Zeus: software wallets rating breakdown
AGPL-3.0 — the strongest copyleft here — and built on the assumption that you point it at your own node. Zero commercial extraction: no swap, no fee, nothing.
AGPL-3.0 — the strongest copyleft here — and built on the assumption that you point it at your own node. Zero commercial extraction: no swap, no fee, nothing.
How the score is built
Each criterion is scored 0–10 and weighted. The median column is the middle score across every entry in this ranking, so a row reads as a position rather than a number.
| Criterion | What we measured | Weight | Score | Category median | Rank | Weighted gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Security model and open code | — | 30% | 9 | 8 | 2 of 17 | +0.30 |
| Privacy | — | 20% | 9 | 5 | 2 of 17 | +0.80 |
| Transaction transparency | — | 15% | 6 | 5 | 5 of 17 | +0.15 |
| Swap cost | — | 15% | 10 | 5 | 1 of 17 | +0.75 |
| Recovery and portability | — | 10% | 4 | 9 | 14 of 17 | -0.50 |
| Networks | — | 10% | 2 | 7 | 13 of 17 | -0.50 |
Measured 14 July 2026 · weights and method · decided by privacy, worth +0.80 points against the median
Security model and open code: 9/10
Non-custodial, MPC or custodial — and where the key actually sits on your device. Then the licence, as it stands today rather than as folklore remembers it: several well-known wallets have quietly moved to source-available terms that are not open source. Audits count only when the firm is named and the report is public.
Scored 9 of 10 against a category median of 8, which places it 2nd of 17 among software wallets on this criterion. At a 30% weight that is 0.30 points above the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 10, the worst 2.
Privacy: 9/10
The most underrated question in this category: which RPC endpoint does the wallet talk to out of the box, and who owns it? If the default RPC is operated by the wallet’s own vendor, that vendor sees the IP address behind every balance check and every transaction, and can link it to your addresses. We read the default configuration and the privacy policy, and we quote the clause. Can you point it at your own node, and how hard is it?
Scored 9 of 10 against a category median of 5, which places it 2nd of 17 among software wallets on this criterion. At a 20% weight that is 0.80 points above the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 10, the worst 2.
Transaction transparency: 6/10
Does the wallet simulate the transaction and show you the actual outcome before you sign it, and does it warn you about known drainer contracts? The same question as clear signing on a hardware device, asked of software.
Scored 6 of 10 against a category median of 5, which places it 5th of 17 among software wallets on this criterion. At a 15% weight that is 0.15 points above the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 10, the worst 3.
Swap cost: 10/10
The built-in swap is how most free wallets are paid. We record the published service fee — and when a wallet does not publish one at all while still taking a cut of the spread, that silence is the finding and it is scored as one.
Scored 10 of 10 against a category median of 5, which places it 1st of 17 among software wallets on this criterion. At a 15% weight that is 0.75 points above the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 10, the worst 1.
Recovery and portability: 4/10
Standard BIP39, and whether the seed restores in another wallet. A wallet you cannot leave is a custodian with extra steps.
Scored 4 of 10 against a category median of 9, which places it 14th of 17 among software wallets on this criterion. At a 10% weight that is 0.50 points below the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 9, the worst 3.
Networks: 2/10
Which chains genuinely work, from the wallet’s own documentation.
Scored 2 of 10 against a category median of 7, which places it 13th of 17 among software wallets on this criterion. At a 10% weight that is 0.50 points below the median contribution of the weighted total. The best score in the category is 9, the worst 2.
Other measurements
Its nearest neighbours in this ranking
| # | Entry | Privacy | How it differs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Rabby | 7 | Behind by 2 on privacy. |
| 3 | Frame | 9 | Level on privacy; the gap is elsewhere. |
| 5 | Electrum | 7 | Behind by 2 on privacy. |
| 6 | Safe (formerly Gnosis Safe) | 6 | Behind by 3 on privacy. |
Questions about this score
What does AGPL-3.0 mean for users?
+
Anyone who takes this code and offers it as a network service must publish their modifications, which closes the loophole that lets a company build a proprietary product on open code. For a user it means the software is much harder to quietly enclose than under a permissive licence.
Do I need my own node to use Zeus?
+
It is designed around that assumption and works best there. If you are not running your own Lightning or Bitcoin infrastructure, much of what makes Zeus good is not available to you, and a simpler mobile wallet will serve better.