PPS and PPS+
PPS stands for pay per share. It pays a fixed amount for every valid share you submit, whether or not the pool finds a block. The pool absorbs all the luck, and usually charges a higher fee for it.
The amount per share comes from the expected value of the work. In its classic form it is the block subsidy divided by the network difficulty, scaled by your share's difficulty. So a share worth one millionth of a block's work pays one millionth of the subsidy, minus the fee.
The pool carries the variance. If it finds blocks slowly for a week, it still pays every share and covers the gap from its own reserves. If it is lucky, it keeps the extra. That risk is why PPS fees are usually higher than proportional ones.
Plain PPS pays only the subsidy part. Transaction fees are left out. PPS+ adds them back: the subsidy is paid per share as in PPS, and the transaction fees of the blocks the pool actually finds are shared among miners on top. FPPS goes a step further and pays an average fee value per share as well.
What PPS gives a miner is predictability. The same hashrate earns about the same each day, with no wait for blocks. It also means switching pools costs nothing, because there is no window of past shares to lose.
A common misconception is that PPS earns more. It earns about the same on average, minus a higher fee. You pay for the steadiness. Another is that PPS means no variance at all. The pool still estimates your hashrate from shares, so daily earnings still wobble a little with share luck.
Which scheme a HeroMiners pool runs is shown on the HeroMiners hub, on the All Pools overview, so read it there rather than assuming. Under a proportional scheme you earn your share of each block the pool actually finds. Under PPS+ you are credited per share, with transaction fees shared on top.
