Crypto wallets compared: swap fees, hardware and browser extensions
For anyone weighing a free app against a device they pay for once: 11 wallets and 27 priced lines, every figure checked against the store or app that sells it in 2026. It also covers the part no price tag shows, which is what a free wallet takes when you swap inside it.
Do crypto wallets cost money?
6 of these 11 wallets are free software you download and keep. The rest are hardware, paid for once, and no vendor in the set sells a subscription. What you pay instead sits inside the app, in the cut taken when you swap one token for another. Prices checked July 29, 2026.
Every wallet in the set publishes what it charges, and not one of the 27 lines we read comes without a figure.
The market runs on two shapes, and plenty of buyers end up with one of each. 6 of the 11 are free software; the rest are hardware that signs for whichever app you already use.
Subscriptions were tried here and did not stick. One vendor retired its paid tier, then dropped the institutional step from its public pricing. Another moved its recurring plan onto its exchange, away from the wallet.
The wallets that cost nothing still earn on swaps, and disclosure of that cut runs from a vendor printing its own fee list to a vendor formally declining to name a number.
Network fees go to the chain and not to the wallet company, and more than one vendor here states in writing that it adds nothing on top.
Inside a single hardware range the price runs a long way, from an entry stick to a touchscreen flagship several times its price. The choice buyers face is a model, not a brand.
Ranked by a transparency score: pricing transparency 60%, user satisfaction 40%. Capability is not scored. It is the condition grid below. Prices are read from vendor pricing pages and re-checked per product on the dates shown. ComparEdge sells no crypto wallets and takes no payment for placement. How the score is built.
01 / 06
Crypto wallets ranked: swap fees, hardware support and extensions
No wallet in this market charges a monthly fee, so the price axis is empty by design and the track carries the billing shape instead: free, or bought once. Disclosure is a tie here, since every vendor prints what it charges.
Sorted by transparency scorePriced tiers 27 / 27Full disclosure 11 / 11How to read this table
Reading the console
The track stands in for the price axis here. Free is software you download and keep. One-time is a device bought once at its listed price, with a free app to run it. The columns alongside mark which wallets are free, whether every tier carries a figure, and three practical questions: is it hardware, is there a mobile app, is there a browser extension. None of it prices the swap inside the app, and that is the number that costs you later. The cut runs from zero at one vendor, through a ceiling of up to one percent, to a vendor that will not put a number on it anywhere.
Granted
Listed on the vendor’s own pages on the verify date.
Conditional
Present, but some tiers carry no published price.
Not on the record
Absent from the recorded feature set. It means unlisted, not incapable.
01Trust WalletFree, no paid plansFree tierAll tiers pricedHardware wallet not on the recordMobile app listedBrowser extension listedFree100Alternatives to Trust Wallet
02PhantomFree, no paid plansFree tierAll tiers pricedHardware wallet not on the recordMobile app listedBrowser extension listedFree94Alternatives to Phantom
03SafePalOne-time licensefrom $49.99No free tierAll tiers pricedHardware wallet listedMobile app listedBrowser extension not on the record$49.99once90Alternatives to SafePal
04MetaMaskFree, no paid plansFree tierAll tiers pricedHardware wallet not on the recordMobile app listedBrowser extension listedFree88Alternatives to MetaMask
05TrezorOne-time licensefrom $59No free tierAll tiers pricedHardware wallet listedMobile app not on the recordBrowser extension not on the record$59once88Alternatives to Trezor
06Rabby WalletFree, no paid plansFree tierAll tiers pricedHardware wallet not on the recordMobile app not on the recordBrowser extension listedFree88Alternatives to Rabby Wallet
07LedgerOne-time licensefrom $79No free tierAll tiers pricedHardware wallet listedMobile app listedBrowser extension not on the record$79once87Alternatives to Ledger
08ExodusFree, no paid plansFree tierAll tiers pricedHardware wallet listedMobile app listedBrowser extension listedFree86Alternatives to Exodus
09KeystoneOne-time licensefrom $149No free tierAll tiers pricedHardware wallet listedMobile app not on the recordBrowser extension not on the record$149once86Alternatives to Keystone
10TangemOne-time licensefrom $54.90No free tierAll tiers pricedHardware wallet listedMobile app listedBrowser extension not on the record$54.90once84Alternatives to Tangem
Scroll the console sideways to reach the remaining conditions.
02 / 06
Every wallet's fees, verdicts and the date we checked each rate
Each record opens on the range itself: the devices and their prices, or the fee list behind a free app. Prices were read from live vendor pages, last on July 29, 2026.
