Sparrow Wallet

Sparrow Wallet is the leading modern open-source Bitcoin-only desktop wallet focused on security, privacy, and usability — launched in 2020 by Craig Raw (the author + lead developer). Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "Sparrow is a Bitcoin wallet for those who value financial self sovereignty. Sparrow's emphasis is on security, privacy and usability. Sparrow does not hide information from you - on the contrary it attempts to provide as much detail as possible about your transactions and UTXOs, but in a way that is manageable and usable." Sparrow's positioning in this directory: the modern desktop Bitcoin wallet that takes the user on a privacy journey from using public servers to using cold-storage techniques on private servers — the desktop-first peer to BlueWallet (mobile-first) and the modern alternative to Electrum (the original desktop Bitcoin wallet). Sparrow is consistently recommended by the Bitcoin privacy + self-sovereignty community as the most powerful desktop Bitcoin wallet for users who want granular control over their UTXOs, transactions, and Bitcoin node connection.

Sparrow is Bitcoin-only by design — it does NOT support Ethereum, EVM, Solana, or any altcoins. This is a deliberate philosophical choice aligned with Sparrow's self-sovereignty + privacy mission. Sparrow does support the full Bitcoin on-chain feature set: single-sig + multisig (m-of-n) wallets on all common script types; full PSBT (Partially-Signed Bitcoin Transactions, BIP-174) support; full coin + fee control with comprehensive coin selection; labeling of all transactions + inputs + outputs (with optional cloud label sync); PayNyms (BIP-47 reusable payment codes) direct + collaborative; built-in Tor; testnet + regtest + signet support; a fully-featured transaction editor that also functions as a blockchain explorer; and the strongest hardware-wallet pairing support of any desktop wallet in this directory (all common hardware wallets in both USB + airgapped modes). Sparrow is desktop-only (Windows + macOS + Linux) — there is no mobile app + no web app.

Sparrow is 100% open-source GPL-licensed (the full source is at github.com/sparrowwallet/sparrow — the existing record in this directory already correctly marks open_source:true). The GPL license is a copyleft license — slightly more restrictive than the MIT license used by Electrum + BlueWallet, but still fully auditable + forkable. Sparrow does NOT have Electrum's reproducible-builds + multi-signer GPG signatures (Electrum is the only Bitcoin wallet in this directory with both). Sparrow's release-signing model uses the developer's GPG key (Craig Raw's published GPG key is in the sparrowwallet/sparrow GitHub repo) — users who want the strongest supply-chain binary-verification should verify the GPG signature against Craig Raw's published public key, but note that this is single-signer verification (Electrum has 5 independent signers).

Sparrow's strongest feature is its privacy journey — per the homepage: "Sparrow is also strongly supportive of privacy, and aims to be a wallet that takes users on a privacy journey from using public servers to using cold storage techniques on private servers. For more details, read the Best Practices guide." The user can progress from: (1) public Electrum servers (default, convenient but the public Electrum-server operators can correlate the user's addresses), to (2) Bitcoin Core (run your own full Bitcoin node + connect Sparrow directly to it via RPC — full-node validation + no third-party server), to (3) private Electrum servers (run your own ElectrumX / Electrs Electrum server on your own hardware + point Sparrow at it — Electrum-server speed + privacy), to (4) cold-storage techniques on private servers (offline-mode wallet on an air-gapped computer + watch-only wallet on the online computer + PSBT transfer + hardware-wallet pairing). This progression from "lazy but works" to "fully sovereign" is the strongest privacy-journey UX in this directory — no other wallet explicitly documents it.

Sparrow's fully-featured transaction editor is the other standout. Per the homepage: "Sparrow is also unique in that it contains a fully featured transaction editor that also functions as a blockchain explorer. This feature not only allows editing of all of a transaction's fields, also easy inspection of the transaction bytes before broadcasting." The transaction editor lets the user manually edit each transaction field (inputs, outputs, fees), see the raw transaction bytes before broadcasting, and broadcast only when satisfied. This is unique in this directory — no other wallet has a full transaction editor. For Bitcoin power users + coinjoin (Whirlpool / JoinMarket集成) users, this is a killer feature.

