EasyMiner is a free Windows program that puts a graphical front end on older mining engines. Its SourceForge page calls it "mostly a graphical frontend for mining Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dogecoin and other various altcoins", licensed GPLv3, with CPU mining plus AMD and NVIDIA GPUs, solo or pooled. The project was registered in December 2015, and its last update is dated May 14, 2020. The download is still there as a 1.2 MB EasyMiner_Setup.exe, and easyminer.net is still online, with a built-in Litecoin wallet and Stratum support on its feature list.
Still online does not mean maintained. The newest blog post on easyminer.net is from April 30, 2019. Softpedia describes EasyMiner as a GUI for minerd.exe and cgminer.exe, and CGMiner itself was archived by its owner on May 27, 2020. Bitcoin and Litecoin are now mined on ASICs, so a CPU or GPU running this stack adds a tiny share of hashrate. Recent coins and GPU algorithms are not in it.
The seven picks below are current and run on hardware you own. Earnings are never guaranteed: they move with coin prices, difficulty and the cost of your power, and none of these tools changes that. Our MultiMiner alternatives guide covers the other classic CGMiner front end that went quiet in 2020.
Prices below are as of November 6, 2026. Our method is on How we review tools.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Price | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kryptex | An install-and-run Windows app like EasyMiner | Free; 1% pool fee | Windows, Android |
| Awesome Miner | One GUI for many miners, pools and rigs | Price on request | Windows; Linux agent |
| NiceHash | Bitcoin payouts from a GPU without choosing a coin | 2% seller fee | Windows, Linux, ASICs |
| XMRig | CPU mining that still makes sense | Free; 1% default donation | Windows, Linux, macOS, FreeBSD |
| lolMiner | Current GPU algorithms on AMD and NVIDIA | Free; 1% to 2% dev fee | Windows, Linux |
| Hive OS | A dedicated rig run from the browser | Free for 2 workers | Linux-based OS |
| Litecoinpool.org | Litecoin and Dogecoin on a Scrypt ASIC | 2% PPS fee | Any Scrypt miner |
Kryptex
EasyMiner asked you to type a pool address, port, worker name and password before it would start. Kryptex skips that step. The Windows app detects the CPU and GPU, picks the coin, switches when another pays better and can convert everything to bitcoin.
Payouts start at 0.00025 BTC and go to BTC, USDT, LTC or other wallets, or to Amazon gift cards. Behind the app is Kryptex Pool, which also accepts third-party miners and Hive OS rigs. An Android miner exists too.
Best for: EasyMiner users on one Windows PC who want the same no-terminal setup.
Pricing:
- App: free
- Pool fee: 1%, stated on the About Pool page
- Minimum payout: 0.00025 BTC
Watch out for:
- Unlike EasyMiner's open source code, Kryptex is a closed commercial app, and the desktop version is Windows only, per the Kryptex homepage.
Official site: Kryptex. Our listing: Kryptex.
Awesome Miner
EasyMiner's real job was wrapping command-line miners in a window. Awesome Miner does that at a much larger scale: the product page says it supports over 50 mining programs and more than 200 ASIC models, with profit switching based on pool statistics.
Version 11.5.11 came out on October 20, 2026, for 64-bit Windows 10, 11 and Server 2012 or later. Linux and Raspberry Pi get remote agents. Most Antminer firmware editions include it at no extra cost for an unlimited number of miners.
Best for: Anyone who liked EasyMiner's GUI but now runs several rigs or ASICs.
Pricing:
- Licence price on request: the upgrade page shows prices after you enter licence details
- Licences count computers, not GPUs
- Included with certain Antminer firmware
Watch out for:
- Closed source, and the full manager runs on Windows only.
- With no public price list, you cannot compare costs before starting the licence process.
Official site: Awesome Miner.
NiceHash
NiceHash removes the coin choice altogether. You sell your GPU or CPU power on its marketplace, a buyer decides what it mines, and your balance grows in bitcoin. Its software runs on Windows, as NiceHash OS on Linux rigs and as firmware on ASICs.
The same company sells EasyMining, which is what part of the "easy miner" searches are after. That product is different: you buy a Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash hashrate package and hope it finds a block, per the EasyMining guide.
Best for: Gaming PC owners who want one currency at the end instead of many small coins.
Pricing:
- Seller fee: 2%
- BTC withdrawal: 0.00003 BTC, from 0.001 BTC
- EasyMining packages: priced per package in the dashboard
Watch out for:
- Earnings sit in a custodial wallet until withdrawn. NiceHash lost bitcoin in a December 2017 hack and finished refunding 4,640 BTC in December 2020.
Official site: NiceHash. Our listing: NiceHash.
