Bitcoin Forum

What are the most popular miners actually used and the estimated share of bitcoin users using them?
It this info isn't readily available, I would be grateful for pointers on how to estimate or find this. 

Thanks

Mostly any miner from Bitmain or Spondoolies-Tech.

I would not forget about Avalon as they had past miners and have the 6 shipping now.  So they are current aswell.  SP .... they are not really looking for home/hobby buyers currently.

As far as "popular" it's in no way the newest or best efficiency but there are a heck of a lot of A1 chip miners out there.  They come in all forms, shapes, and speeds. So I'm guessing A1 miners rank up there as so many companies were using them at one point.

antminers are the post popular one, and then you have avalon, it's not like there are many more out there, the market is very restricted

s3-s5-s7 are the good one now

S3/S5/S7 ones are really good. A friend of mine has 2 S7 and a S5. They're doing great :)

I'm running a compaq/sidehack stick at the moment... It's a niche market, but it seems that on the forum, it's rather popular with a lot of homeminers...

Antminer S4, S5 & S7.  Avalon 6 and SP35.   Those are the best choice at the moment.

This is the most popular as in amount made, not best or most efficient. If I understand OP right.

I'm thinking it might be A1 miners as so many used their chips for quite a while.  If not possibly S3's seems like there is a ton of them.  One that could surprise me is the asic miner usb stick not sure how many of those are out there but they pumped out a ton of those for a bit.

*Reread it is possible the share of active miners.  If that I'm guessing S3 win's.  If he mean actually used as currently and not past.

I like them too, since they are stable and reliable companies. The miner itself are priced competative (close to getting ROI or even getting ROI).

OP is not asking which ones we like or which ones are best current.  He asked "This is the most popular as in amount made,".  This is a huge difference in question vs most answers in this thread.

I'm not sure if we have the data to know what was most produced.   I listed a few above I think it likely is, but that is pure speculation.  They don't release numbers in most cases.

Folks,

I should have been more specific with my question.  I meant bitcoin mining software, like CGMiner, not hardware.  My apologies for the lack of clarity. 

And by popular I mean the following: out of all the people mining bitcoins in the world, what bitcoin mining software is most used (top 5 would be great).  I understand CG Minger is pretty popular, but it seems pools have their own proprietary miners.

Cheers

Btc mining software is pretty much cgminer, and bfgminer.  That is really the two most used a lot have cgminer in background you might not even know your using it.  For example many miners have a nice GUI frontend with cgminer running behind it.

What miner are you looking at?   Really asics is what it all comes down to in BTC mining now.

Thanks notlist,

I'm actually working on a project to understand how mining software evolves over time, and specifically whether changes in price lead to specific types of changes in the mining software. 

Well, cgminer and bgfminer narrows it down a lot, doesn't it.  How do you know that these are the most popular ones?

 

The software does not narrow it down at all really.  You need a asic to mine BTC really.  Look at the hardware section of the forum and you will see a lot of different hardware.

What is your electricity price?  With that we can know if you stand a chance mining.

I'm not investigating mining for myself.  I'm investigating how mining software evolves for a data mining project.  In order to understand that, I want to know which mining software is actually used by people worldwide to mine btc.  I understand cgminer and bfgminer are popular, but how do you know that they are the most popular ones?  Are there are any other ones that have traction as well? 

The reason I know is they are the two that keep updating and are active.   I suggest if you want exact anwsers look at asics and see how many have a backend of cgminer running.  I think you will be suprised how many do.

But no there is not a good number we can give you.  You could investigate and find out X miners in past X timeframe use X software.   But as far as number of machines running it don't think you will get that info.

And just to understand are you talking about like big data stuff? Or are you talking about mining as in sha256?   Just making sure were talking about same thing.

For sure antminers are the most popular miners. This is due bitmain has been long in the game and proven they are solid regarding delivery, support and more.

I think Spondoolies was the surprise of 2015, coming up as number 2 asic supplier.

