Coinbase Wallet vs Electrum

Comparing: two wallets
Decided by: Editorial rating
Last reviewed: 2026-08-26

Coinbase's self-custody wallet is now Base App, and the product has moved its center of gravity to Base.

Electrum4.4Bitcoin-only

The oldest bitcoin wallet still in active development, and the one whose users are hunted by a fake-update scam running since December 2018.

Verdict: Electrum

Electrum rates higher on our rubric: 4.4 against 3.1 for Coinbase Wallet.

Criterion: Editorial rating
Coinbase Wallet: 3.1
Electrum: 4.4

Coinbase Wallet and Electrum, 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.

Coinbase Wallet and Electrum compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
Fact	Coinbase Wallet	Electrum
Editorial rating	3.1	4.4 (favoured on this row)
Status	Available	Available
Made by	Coinbase	Electrum Technologies GmbH
Price	Free download	Free download
Who holds the keys	self-custodial, keys held on your device, unlike the custodial Coinbase.com exchange account	self-custodial, keys generated and encrypted on your own machine, with transactions checked by SPV
Bitcoin-only	No	Yes
Runs on	iOS, Android	Android, Windows, macOS, Linux
Screen	Not stated	Not stated
Connectivity	Not stated	Connects to public Electrum servers or one you run yourself, verifying your transactions by SPV
Released	2018, relaunched under the Base App name	November 2011, written by Thomas Voegtlin
Countries on the maker's list	No published list	No published list
Last reviewed	2026-08-26	2026-08-25

Pros and cons, side by side

Coinbase Wallet

What works

Genuinely self-custodial and separate from the custodial Coinbase.com exchange account
Backed by a large listed company with a real security team and a bug bounty
Apple Pay deposits and a familiar trading interface for people already using Coinbase
Holds bitcoin alongside Ethereum, Solana and Base assets in one app

What to watch

The product has been rebranded as Base App, so most reviews and guides describe an app that no longer looks like this
Built around Base and trading rather than around bitcoin, with no Lightning and no coin control
coinbase.com/legal/wallet now returns a 404, so there is no wallet-specific terms document to read
A hot wallet on a phone, with no secure element
The May 2025 support contractor breach put real customer names and addresses in criminal hands, which fuels convincing impersonation

Electrum

What works

Continuously maintained since November 2011, which nothing else on this list can claim
Lightweight: it checks your transactions by SPV instead of downloading the whole chain
Reproducible builds, signed by several independent builders, with signatures published next to every download
Hardware wallet support for Ledger, Trezor and KeepKey, plus multisig and watch-only cold storage
MIT licensed, and anyone can run the server software it talks to, so no company controls the network
An official Android build on both Google Play and F-Droid

What to watch

Users are the target of a fake-update scam that ZDNet traced to more than 22 million dollars of thefts by October 2020
The interface assumes you already know what a change address and a derivation path are
Windows builds are often flagged by antivirus heuristics, which the project says it cannot do anything about
No iOS version, and no built-in way to buy bitcoin
Two-factor signing runs through a third party, Trustedcoin, rather than the wallet alone

Frequently asked questions

Is Coinbase Wallet or Electrum better?

Electrum rates higher on our rubric: 4.4 against 3.1 for Coinbase 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 Coinbase Wallet and Electrum free?

Yes, both are free to download. What differs is who holds the keys: Coinbase Wallet is self-custodial, keys held on your device, unlike the custodial Coinbase.com exchange account; Electrum is self-custodial, keys generated and encrypted on your own machine, with transactions checked by SPV.

Is Coinbase Wallet or Electrum bitcoin-only?

Electrum is bitcoin-only; Coinbase Wallet supports other assets too. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Base network assets, per the app's own sign-in page

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

More comparisons

Every other head-to-head Coinbase Wallet or Electrum appears in.