One free app across a hundred-plus chains, for a first wallet that should not come with homework. Trust Wallet charges no markup on a swap, and it puts that in writing.
Beginners who trade inside the app get the cleanest deal here: Trust Wallet keeps no markup of its own, so the swap price is whatever the router charges. Buying with a card is the expensive door, and that fee belongs to a partner.
Where Trust Wallet holds up
100+ blockchain support - broadest chain coverage of any single wallet
In-app staking for multiple networks without external interfaces
Binance backing provides development resources and trust floor
Anyone who never wanted collectibles and staking to sit in a separate app from the Solana wallet. Phantom is free with no subscription, though its current page puts no number on the swap inside it.
Critical gapThe interface experiences occasional rendering failures during menu state transitions.
Plan table and expert take
Phantom: expert take
The one number Phantom will not give you today is its swap fee: the current page says only that fees may apply. Everything else is plain enough. Free wallet, no subscription, and the network takes its gas whether the transaction lands or not.
Where Phantom holds up
Best-in-class Solana wallet with polished UX and NFT display
Multi-chain support: Solana, Ethereum, and Bitcoin
In-app staking for SOL and Solana ecosystem tokens
Strong browser extension and mobile app maintained consistently
★★★★★4.8CE scoreG2 4.7 · 5 reviewsFounded 2021Verified July 8, 2026
From here down, the order moves on user rating alone. Every wallet on this page states its price in full, so nothing below the line is holding a figure back.
An air-gapped device that signs by QR code, at the lowest hardware price in this table: the SafePal S1 at $49.99. The companion app is free, and the wallet is driven from a phone rather than a desktop.
Critical gapThe platform experiences intermittent transaction processing delays during periods of high market volatility.
Plan table and expert take
SafePal: expert take
Buyers watching the entry price got an unusual break: every model moved up to a higher secure-element grade with no price change. Read the ladder carefully though, because the dearer X1 swaps air-gapped QR signing for Bluetooth rather than adding it.
Where SafePal holds up
Most affordable hardware wallet with true air-gap QR signing
Widest token support: 10,000+ assets across 100+ networks
Free software wallet app pairs well with hardware for flexible security
People who would rather never be told a site does not support their wallet. MetaMask is the connection most dApps list first, free on desktop and mobile, and its swap rate is a figure third parties quote rather than one the vendor prints.
Critical gapSecurity depends entirely on local machine integrity and user-managed seed phrases.
Plan table and expert take
MetaMask: expert take
The paid rows on this record are not a wallet at all. They are the developer API, sold on daily credits, and the consumer extension never had a tier above free. Even there the ladder shrank: a paid step retired, the institutional one gone.
Where MetaMask holds up
Industry-standard for EVM chain compatibility - every dApp supports it
30M+ users means best community resources and support documentation
Hardware wallet integration with Ledger and Trezor
Browser extension plus mobile apps for iOS and Android
★★★★★4.5CE scoreG2 4.4 · 43 reviewsFounded 2016Verified July 16, 2026
Firmware published in the open for anyone to audit, starting with the Trezor Safe 3 at $59. iPhone support arrives only at the top of the line, which matters if the phone is where you sign.
Critical gapThe mobile interface exhibits latency during high-frequency transaction processing.
Plan table and expert take
Trezor: expert take
Desktop signers get the cheapest open-source device here, and phone users pay for it: iPhone support lands only on the top model. Trezor Suite costs nothing, and the entry model carries the same secure-element grade as its dearer siblings.
Where Trezor holds up
Fully open-source firmware - independently audited by security researchers
Industry's longest hardware wallet track record since 2014
Trezor Safe 3 adds secure element while maintaining open source
Trezor Suite for clean portfolio management and transaction history
A transaction preview that shows what a signature will do before you approve it. Rabby is free and open source, and it switches chains to match whatever site you land on.
Critical gapThe codebase is not fully open source.
Plan table and expert take
Rabby Wallet: expert take
Traders who read fee schedules find the only complete one in this category: a quarter of a percent on the built-in swap, a sliver on perpetuals, nothing on plain dApp interactions. None of it sits on the marketing page.
Where Rabby Wallet holds up
Pre-transaction simulation showing exact wallet changes before signing
Automatic chain switching without manual network configuration
Open-source code with regular security updates
Built by DeBank team - deep DeFi protocol context and labeling
Staking and a whole ladder of devices inside one free app, from the Nano S Plus at $79 up to the Stax. The hardware is bought once, and the software that drives it stays free.
