8 Best Bitcoin Desktop Wallets Available for Download [Editor’s Pick]

Bitcoin wallets are the guardians of your Bitcoin. Don’t you agree?

That’s why you should put in a lot of work to choose the right wallet for yourself.

These wallets in a way store your private keys, which, if you lose, you lose all your bitcoins.

If you are new to the world of Bitcoin and crypto then I strongly recommend you to read this guide – Best Bitcoin Wallets.

Also, you need to know the 5 Different Types Of Crypto Wallets before you move on any further.

In this guide, I have specifically elucidated the purpose of each type of wallet, especially hardware wallets and desktop wallets.

I chose these two because these are relatively hard to hack if you are following the best security practices.

Oh, and by the way, we have also spoken at great lengths about hardware wallets in the past.

Take a look here: The Best Hardware Wallets For Bitcoin of 2021 ( + Altcoins Supported) and that’s why today I will focus on desktop wallets.

Let’s get in:

8 Best Bitcoin Desktop Wallets

1. Atomic

Atomic Wallet is a truly unique Bitcoin wallet because it has everything you need to store, exchange BTC, buy it with a bank card and swap with Atomic Swaps. Atomic is founded by Konstantin Gladych, former Changelly CEO and located in Estonia.

Atomic Wallet represents a cross-platform desktop application that supports over 300 cryptocurrencies, as well as tokens, altcoins and other blockchains. The wallet supports private keys export/import and generates its own private keys out of a mnemonic seed.

The wallet currently runs only for desktop operating systems and mobile apps are expected to launch soon.

Read: Atomic wallet review

2. Exodus

It is criminal to talk about desktop crypto wallets without mentioning Exodus wallet.

Exodus, a Bitcoin and altcoin wallet, is a creative masterpiece crafted by JP Richardson and Daniel Castagnoli in mid-2015.

It supports Bitcoin and many altcoins (precisely more than 30 cryptocurrencies & tokens).

On the first look, you will find that a lot of work has gone in making it really user-friendly and I specifically love this self-hosted crypto wallet.

I have been using this wallet from the day I entered the crypto world. Ever since the wallet has grown leaps and bounds in its UI and also it’s behind the scene technology.

Another good thing is that you do not need any registration or KYC check to be able to use this wallet but you certainly need to spare your email ID to backup your seed.

• Recommended For: Intermediate & advanced users
• Supported Operating System: Windows, Mac OSX, Linux, Android, iOS
• Custom Fee Feature: Yes
• Cost: Free
• Segwit Enabled: Yes, bc1 formate

3. Guarda Bitcoin Desktop Wallet

Guarda is one of the best desktop wallets out there for Bitcoin users. The wallet allows you to store your private keys on your desktop, giving you full control of your Bitcoin assets. 

The Guarda desktop wallet is available on macOS, Windows, and Linux. Guarda supports over 10,000 tokens and more than 40 coins. The wallet has an inbuilt exchange that allows traders to swap their Bitcoin with other coins. You can also send, receive, and trade in Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies inside the desktop app. Guarda supports BCH, ETH, Zcash, and ERC20 tokens.

Guarda wallet also has an import feature, which users can use to move Bitcoin from a different wallet into the Guarda wallet. This is useful for traders who would love to move to Guarda but fear the difficulty of moving private keys from one wallet to another. 

Whether you’re looking for a new wallet to store your BTC or a platform to store and trade at the same time, you should check out the Guarda wallet. 

4. Jaxx Liberty

Jaxx is another upcoming Bitcoin desktop wallet.

It is a multi-currency wallet that supports many altcoins too along with Bitcoin and is developed/maintained by a Canada based start-up Decentral Inc.

It is an HD wallet that lets you store your seed and gives protection to your wallet by a PIN feature. It also has an inbuilt crypto exchange in the form of ShapeShift.

At present, it supports more than 40 coins/tokens with private keys import and export facility inbuilt in the wallet.

Jaxx is now overhauling its UI with a newly built wallet but that’s now in beta phase. So until that is ready you can use Jaxx’s old desktop version which is time-tested also.

