Electrum vs Trust 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.

Trust Wallet2.9

Use the phone app, think twice about the extension: an attacker published a malicious build of it on December 24, 2025.

Verdict: Electrum

Electrum rates higher on our rubric: 4.4 against 2.9 for Trust Wallet.

Criterion: Editorial rating
Electrum: 4.4
Trust Wallet: 2.9

Electrum and Trust 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 Trust Wallet compared fact by fact from their reviews; a check marks the side a decidable criterion favours.
Fact	Electrum	Trust Wallet
Editorial rating	4.4 (favoured on this row)	2.9
Status	Available	Available
Made by	Electrum Technologies GmbH	Trust Wallet
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 own device and never held by Trust Wallet
Bitcoin-only	Yes	No
Runs on	Android, Windows, macOS, Linux	iOS, Android, 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	228
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

Trust Wallet

What works

Keys are generated on your device, and Trust Wallet's terms describe it as non-custodial software rather than an account
The mobile apps were untouched by the December 2025 browser extension compromise
Trust Wallet published a dated timeline that names its own leaked publishing key as the way in
It decided to reimburse affected users voluntarily and put the process in writing
One app holds bitcoin alongside Ethereum, Solana and hundreds of other chains

What to watch

An attacker shipped a malicious build of the Chrome extension directly to users, so installing it means trusting a publishing pipeline that has failed once
Trust Wallet counts 2,520 affected addresses against over 5,000 reimbursement claims, and reviews them case by case with no published deadline
Keys sit on an internet connected phone, so this is a hot wallet: savings belong on a hardware wallet instead
Bitcoin is one chain among hundreds, and the interface is built around tokens and dapps rather than around bitcoin
The Earn feature is unavailable in 33 countries and territories, including the United States, the United Kingdom and most of the European Economic Area

Frequently asked questions

Is Electrum or Trust Wallet better?

Electrum rates higher on our rubric: 4.4 against 2.9 for Trust 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 Trust 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; Trust Wallet is self-custodial, keys generated on your own device and never held by Trust Wallet.

Is Electrum or Trust Wallet bitcoin-only?

Electrum is bitcoin-only; Trust Wallet supports other assets too. Bitcoin alongside Ethereum, Solana and hundreds of other chains and tokens

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

More comparisons

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