Monero (XMR) has climbed to the number 10 position in terms of market capitalization because cryptocurrency users appreciate the privacy features that come with the use of Monero.

Along with the growth in popularity of Monero, the number of wallets that support this privacy-centric coin have also increased. This makes it more difficult to decide which wallet is best for storing your Monero, but I’m here to help you navigate that decision.

In the following guide I will take your through the top 7 best Monero Wallets on the market. I will also give you some top tips to consider when safely storing your XMR.

7 Best Monero Wallets for 2019

Before we dig into the various wallet and storage options, it is important to point out our criteria for the selection of the “best” Monero wallets. We are basing this on the security of the wallet, ongoing support, community feedback, ease of use and cost.

There may be other wallets that have been mentioned but we didn’t think that they stacked up to the same level as some of these more established options. With that being said, let’s start with one of the most secure and expensive options.

Ledger Nano

Perhaps one of your best bets for storing your Monero is in a secure hardware wallet. One of the most popular currently on the market is the Ledger Nano. This was also one of the first hardware wallets that began offering support for XMR.

The Ledger devices are also multicurrency wallets which means that you can store over 1,000 different coins on it. There are currently two versions. You have the Nano S and the Nano X.

Both of these support Monero although the Nano X has more coin support as well as bluetooth and more app storage options. It costs slightly more though at $119 vs. the Nano S at $59.

Hacker Proof 👨🏼‍💻: Hardware wallets are so secure because your private keys never leave the device. They are also never exposed to an online environment and are kept “cold”. All signing is done on the device and it interacts with the PC applications via USB.

When using your Ledger wallet to send Monero, you will have to use the Monero core GUI wallet (covered below). Although Ledger does have a PC wallet program called Ledger Live, it does not support Monero.

You will first have to install the Monero app on your Ledger device and then connect it to the pc that has the Monero GUI installed. For further instructions, you can read their in depth guide here.

Trezor Model T

The second most popular hardware wallet on the market is the Trezor. Like the Ledger, there are two versions of the Trezor wallet however only the more expensive Model T supports Monero.

The Model T is pretty neat in that it is the only hardware wallet with a colour touchscreen which makes for a more seamless user experience. You also have support for a plethora of other coins as it is a multicurrency wallet.

Like the Ledger, you will have first install the official Monero wallet. Then once that is on your PC you can connect your Trezor and sign your transactions / view your balance etc. You can see the guide here.

Caution ⚠️: When buying any hardware device, make sure that you are buying it from the official store. There is always the risk that a third party is selling you a tampered device.

The Trezor Model T costs €149 which means that it is quite a bit more than the Ledger Nano X. So, it appears that you are paying a premium for that colour touch screen. Not really worth it in my opinion.

Official Monero Desktop GUI

If you’re looking for a more cost effective solution for storing your XMR coins why not go with the official Monero desktop client. You can get it from the official Monero website and it’s available for Windows, Mac, Linux and other operating systems. It’s designed to allow for ease of use when storing or transmitting Monero holdings.

The official Monero desktop wallet is a full-node wallet, which means you’ll have to wait for the wallet to download and synch with the full blockchain.

Not only does this take a long time, it also takes up a good amount of hard drive space and processing power. If that doesn’t appeal then it might not be the right wallet for you.

Once everything downloads and syncs the wallet is fairly easy to use, but it helps if you have some prior crypto experience.

The basics of sending and receiving are quite simple, and you’ll find access to your XMR coins is both fast and reliable. Moreover, it was built buy Monero Core devs so you know the security is sound.

Open Source 💻: The Monero official core wallet is fully open source. This means that the code is open to intense peer review and scrutiny. This is generally considered more secure by security specilists

It isn’t the most user friendly wallet though, so newcomers to the world of cryptocurrencies may want to consider a wallet that is more user friendly.

MyMonero

MyMonero is another free wallet that is pretty well respected in the Monero community. It is managed by the same Monero core developer who created the Monero Ledger integration, and provides users with secure, hosted Monero accounts.

MyMonero was originally developed as a browser based wallet although they have recently developed a Windows, Mac & Linux program as well as an iOS version. And, like the official Monero GUI, all the code is open source and available in their GitHub.

Perhaps your most secure option to use MyMonero is through their PC program. This is a light wallet which means that you do not have to download the entire blockchain to use it. It will connect to remote nodes.

The MyMonero PC wallet is pretty straightforward to use and is more user friendly than the GUI wallet. You can also install it on your iPhone if you need to be using XMR when away from your PC.

