Electrum vs Guarda Wallet

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

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.

Guarda Wallet3.0

A capable multi-platform wallet whose 2020 domain hijack exposed the real weakness: a login flow built on uploading your backup.

Verdict: Electrum

Electrum rates higher on our rubric: 4.4 against 3.0 for Guarda Wallet.

Criterion: Editorial rating
Electrum: 4.4
Guarda Wallet: 3.0

Electrum and Guarda Wallet, 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.

Electrum and Guarda Wallet compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
Fact	Electrum	Guarda Wallet
Editorial rating	4.4 (favoured on this row)	3.0
Status	Available	Available
Made by	Electrum Technologies GmbH	Guarda
Price	Free download	Free download
Who holds the keys	self-custodial, keys generated and encrypted on your own machine, with transactions checked by SPV	self-custodial, keys generated on your device and encrypted under a password you choose
Bitcoin-only	Yes	No
Runs on	Android, Windows, macOS, Linux	iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, Browser extension
Screen	Not stated	Not stated
Connectivity	Connects to public Electrum servers or one you run yourself, verifying your transactions by SPV	Not stated
Released	November 2011, written by Thomas Voegtlin	2017
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

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

Guarda Wallet

What works

Guarda's CEO published a dated, detailed account of the 2020 attack, including the registrar's own logs
Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, a web app and a Chrome extension
Keys are generated locally and encrypted under your own password, and Guarda never holds them
Staking on 14 networks, multisig support and 24/7 live support, per Guarda's own site
Buying built in with cards and Apple Pay across a wide asset range

What to watch

The web and extension flow involves uploading your backup file, which is precisely what the 2020 phishing page was built to collect
The 2020 breakdown came through a domain registrar account, a dependency Guarda does not control and cannot audit
Third party perpetual futures and prediction markets now sit inside the wallet, which is more moving parts than holding bitcoin needs
The user, token and blockchain counts are Guarda's own figures, published on its own homepage
A hot wallet with no hardware signing of its own

Frequently asked questions

Is Electrum or Guarda Wallet better?

Electrum rates higher on our rubric: 4.4 against 3.0 for Guarda 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 Electrum and Guarda Wallet free?

Yes, both are free to download. What differs is who holds the keys: Electrum is self-custodial, keys generated and encrypted on your own machine, with transactions checked by SPV; Guarda Wallet is self-custodial, keys generated on your device and encrypted under a password you choose.

Is Electrum or Guarda Wallet bitcoin-only?

Electrum is bitcoin-only; Guarda Wallet supports other assets too. Bitcoin plus more than 70 blockchains, by Guarda's own count

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

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