Best Crypto Wallets

Best crypto wallets by use case

No single wallet leads on every criterion. The gap between the top two is 0.2 points, and they serve different chains. Match the wallet to what you hold and how you sign.

• Ethereum and other EVM networks, signing with a hardware device: Rabby Wallet. It scores 10 for fee transparency (a published 0.25% swap fee, included in the quote) and 10 for hardware support (eleven devices on the extension, including QR air-gapped signers). It does not hold Bitcoin, Solana or Tron. Details are in the Rabby Wallet review.
• Bitcoin only, with your own node: Sparrow Wallet. It is the only wallet in the category with 10 for both custody and open source (Apache 2), and it can connect to your own Bitcoin Core node or a private Electrum server. It is desktop only, and its coverage mark is 4 because it holds nothing but bitcoin. See the Sparrow Wallet review.
• Solana first, with some Ethereum, Base or Bitcoin: Phantom. Its swap fee is published as a fixed 0.85% (fee transparency 10) and it pairs with Ledger devices (hardware 8). Trezor and Tangem are listed as unsupported, and Sui support ended on 24 September 2026. See the Phantom review.
• EVM plus Solana and Bitcoin addresses in one browser wallet: MetaMask. Each multichain account carries EVM, Solana and Bitcoin addresses (coverage 8), and the extension lists twelve hardware wallets (hardware 9). Hardware accounts stay EVM-only, and the code is under a non-commercial licence (open source 3).
• Many assets in one desktop and mobile app, with Ledger or Trezor: Exodus. Coverage is 9 (over 700,000 assets, by the company's own count in its 2025 annual report) and hardware support 9. Swap pricing is published only as a spread that starts at 0.5% (fee transparency 5).
• The widest list of unrelated chains on a phone: Trust Wallet, the only 10 for coverage (100+ blockchains). Its own pages disagree on whether swaps carry a 0.7% charge (fees 4), and no current page we opened documents hardware pairing (hardware 4).

How the ranking works

Every wallet is marked from 0 to 10 on the same five criteria, all equally weighted:

• Custody & key control: a high mark needs a plain vendor statement that keys stay on your device and that the vendor cannot reach your funds or recovery phrase.
• Open source: we read the licence file, not the marketing page. A recognized open-source licence scores highest; a public repository under a restrictive licence, or a proprietary core with some open components, scores 3.
• Chain & asset coverage: the networks and assets the vendor says it supports. Single-family wallets score lower by definition, even where the focus is deliberate.
• Fee transparency: whether the wallet's cut on swaps is published as a figure. A fixed published fee scores 10, and so does a stated policy of charging no fee of its own. A spread with only a floor, or pages that contradict each other, score lower.
• Hardware wallet support: whether pairing with a hardware signer is documented and which devices are named. Long multi-brand lists that include air-gapped signers score 10.

The overall score is the plain average of the five marks, rounded to one decimal. Rabby Wallet's marks of 9, 9, 7, 10 and 10 add up to 45, and 45 divided by 5 gives 9.0. Tied scores would be listed alphabetically; there are no ties in this update. The basis is desk research of each vendor's own documentation, licence files and filings, checked on 1 November 2026. We did not test the wallets hands-on. Marks are re-checked when vendors publish new material, and every change is logged with its source in the relevant review. The full rules are on the ratings methodology page.

Wallet	Custody	Open source	Coverage	Fees	Hardware	Overall
Rabby Wallet	9	9	7	10	10	9.0
Sparrow Wallet	10	10	4	10	10	8.8
MetaMask	9	3	8	10	9	7.8
Phantom	9	3	7	10	8	7.4
Exodus	9	3	9	5	9	7.0
Trust Wallet	9	5	10	4	4	6.4

What changed in this update

Five of the six scores rose in November 2026, mostly because vendors' help centers now document things they did not, or that we had not cited, in July 2026. No wallet was withdrawn.

• Rabby Wallet rose to 9.0, from 6.8, and moved from joint second to first. In July its marketing site did not render for us and the entry relied on the repository README. The help center now publishes the 0.25% fee (fees 5 to 10), the hardware list (5 to 10) and an explicit no-access statement (custody 8 to 9).
• Phantom rose to 7.4, from 6.0. Its help center now publishes the 0.85% swap fee (fees 4 to 10) and a nine-network list (coverage 6 to 7).
• MetaMask rose to 7.8, from 6.8. We cited its hardware wallet hub (hardware 5 to 9), and multichain accounts took it beyond EVM networks (coverage 7 to 8).
• Exodus rose to 7.0, from 6.6. Its SEC annual report says private key data is not retained (custody 8 to 9), and the homepage now gives a swap floor (fees 4 to 5). Its open-source mark briefly rose to 4 and returned to 3 under the category's scale rule of 2 November 2026.
• Sparrow Wallet rose to 8.8, from 8.6, under the same scale rule, which counts a wallet that charges no fee of its own as fully transparent (fees 9 to 10).
• Trust Wallet is unchanged at 6.4. New fee material contradicted its swap page rather than settling it, and we found no current page documenting hardware support.

Does a published swap fee mean a low fee?

No. Fee transparency measures whether the cut is stated, not its size. Rabby, MetaMask and Phantom all score 10, but on a $1,000 swap their published fees come to $2.50, $8.75 and $8.50 before network fees and price impact. For wallets that price swaps through a spread, compare the amount the preview says you will receive with the market rate: if $1,000 of one asset returns $985 of another, the all-in cost is about 1.5%.

What the scores do not cover

• Malware, phishing and approvals. A software wallet keeps keys on an internet-connected device. A high custody mark is a statement about the vendor, not a guarantee that your device is clean. Our guide to avoiding wallet scams and phishing covers the common lures.
• Incident history. No criterion scores it. Trust Wallet says an unauthorized version 2.68 of its browser extension, published on 24 December 2025, drained 2,520 addresses.
• Features outside the rubric. Rabby's transaction simulation, Sparrow's privacy tools, and the perps, cards, staking and cash products several wallets bundle are not scored. Many are run by third parties under their own terms and country limits.
• Ease of use and platform range. Sparrow has no mobile app, and Exodus ended its browser extension on 1 October 2026. Neither fact moves a mark.
• Code quality. We read licences and published audit lists but did not audit any code. An audit reviews code at one point in time and is not insurance.

How to choose a software wallet

1. List the chains you actually hold. A wallet that does not support a network cannot receive funds sent on it.
2. Decide whether you will sign with a hardware device, and check that your device appears on the wallet's own list for the platform you use. Mobile lists are shorter than extension lists for Rabby and MetaMask, and MetaMask's hardware accounts cover EVM only. The hardware wallet ratings score the devices themselves.
3. Read the swap preview before confirming, whatever the published fee.
4. Check the licence if independent audit matters to you. Only Sparrow (Apache 2) and Rabby (MIT, with its brand reserved) release the wallet itself under a recognized open-source licence; Trust Wallet publishes its Wallet Core library under Apache 2.0.
5. Back up the recovery phrase offline before funding the wallet; see our seed phrase guide. If you sign in with Google or Apple, as Phantom allows, its help center says keys are held in Phantom's key-management service rather than on the device.
6. Install only from the vendor's official site or app store listing. Rabby and Trust Wallet both state they will never ask for your recovery phrase; treat any request for it as a scam.