The Monero ecosystem has several wallets, but Feather stands out for desktop users. It combines the power-user features of the official CLI with an intuitive interface, and adds critical privacy features the official GUI wallet lacks out of the box.
Ships with bundled Tor. All connections routed automatically. No setup needed.
Select which outputs to spend. Prevent linking transactions. Manual UTXO management.
Ledger Nano S/S+/X, Trezor Model T/Safe 3. Sign transactions offline.
Create transactions on an air-gapped machine. Maximum cold storage security.
~50 MB download. No blockchain sync. Connects to remote nodes instantly.
MIT license. Reproducible builds. Community-audited. Full transparency.
Get the latest release for your OS (Linux AppImage, Windows installer, macOS). Always download from the official site. Verify the GPG signature.
Select "Create new wallet." Feather generates a 25-word seed phrase. Write it down on paper. Never store digitally. This is your only backup.
For a new wallet, use today's block height (Feather auto-fills this). For restoring, enter the approximate block height when you first received XMR. Lower = slower sync but catches all transactions.
Feather auto-selects a remote node via Tor. You can add your own node for maximum privacy. Settings → Node → Add custom node. Use 127.0.0.1:18081 for a local node.
Click "Receive" to get your primary address or generate subaddresses. Share the address with your sender. For P2P trading, use a fresh subaddress for each trade.
| Feature | Feather | Official GUI | Cake Wallet | Monero CLI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Platform | Desktop | Desktop | Mobile | Desktop/Server |
| Download Size | ~50 MB | ~200 MB | ~100 MB | ~30 MB |
| Built-in Tor | Yes | No | No (Orbot) | No |
| Coin Control | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Hardware Wallet | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Offline Signing | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Built-in Exchange | Yes (Trocador) | No | Yes | No |
| Subaddresses | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Local Node Option | Yes | Yes (default) | No | Yes |
| Beginner Friendly | Medium | Easy | Easy | Hard |
| Best For | Privacy-focused desktop | Full node users | Mobile users | Power users/servers |
Monero transactions consume "outputs" (similar to Bitcoin UTXOs). By default, wallets auto-select which outputs to spend. Feather lets you manually choose. This prevents linking separate transactions — for example, keeping your P2P trading outputs separate from your mining payouts.
Create an unsigned transaction on your online machine, transfer it to an air-gapped computer via USB, sign it there, bring the signed transaction back, and broadcast. Your private keys never touch the internet. This is the gold standard for cold storage security.
Swap BTC, LTC, ETH, and other coins for XMR directly inside Feather. Uses Trocador's aggregator to find the best rates across multiple exchange services. No account needed.
Built-in XMR price calculator and block explorer. Shows current hashrate, difficulty, and mining profitability. Useful for miners tracking payouts.
Feather is the best Monero desktop wallet for 2026. It gives you the privacy of Tor, the power of coin control and offline signing, and the convenience of a graphical interface — all in a 50 MB download. If you use Monero on desktop, use Feather.
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