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Best Monero wallets — set one up before you buy

Whatever way you buy Monero, it should be delivered to a wallet you control, not an exchange account. A self-custody wallet holds your keys, gives you a receive address, and lets you confirm your XMR has actually arrived. All of the wallets below are free, open-source, and non-custodial.

Disclosure: the wallets here are recommended on merit — these are not affiliate links. Elsewhere on the site some exchange links are sponsored. Not financial advice.

Our picks

Best for beginners

Cake Wallet

iOS & Android, open-source, dead-simple. Built-in buy/swap, and it also does Bitcoin. The easiest place to start on a phone.

Best on desktop

Feather

Lightweight, fast, Tor-friendly desktop wallet with sensible defaults. A favourite of privacy-minded users.

Most trustless

Monero GUI

The official reference wallet. Run it with your own full node for maximum verification and privacy.

Multi-coin mobile

Stack Wallet

Open-source wallet that holds Monero alongside other coins, if you want one app for everything.

Download only from the official sites: cakewallet.com, featherwallet.org, getmonero.org/downloads, stackwallet.com. Bookmark them — fake wallet sites are a common scam.

How to choose

If you…	Use
Are new and on a phone	Cake Wallet
Want speed + Tor on a laptop	Feather
Want to verify everything yourself	Monero GUI + your own node
Hold several coins in one app	Stack Wallet
Store a large amount long-term	Monero GUI on an offline/cold setup, or a hardware wallet paired with Feather/GUI

Set up in five steps

Install from the official site above.
Create a new wallet and let it generate your 25-word mnemonic seed.
Write the seed on paper — never a screenshot, never the cloud. Store it offline, ideally in two places.
Set a strong wallet password/PIN for the app on your device.
Copy your receive address (or a fresh subaddress). That's what you give the swap, seller or ATM.

The seed is your money. Anyone who has it can take your Monero; if you lose it and lose the device, the coins are gone forever. No company can reset it — that's the point of self-custody.

Wallet ready? Now buy

Pick a method and get the best rate straight into the wallet you just made.

See all ways to buy → Compare swap rates