Choosing a Stake Pool

With thousands of stake pools on Cardano, choosing the right one can seem overwhelming. Here's what to look for when making your decision.

Key Factors

Saturation

Saturation indicates how much of a pool's capacity is being used. Pools become "saturated" when they reach approximately 74 million ADA in stake.

  • Under 100% — Optimal. Rewards are not diminished.
  • At or over 100% — Over-saturated. Rewards decrease for all delegators.

Tip: Look for pools with lower saturation for optimal rewards. At ADAvault, we mark our lowest-saturated pool as "Recommended."

Fees

Stake pools charge two types of fees:

  • Fixed fee: A set amount taken from pool rewards each epoch
  • Variable fee (margin): A percentage of rewards after the fixed fee

Lower fees mean more rewards for you, but extremely low fees might indicate an unsustainable operation. ADAvault charges 0% variable fee and a ₳340 fixed fee.

Performance

Pool performance compares actual blocks produced to expected blocks based on stake. Look for:

  • 90-100%+ — Excellent, consistently producing expected blocks
  • 80-90% — Good, minor variance is normal
  • Below 80% — Investigate further, may indicate issues

Pledge

Pledge is the amount of ADA the pool operator has committed. Higher pledge shows operator commitment and slightly increases rewards through the protocol's incentive formula.

History & Reliability

Consider how long the pool has been operating and its track record:

  • Consistent block production over many epochs
  • Active communication and updates from operators
  • No history of missed blocks or downtime

Research Tools

Use these tools to research and compare pools:

Why ADAvault?

ADAvault offers:

  • Four pools to choose from, with varying saturation levels
  • 0% variable fee (through July 2026)
  • 99.9% uptime with bare metal infrastructure
  • Professional operation since epoch 208
  • 100% carbon neutral operations

View our pools and find the right fit for your delegation.

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