Ledger's one attempt at a recurring line was a paid recovery service, and it stayed an extra you opt into rather than part of the purchase. Buying a device is still one payment, and newsletter codes knock the list price down.
Where Ledger holds up
Secure element chip provides hardware-level key isolation
5,500+ supported assets - widest of any hardware wallet
Ledger Live app for portfolio management and staking
Direct DeFi and dApp access through Ledger Live integrations
Desktop holders who never wanted their coins spread across three tools. Exodus runs on desktop, phone and browser, pairs with a Trezor for cold storage, and passes network fees through with nothing added.
Critical gapThe closed-source codebase creates transparency risks for high-stakes institutional capital storage.
Plan table and expert take
Exodus: expert take
Exodus will not tell you what its swap costs. The support article refuses to quantify the spread, and the figure surfaces only in the live quote you are about to accept. Raw sends stay clean, with network fees passed through untouched.
Where Exodus holds up
Exceptional UI/UX - best visual design of any non-hardware wallet
Consistent experience across desktop, browser extension, and mobile
Built-in swap and Trezor hardware wallet integration
300+ assets with integrated portfolio tracking and charts
★★★★☆4.4CE scoreG2 4.3 · 26 reviewsFounded 2015Verified July 16, 2026
An air-gapped signer with three secure-element chips and no app of its own, driven from MetaMask or Rabby over QR codes. The Keystone 3 Pro is $149, and the swap fee you end up paying belongs to whichever free wallet you pair it with.
Critical gapThe QR-only signing architecture requires manual scanning for all transactions.
Plan table and expert take
Keystone: expert take
Multisig users already running MetaMask or Rabby give up nothing by choosing a QR-only signer that ships without a wallet app. Keystone is also the only record here selling a stainless-steel seed backup as a product in its own right.
Where Keystone holds up
True air-gap via QR codes is the most secure hardware wallet connectivity model
Largest display (4-inch) enables clear transaction and smart contract review
Fully open-source firmware is independently verifiable by security researchers
Anyone who never wants to write twelve words on a piece of paper. Tangem is a tap-to-sign card sold in sets, from the $54.90 2-card set, with keys that stay on the chip and a spare card standing in for a recovery phrase.
Critical gapThe architecture lacks traditional seed phrase backup capabilities.
Plan table and expert take
Tangem: expert take
The listed price is not the total. Tax sits outside it, and shipping is charged below a spending threshold. Against that, the discounts stack, email plus reward plus promo, so few buyers should pay list. The warranty runs twenty-five years.
Where Tangem holds up
No seed phrase eliminates the primary cause of crypto wallet theft
Card form factor is compact, durable, and fits in a physical wallet
NFC tap-to-sign is intuitive and fast for daily use
CC EAL6+ certification provides government-grade secure element
3-card system provides adequate backup without exposing a seed phrase
★★★★☆4.3CE scoreG2 4.2 · 6 reviewsFounded 2017Verified July 16, 2026
Exchange customers who no longer want their coins sitting on someone else's balance sheet. The self-custody app is free and now opens under the Base name, so a Coinbase Wallet link lands you somewhere with a different logo.
The up-to-one-percent swap fee is a ceiling and not a rate, and an aggregator's cut hides inside the same quote. The wallet is free. The address now resolves to the Base app, which matters if you are following an old link.
Where Coinbase Wallet holds up
Smooth Coinbase exchange integration for easy fund transfers
How do you find out what a wallet charges on a swap?
Four places, in descending order of luck. A dedicated fee page, which almost nobody in this market keeps. A blog post, which is where Trust Wallet states its zero. A support article, where Exodus says it will not quote a percentage. Or the swap screen itself, where the live quote is the only disclosure you get.
What is included in the price of a hardware wallet?
The device, a cable, recovery sheets and the companion app, which is free at every vendor here. Warranty length varies, and Tangem covers twenty-five years. What is not in the box: tax where it applies, shipping unless the order is large enough, and a metal seed backup, which is a separate purchase wherever it is sold.
What does a free wallet not include?
Two things worth budgeting for. The rate you get when you swap inside the app, which a router or an aggregator sets and folds into the quote rather than showing as a line. And the fiat on-ramp, where a card processor takes its own cut before the coins arrive. Neither one is the wallet's own fee, and not every vendor names either.
Can you swap tokens without paying the wallet a cut?
Two ways, yes. Trust Wallet takes nothing for itself, so what you hand over is the router's, folded into the rate. Or you skip the in-app swap, trade on an exchange or a DEX and move the result back. The network fee survives either route, because that fee was never the wallet's to keep.
