to Choose a Bitcoin Developer?

 The developer’s reputation is the most crucial thing. Even though the whole cryptocurrency industry is quite new, reliable companies have already won the confidence of customers. If you choose to work with a new company, supervise the Bitcoin miner development process in order to ensure the implementation of all the important functions. If the developer is interested in the result, they will be happy to cooperate.

Pay attention to the time frame. Such software cannot be written in one or two days. If the developer does not study your technical specifications or disregards them completely, pretending to know better, this is an untrustworthy partner. At the very best, you will get a standard program that is not customized to your specific tasks. In the worst-case scenario, you will lose money and will not get the necessary software.

Private software developers do not always ensure security and sometimes even deliberately include viruses in the program code. At the end of the day, you might lose all your savings when a third party obtains access to your wallet.

ICODA Offer

If you would like to find out the costs of Bitcoin mining software, contact ICODA. An expert will advise you on the costs and performance time. We have a team of blockchain developers who will be able to offer you the available and the most optimal solutions for the tasks of our clients.

One of the main advantages of ICODA is our capacity to cover all the business aspects. We go way beyond Bitcoin mining software development. If you would like to build secure and decentralized applications, blockchain-based businesses, or deploy a platform, we will take into account your strategy when writing the program code and creating the interface.

We specialize in crypto software development. If necessary, we will create secure Bitcoin services with a high degree of protection, perform Bitcoin API integration, and write Bitcoin payment processors. You can order Bitcoin wallet development.

Our blockchain and Bitcoin development experience allows us to implement a strategic approach to solving each task and to analyze it in the context of other aspects of your activities. We do not simply write programs but strive to contribute to the development of your business. We offer unique solutions and work with each client individually.

You can contact our experts by using the feedback form. We speak several languages and can help you wherever you are. So, you will be able to try the most convenient and robust communication channels and receive a swift reply to any request.

Conclusion

Bitcoin mining software development is a good idea for those who would like to make a profit that would cover the expenses. It is impossible to start a mining business without any investment or to ensure the smooth operation of an entire mining farm using free programs and tools.

Your software should support various devices, distribute operations into threads, ensure security and fulfill other functions. All of this can only be done by customized software.