• Recommended For: For all
• Supported Operating System: Windows, Mac OSX, Linux
• Custom Fee Feature: Yes
• Cost: Free
• Segwit Enabled: Yes

5. Electrum

Electrum is one of the oldest and time-tested Bitcoin wallet developed by a voluntary developer in November 2011.

It is an open-source project released under an MIT license.

Moreover, it is a lightweight wallet meaning you need not download the whole blockchain for sync.

Electrum is available for both mobile and desktop versions and allows you to customize Bitcoin transaction fee for each transaction you do.

Also, it is a self-hosted wallet, which means by using Electrum you are your own bank where you control your seed and PIN.

• Recommended For: Intermediate & advanced users
• Supported Operating System: Windows, Mac OSX, Linux
• Custom Fee Feature: Yes
• Cost: Free
• Segwit Enabled: Yes

6. Armory

Armory is another Bitcoin-only wallet developed by an experienced team of developers and is a open-source software.

It is a heavy wallet, meaning one needs to download the full blockchain and set-up a full node to use the Armory wallet.

But it has many benefits too, for example, you need not trust any other listening nodes and can self-verify many things by yourself.

One can also create cold storage wallets for Bitcoin while using Armory wallet. And it also provides you access to multisig wallets via Lockboxes, which is the most secure way to store a large sum of bitcoins.

• Recommended For: Advanced users
• Supported Operating System: Windows, Mac OSX, Linux
• Custom Fee Feature: Yes
• Cost: Free
• Segwit Enabled: Yes

7. Copay

Copay is another popular Bitcoin wallet developed and maintained by BitPay company.

It is an HD multi-signature wallet which is kept open-source for innovation over the Bitcoin blockchain.

I have used its mobile version once and found it to be very user-friendly. It also has a desktop version which is quite similar.

And the good thing with this wallet is that it connects with testnets so if you want to try out something without losing your actual BTC then this is the way to go!

Being a multisig Bitcoin wallet it also provides up to 2-of-3 authorizers to sign a Bitcoin transaction.

• Recommended For: For all
• Supported Operating System: Windows, Mac OSX, Linux
• Custom Fee Feature: Yes
• Cost: Free
• Segwit Enabled: No

8. Bitcoin Core

Bitcoin Core is the official desktop Bitcoin wallet developed by Bitcoin core developers.

It is a full node client meaning, one needs to download the whole Bitcoin blockchain to send/receive a transaction which is a memory intensive process.

The core acts as a full node as well as provides wallet functionality for managing Bitcoin.

Its UI is not as great but it is one of the most featured wallets, as it provides facilities such as mempool settings, Replace-by fees, child, pays for parent etc for BTC transactions.

• Recommended For: Advanced users
• Supported Operating System: Windows, Mac OSX, Linux
• Custom Fee Feature: Yes
• Cost: Free
• Segwit Enabled: Yes

9. Coinomi

Coinomi is another excellent multi-currency wallet that supports Bitcoin too.

For now, it should not have made to this list because it is a mobile wallet only as of now. But in Q3 they will be launching their desktop client to cater to its customers. (I will update this section as soon as it hits the market).

And I believe some of the very intricate features from its mobile wallet such as a self-hosted wallet that provides seed/PIN, an in-built exchange, custom-fee etc will be replicated in the desktop version too.

Moreover, it is backed by a good team that is continuously improving their mobile product so the same would be expected from their desktop wallet too.

Coinomi desktop wallet will support Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Conclusion: Best Bitcoin Wallets For Desktop

Did you notice the one common thing amongst all these wallets listed above?

They all are self-hosted wallets.

It means that while using these wallets only you are responsible for your funds. All these wallets give your seed and PIN to take care of your bitcoins.

But still some investors get things messed-up and that’s why we have made this comprehensive guide on How To Keep Your Recovery Seed Safe And Secure.

So enjoy this piece for now and share this list with your friends and family who are in hunt of reliable Bitcoin desktop wallets!

Here are a few hands-picked articles you should read next:

• How Long Does It Take To Transfer Bitcoins And Why?
• What are HD Wallets? (Deterministic Wallet)