Which part of a swap fee reaches the wallet company?
Usually the smallest part. A swap carries the network fee first, then whatever the router or aggregator keeps, and the wallet's own markup goes above both. Rabby is the only vendor here that publishes its own share in every case. Everyone else leaves you reading the quote and working backwards.
Why do two wallets from the same brand cost different amounts?
Because the choice is a model, not a brand. Ledger runs from the $79 Nano S Plus to the Stax at $399, and most of that gap buys a screen, a battery and wireless charging. Not chip grade: the Nano X is certified a step below the cheaper Nano S Plus. Read the model spec before the brand.
Is a hardware wallet worth buying if you only hold a little?
That turns on what a mistake would cost you, not on a break-even sum. Nobody can honestly quantify the payback here, because half the market will not say what its swap takes, leaving no yearly figure to set against a single payment. Buy the device for what it removes: your keys sitting on a machine that is online.
Should I buy a second device as a backup?
Only if losing the first one would lock you out. A recovery phrase written down and stored properly is already the backup, and it restores onto any wallet built on the same standard. Tangem is the one exception to know about: its cards carry no phrase, so it sells sets of two and three, and the spare card is the recovery plan.
Does a hardware wallet make a free app unnecessary?
No. The two run together: the device holds the keys and signs, the app is what you read and what talks to sites. Keystone ships no wallet app of its own and expects you to drive it from MetaMask or Rabby. Exodus pairs with a Trezor. Budget for hardware, not for software.
Do you pay when a wallet adds support for a new chain?
Normally not. Firmware and app updates arrive free, and new networks come with them. SafePal alone runs a paid upgrade path for extending coin support on an older device, and even that is a one-off rather than a recurring charge. Nothing in this category bills you to keep working.
What happens to your coins if the company behind a wallet shuts down?
Nothing moves, because the company never held them. Your recovery phrase restores the same addresses in another wallet built on the same standard, and the coins were on the chain the whole time. The risk is the software, not the balance: no updates, no new networks, and eventually a version your phone stops running.
Field note 01
Crypto wallet subscriptions were tried, and they did not stick
Somebody did try. MetaMask ran a paid tier on its developer platform and retired it, and the institutional step came off the public page with it. Ledger sold a subscription for key recovery, and the answer it got was loud enough that recovery on the newer devices is a physical key in the box. Coinbase kept a recurring plan, but on the exchange, where the account is the company's to gate.
The reason is structural. A wallet that holds your keys and not your coins has nothing to rent you, and nothing to switch off if you stop paying. That makes free the default rather than a promotion, and it is why the hardware here is priced like a lock instead of a service.
Field note 02
Free crypto wallets earn on the swap inside the app
Rabby prints its own fee list, down to the zero it takes on plain dApp interactions. Trust Wallet's own share is zero, and its blog says as much. Coinbase Wallet publishes a maximum rather than a rate, which tells you the worst case and nothing else. Exodus, in its own support documentation, declines to name a percentage at all.
Which wallet is free stops being a useful question when every one of them is. The one worth asking is whether the vendor will say what a swap costs before you confirm it. Two here will. One publishes a ceiling, and one answers by declining to.
The verdict on crypto walletsSigned review · Updated
Oleh KemFounder & Lead AnalystComparEdge Editorial
Nobody sells you a subscription. Software costs nothing, a device is bought once, and the recurring model has been tried on this market and pushed back.
So the money question moves somewhere else. A device is a single payment you can put beside another, while an app takes its cut inside the trade for as long as you keep using it. Some vendors print that cut, one prints a ceiling, and one declines to name it at all. A price you can compare is worth more than a price you cannot see, and that gap is what our number measures.
MethodWe read 27 published rows across eleven wallets, hardware and swap terms alike, and dated each figure .
DisclosureCollection is tool-assisted; every verdict is written and signed by a human analyst.
05 / 06
Not sure which? Answer one, take a shortlist.Pick the line that sounds like your team. Each one opens the vendor built for it.
How this review is made. Prices are read from vendor pricing pages and re-checked on the dates shown against each product. Condition columns reflect the feature set recorded on the vendor’s own pages on that date. ComparEdge sells no crypto wallets and takes no vendor payment for placement. Where a vendor publishes nothing, this page says so rather than estimating. Ranking is by transparency score: pricing transparency 60%, user satisfaction 40%. What a product can do is shown in the condition columns and carries no weight in the number.
Oleh Kem
