Cake Wallet vs Zengo

Comparing: two wallets
Decided by: Editorial rating
Last reviewed: 2026-08-25

Open source Monero-first wallet with real bitcoin privacy tools, carrying a 2021 key generation bug that is still costing people coins.

Zengo3.4

The wallet with no seed phrase: two MPC shares replace the private key, which removes one risk and adds a dependency.

Verdict: Zengo

Zengo rates higher on our rubric: 3.4 against 3.3 for Cake Wallet.

Criterion: Editorial rating
Cake Wallet: 3.3
Zengo: 3.4

Cake Wallet and Zengo, fact by fact

Every row is from the two reviews as of their review dates, with sources on each. A check marks the side a decidable criterion favours; rows without one are information, not a score.

Cake Wallet and Zengo compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
Fact	Cake Wallet	Zengo
Editorial rating	3.3	3.4 (favoured on this row)
Status	Available	Available
Made by	Cake Labs	Zengo
Price	Free download	Free download
Who holds the keys	self-custodial, seed and keys generated and stored on your own device, with no account and no telemetry	self-custodial MPC, with no seed phrase: one secret share on your phone, one on Zengo's server, never combined
Bitcoin-only	No	No
Runs on	iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux	iOS, Android
Screen	Not stated	Not stated
Connectivity	Tor for all traffic, connection to your own node, Ledger hardware signing, and silent payments plus PayJoin on the bitcoin side	Not stated
Released	2018, launched as the first open-source Monero wallet on iOS	2018
Countries on the maker's list	No published list	No published list
Last reviewed	2026-08-25	2026-08-25

Pros and cons, side by side

Cake Wallet

What works

Open source under an MIT license, with a public repository that is actively developed
Self-custodial with no account and no KYC, and, in Cake's words, zero data collection or telemetry
Genuine bitcoin privacy tooling: silent payments and PayJoin, plus Tor for all traffic and your own node
Handles Monero properly, which almost no other multi-asset wallet does
Ledger hardware wallet support, plus Cake's own two-factor option and biometric unlock
Reachable outside the app stores: direct APK, Accrescent, and Windows and Linux builds

What to watch

Bitcoin wallets created before v4.1.7 are permanently unsafe and have to be replaced, not just updated
The Milk Sad researchers traced sweeps of those weak wallets continuing into 2024, three years after the warning
The flaw was in Cake's own key generation code rather than a third-party library, and it ran through 2020 and 2021
Multi-asset by design, so it carries far more chains and far more code than a bitcoin-only wallet
Monero's privacy guarantees and much more transparent chains share one app, which takes care to use well

Zengo

What works

No seed phrase exists, so there is nothing to write down, photograph, or be tricked into typing
Two independently created MPC shares, one on your phone and one on Zengo's server, that are never combined
Three factor recovery, with a documented option to register a backup for each of the three
Zengo says its MPC cryptography is open source, audited and peer reviewed
Support is available 24/7 from inside the app, which is rare in self-custody

What to watch

Signing requires Zengo's server, so the wallet depends on the company staying reachable in a way a seed phrase does not
The wallet app itself is closed source; only the cryptography underneath it is published
Recovery runs through your email, your cloud account and a face scan, which is three dependencies instead of one piece of paper
Never hacked and 2+ million wallets are Zengo's own claims on Zengo's own homepage, with no independent confirmation
Mobile only, with no desktop app and no hardware signing

Frequently asked questions

Is Cake Wallet or Zengo better?

Zengo rates higher on our rubric: 3.4 against 3.3 for Cake Wallet. The rating follows the product rubric published on our about page; the rows above set custody, price and platforms side by side so you can check it.

Are Cake Wallet and Zengo free?

Yes, both are free to download. What differs is who holds the keys: Cake Wallet is self-custodial, seed and keys generated and stored on your own device, with no account and no telemetry; Zengo is self-custodial MPC, with no seed phrase: one secret share on your phone, one on Zengo's server, never combined.

Is Cake Wallet or Zengo bitcoin-only?

Neither: both support assets beyond bitcoin. Cake Wallet: Multi-asset: Monero, bitcoin, Lightning, Litecoin, Ethereum, Solana, Zcash, Bitcoin Cash and more. Zengo: Bitcoin among 1,000+ assets, including Ethereum, Solana, TRON and stablecoins.

The full reviews: Cake Wallet and Zengo, each with its sources, and every wallet we review.

More comparisons

Every other head-to-head Cake Wallet or Zengo appears in.