Back in the day i had a lot of Antminers. I chose for bitmain since everybody was postive of them. My choice was based on that fact.

Looking back it was a good choice, they delivered and even provided adequate support. Let's see how it will go in the future, but so far it is good.

If you take that into account, you will understand why their antminers are the most populair miners in years. Every batch has been sold out in no time..

A week  ago i wanted to buy the S7 batch 7, and guess what.. sold out in 3 days.

Spondoolies Tech offers some very reliable and stable miners too.

Though bitmain has the advantage of being the first Spondoolies Tech grew enormously.

Seeing they focus on the 'rich' miners with their SP 50
http://www.spondoolies-tech.com/products/sp50

Was a decision I don't understand. With the SP 35 they claim to help the small miners. Then a month later they totally ignore the small miners..

Let's face it, it was more profitable to focus on the guys with the big bucks, then on the guys whom bargain for 1 or 2 miners.

For the future of bitcoin i hope more small miners will dominate the market though.

Yes the Miners of Spondoolies Tech are also quite reputable. The Avalons miners are also quite popular

I think a lot are missing OP's posts.  He is not asking about miners but the software.  Look above what he put.  It's a little confusing.

But I don't think he is looking for a miner.  I'm not sure why he want's numbers on software... but if you read it that is what it comes to.

To me  OP wants both information and advice.

Regarding advice i would go for the S5 (second hand) start with it and learn about pools and mining in general, When you are a pro go for the big miners.

To me your looking for a post.  Look at OP's last login - November 01, 2015, 01:56:43.  There was zero need to bump this thread.  Also he was looking for the most popular not best, most popular.

Let this thread die as OP is not coming back.

i'm sure this has been posted, but you can check out https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison for a comprehensive list of miners available and past.

He is wanting the "most popular" miner not best or a list.   As far as info I don't think we really have which one sold the most.  Just with most being private business's it does not happen on release of info.

But lets let this thread die.  Look at OP's last login - November 01, 2015, 01:56:43.  He is not coming back.  I wish I could click close button.

Hey notlist3d, thank you for your answer.  You understood my question.  Exactly, I am NOT looking for information about hardware, just software. 


I don't understand what you mean by this. 

Regarding why I want numbers on software.  I would like to understand the evolution of mining software.  Specifically, what types of changes to the code are made as time goes on.  This is possible to do with CGMiner and BFGMiner because they are up on Github.  If they are in fact the most popular miners, then that is sufficient.  But if 80% of the BTC are actually mined with a proprietary software that a pool uses, then analyzing the changes to CGMiner and BFGMiner would be misleading.  But it seems based on your answer that it IS in fact mostly CGMiner and BFGMiner...

Thanks again for the information, really appreciate it. 

It is CGMIner and BFGMiner they are the ones most will  know this as it just is what everyone uses.  I'm not sure how you will ever get numbers though as far as how many use what.

A lot of asic companies never release how many miners they make.  So there is already a huge thing you really won't get stats for.  You could ask the makers of each progam... but I'm not sure how much they really would release just for you to know.  I would think they might want a better cause then a person just wondering to give out their info, but I could be wrong.

Pools don't mine.
Pools send work TO miners then gather the results.

He's wanting to know the program that is being used.  I just don't think the data is there.  We have no idea how many machines have CGMiner running within them.  Just most companies don't release this.   Also people using BFGMiner or CGMiner of RPI's and such.

I do not think he will get the anwser he want's.  I would be very surprised if there is a accurate number out there.  If was all public companies on miner makers would stand a lot better chance, but most are private companies.

I had a S5 Antminers I was kinda happy with it.
But I sold it, because I just want to earn more bitcoin with out gambling. Also is to warm in my room so better not.

The S5 runs loud and hot.  I would not recommend it for a room you need quiet like bedroom or living room, etc.

There are some good miners for by you but a S5 is not one.  And you should never have to gamble to make ROI.  If your doing it where you have to gamble to make money you should not be mining.