If, however, you want a quick and easy throwaway address for your Monero then you can use the MyMonero web wallet. You can have an account registered in less than a minute, but please note the need to remember or record the 13-word login key.

It’s not stored on the Monero servers, so if you forget or lose this key you’ll also lose access to your account.

While this web wallet is a fast and convenient option, it also exposes your coins to the greatest security risks. MyMonero even warns you of this during the wallet creation process with the following message:

… It is extremely difficult for MyMonero to securely deliver its code to your browser. This means that there is considerable risk in using MyMonero for large amounts!

If you do have large amounts of Monero or want to store it for an extended period of time your best option is a hardware wallet, or a paper wallet, which I’ll address later.

Monerujo

Monerujo was created as an oprn source Android app, allowing mobile users a way to store and transmit Monero. Because it is open source, the code has been examined and verified to be free of any malicious code by the Monero community.

Monerujo has been popular with the Monero community, and the app has a 4.2 star rating on Google Play, with nearly 300 reviews. It’s been downloaded and installed more than 10,000 times according to the Google Play store.

Monerujo runs as a light wallet, giving you the option of running your own node or of using remote nodes to synchronize your wallet with the Monero blockchain. This allows the app to be small and lightweight, taking up very little space on your Android mobile device.

And for a light wallet Moneroujo is quite full featured. It gives you the ability to import or create multiple addresses, so you can easily move XMR between several address in the same app. This can be very useful if you use several wallets for different purposes – say one for long-term storage and another for daily use.

You can also use the built in QR code scanning ability, allowing you to more easily send Monero without the hassle of typing in long Monero addresses.

Another very handy feature is the integration of the XMR.to service in the app, which allows users to send Monero to a Bitcoin address, where it is received as Bitcoin. All the conversions are down in the background so it’s a seamless process, and one that can be very handy, allowing you to pay for Bitcoin transactions anonymously.

Exodus Wallet

The Exodus wallet is another third party desktop & mobile wallet that has recently included support for Monero. Is is also a multicurrency wallet with support for over 100 coins.

Compared to some of the other wallets here, Exodus is perhaps of one of the most user friendly. It has a simple user interface where you can manage all of your assets, backup your wallet or sign transactions.

Something else that Exodus has that could come in handy is their instant exchange function. This means that you can easily covert your XMR into another coin right there in the wallet. You won’t have to first send it to an exchange and then do the conversion.

Open Source ❓: Exodus is not fully open source. However, there are many components that were built on it which are.

Now, as mentioned, this wallet is available for both desktop and mobile devices. So, if you are going to be away from your PC, you can sync up your phone using the backup seeds you are given when creating the wallet.

One more thing that this wallet claims to have is 24/7 human support. They do have an extensive FAQ section but the support is there in case these answers do not suffice.

Monero Paper Wallet

While people don’t really talk about paper wallets as much as they did several years ago, a paper wallet is still and excellent way to securely store your Monero for the long term. You’ll find a Monero paper wallet generator at MoneroAddress and you can even use it offline so your keys are never exposed.

The Monero paper wallet will give you two QR codes and two keys, one which is your private key, and one which is a public key that can be shared to have Monero sent directly to the paper wallet.

A paper wallet, when used correctly, is one of the most secure wallets, with almost no risk of getting hacked or having your coins stolen.

Which is Should You Use?

Exactly which wallet you should use highly depends on your own personal requirements and resources. Each of the wallet options above may satisfy one requirement but be lacking in another. It is often a trade-off one has to make when selecting the best Monero wallet.

If you have a great deal of XMR that you want to store for a long term HODL then you are probably best suited going for the Ledger Nano S or a paper wallet. While the former may be more expensive, the latter is easy to lose and you will still have to use a wallet client if you want to send coins out.

MyMonero is probably one of the quickest ways to set up a Monero wallet and start sending XMR, but it is also susceptible to phishing. The Monero Official GUI and the Monerujo are probably the most user friendly options but are of less secure as offline storage.

Conclusion

There is a great deal of excitement around the Monero ecosystem currently. Hence, there are quite a few multi-currency wallet providers that are working on XMR integration.

This could be great for those Monero fans who want a hardware wallet option for their XMR and are not particularly keen on the Ledger Nano.

If you are in this camp then you are probably best suited to use a free option in the interim until Trezor releases their official update.

However, whatever wallet option you do eventually decide to go with, make sure that you follow cryptocurrency security best practices.

These wallets are pretty secure but they rely on prudent use as in many cases the weakest link is the user.

Places to Buy XMR:

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Source: https://www.coinbureau.com/analysis/best-monero-wallets/