Electrum vs Mycelium

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.

Mycelium3.7

One of the oldest bitcoin wallets still shipping, strong on Android with deep UTXO control, and an iPhone build nobody has verified.

Verdict: Electrum

Electrum rates higher on our rubric: 4.4 against 3.7 for Mycelium.

Criterion: Editorial rating
Electrum: 4.4
Mycelium: 3.7

Electrum and Mycelium, 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 Mycelium compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
Fact	Electrum	Mycelium
Editorial rating	4.4 (favoured on this row)	3.7
Status	Available	Available
Made by	Electrum Technologies GmbH	Mycelium
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 and held on the phone, recoverable only from a backup you write down
Bitcoin-only	Yes	No
Runs on	Android, Windows, macOS, Linux	iOS, Android
Screen	Not stated	Not stated
Connectivity	Connects to public Electrum servers or one you run yourself, verifying your transactions by SPV	Optional Tor, connection to your own Bitcoin node, NFC, and hardware wallet support for Trezor, Ledger and KeepKey
Released	November 2011, written by Thomas Voegtlin	Android on July 1, 2013 and iPhone on December 17, 2014, per WalletScrutiny
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

Mycelium

What works

Shipping on Android since July 1, 2013, one of the longest unbroken runs of any mobile bitcoin wallet
Real UTXO control on a phone: unspent output visibility, fee bumping, watch-only and single-address savings accounts
Passed all seven of WalletScrutiny's wallet tests, including public source code and an unobfuscated binary
Hardware wallet support for Trezor, Ledger and KeepKey, plus spending directly from paper wallets
Direct APK download, an Obtainium link and a published signing certificate, so Google Play is not the only way in
Optional Tor and your own node, with each third-party service able to be turned off on its own

What to watch

The iPhone app trails badly: WalletScrutiny lists 3.22.0.2 for Android against 2.10 for iPhone
Mycelium's iOS source repository on GitHub is archived, with no commits since June 2024
WalletScrutiny says no iOS build has ever been reproduced, so the reproducibility claim covers Android and not iPhone
WalletScrutiny discloses that its own authors have contributed to Mycelium, so its verdict is not fully independent
No longer bitcoin only: Ethereum and ERC-20 accounts add code a bitcoin-only wallet does not carry
Dated interface, and support runs through a single email address with no live channel

Frequently asked questions

Is Electrum or Mycelium better?

Electrum rates higher on our rubric: 4.4 against 3.7 for Mycelium. 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 Mycelium 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; Mycelium is self-custodial, keys generated and held on the phone, recoverable only from a backup you write down.

Is Electrum or Mycelium bitcoin-only?

Electrum is bitcoin-only; Mycelium supports other assets too. Bitcoin first, with Ethereum and ERC-20 accounts in the same app

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

More comparisons

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