XMRig
EasyMiner's CPU mode targeted SHA-256 and Scrypt, algorithms CPUs lost years ago. Monero's RandomX was designed for CPUs, and XMRig is the open source miner for it. Version 6.26.0 is dated March 28, 2026.
It is GPL-3.0 like EasyMiner, ships for Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD, and runs on x86, ARM and RISC-V, so Apple Silicon works. A 1% donation to the developers is on by default and can be changed.
Best for: Laptop and desktop owners who want their CPU to mine something that still pays.
Pricing:
- Free and open source (GPL-3.0)
- 1% default donation, adjustable
Watch out for:
- There is no window to click through. Setup is a JSON config or command-line flags, per the XMRig README, plus a Monero wallet and a pool.
Official site: XMRig.
lolMiner
For GPU owners, lolMiner replaces the CGMiner engine under EasyMiner with one that knows today's algorithms: Etchash for Ethereum Classic, Autolykos V2 for Ergo, KarlsenhashV2, FishHash, Sha3x and Cuckaroo-29.
Build 1.98a supports NVIDIA from the GTX 1000 series to the RTX 5000 and AMD from the RX 400 to the RX 9000. You point it at the pool of your choice from a short batch file.
Best for: GPU miners ready to pick a coin and a pool themselves.
Pricing:
- Free download
- Dev fee: 2% on Cuckaroo-29 and Octopus, 1% on Sha3x
Watch out for:
- Closed source binaries for 64-bit Windows and Linux only, per the releases page.
Official site: lolMiner.
Hive OS
If EasyMiner ran on a spare PC that now does nothing else, Hive OS is the cleaner setup. It replaces Windows with a Linux-based mining system and moves control to a web dashboard you can open from a phone.
Flight sheets save the coin, wallet, pool and miner as one profile, and the dashboard handles overclocks, reboots and alerts. ASICs can sit on the same account.
Best for: One or two dedicated rigs that should run without a monitor attached.
Pricing:
- Free for 2 workers, 3 days of stats
- GPU rig: $0.50 per card per month, up to $3.00 for 6 or more
- CPU rig: $0.50 per month
Watch out for:
- Paid plans are billed in crypto only through CoinPayments, and a third worker makes all three billable, per the pricing page.
- Not for a PC you also use for games or work, since it replaces the operating system.
Official site: Hive OS.
Litecoinpool.org
EasyMiner shipped with a Litecoin wallet, and many of its users mined LTC. That coin is now mined with Scrypt ASICs, and Litecoinpool.org is one of the long-running pools for them. It pays on PPS, and Dogecoin from merged mining is paid out directly next to LTC.
Other merge-mined coins such as Bells, Junkcoin, Luckycoin and Pepecoin are not paid out; their value goes into a higher PPS rate instead, per the help page.
Best for: Owners of a Scrypt ASIC who want LTC and DOGE from one pool.
Pricing:
- PPS fee: 2% for Litecoin and Dogecoin, built into the share rate
- No payout fees
Watch out for:
- Useless for a CPU or GPU; you need a Scrypt ASIC to earn anything here.
Official site: Litecoinpool.org.
How to choose
| If you need | Pick |
|---|---|
| A one-window Windows miner with no pool setup | Kryptex |
| A GUI over many miners and machines | Awesome Miner |
| Bitcoin payouts without picking a coin | NiceHash |
| Open source CPU mining on Windows, Mac or Linux | XMRig |
| Current GPU algorithms | lolMiner |
| A headless rig managed from a phone | Hive OS |
| Litecoin and Dogecoin from an ASIC | Litecoinpool.org |
When to stay with Easy Miner
EasyMiner still makes sense for one job: learning how Stratum, pools and worker logins fit together on an old Windows PC, with nothing at stake. For earning anything, its engines are too old and its coins belong to ASICs. Get the installer only from the SourceForge project, because copies of mining software on other sites are a common way to spread malware.
Frequently asked questions
Is EasyMiner safe to download?
The official installer lives on SourceForge under a GPLv3 licence, so the code is open. Antivirus tools often flag any mining software, which makes it hard to tell a false alarm from a tampered copy. Download from the official project page only and avoid repacked versions from file mirrors.
Does EasyMiner still work?
The program still installs, but it has not been updated since May 2020 and relies on CGMiner and minerd. Bitcoin and Litecoin on a CPU or GPU now earn close to nothing, and newer GPU algorithms are not supported.
Is easy miner the same as NiceHash EasyMining?
No. EasyMiner is open source mining software you run yourself. NiceHash EasyMining is a paid service where you buy a hashrate package for Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash and receive the block reward only if the package finds a block. Most packages do not.
What is the easiest mining software for Windows today?
Kryptex needs the fewest steps: install, sign in and it chooses what to mine. NiceHash is close behind and pays everything in bitcoin. Both are free to download and take a fee from earnings.