Single-sig + multisig wallets on all common script types

Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "Full support for single sig and multisig wallets on common script types." Sparrow supports all four Bitcoin script types: Legacy (P2PKH, addresses starting "1"), Nested SegWit (P2SH-P2WPKH, addresses starting "3"), Native SegWit / Bech32 (P2WPKH, addresses starting "bc1q"), and Taproot (P2TR, addresses starting "bc1p"). Both single-sig and multisig (m-of-n, e.g. 2-of-3, 3-of-5) wallets are supported on all four script types. This is comparable to Electrum's script-type coverage and stronger than BlueWallet (which doesn't yet have full Taproot support in standard wallets).

Range of connection options — public servers, Bitcoin Core, private Electrum servers

Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "A range of connection options: Public servers, Bitcoin Core and private Electrum servers." This is the foundation of Sparrow's privacy journey: (1) public Electrum servers (default, convenient — Sparrow picks the fastest public Electrum server automatically, but the server can see the user's addresses); (2) Bitcoin Core (run your own full Bitcoin node on your own hardware + connect Sparrow directly to it via RPC — full-node validation, no third-party server, the strongest Bitcoin-correctness guarantee); (3) private Electrum servers (run your own ElectrumX / Electrs Electrum server on your own hardware + point Sparrow at it — Electrum-server speed + privacy, the strongest Bitcoin-light-wallet privacy setup available). This is comparable to Electrum's connection options (Electrum + self-run Electrum server for max privacy) + Sparrow's Bitcoin Core direct connection (Sparrow's BTC-RPC connection is unique in this directory — Electrum doesn't connect to Bitcoin Core directly without Electrum Personal Server middleware).

Standards-based including full PSBT support

Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "Standards based including full PSBT support." Sparrow has full PSBT (Partially-Signed Bitcoin Transactions, BIP-174) support — accepts unsigned PSBTs, signs them with the wallet's keys / hardware wallet's keys, and produces signed PSBTs ready for broadcast. This is the foundation of the hardware-wallet-pairing workflow (the user's seed phrase stays on the hardware wallet; Sparrow constructs an unsigned PSBT; the hardware wallet signs the PSBT; Sparrow broadcasts the signed transaction). PSBT support also enables collaborative multisig signing across multiple cosigners / multiple devices.

Support for all common hardware wallets in USB and airgapped modes

Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "Support for all common hardware wallets in USB and airgapped modes." Sparrow has the broadest hardware-wallet pairing support of any desktop wallet in this directory, in both USB-connected AND air-gapped modes. Supported hardware wallets include: Ledger (Nano S, Nano S Plus, Nano X — USB), Trezor (Model One, Safe 3, Safe 5 — USB), Coldcard (Mk3, Mk4, Q — air-gapped via SD card / QR), BitBox02 (USB), Keystone (3 Pro — air-gapped via QR), Foundation Passport (air-gapped via QR), Blockstream Jade (USB + QR air-gapped), Specter DIY (air-gapped via QR), SeedSigner (air-gapped via QR), Krux (air-gapped via QR / camera), and more. The user's seed phrase stays on the hardware wallet (cold storage); Sparrow creates a watch-only wallet on the online computer and the hardware wallet signs transactions via PSBT. This is the recommended setup for high-value Bitcoin holdings — hardware-wallet cold-storage custody is materially more secure than any software hot wallet. See also our full hardware wallets directory at /best-hardware-wallets.

Full coin + fee control with comprehensive coin selection

Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "Full coin and fee control with comprehensive coin selection." Sparrow has the most comprehensive UTXO coin-control in this directory (comparable to Electrum's coin control): the user can manually select which specific UTXOs to spend in a transaction, group / freeze / spend specific UTXOs, set custom transaction fees (with fee rate in sat/vB directly + a real-time mempool-aware fee estimation + RBF + CPFP), and see the full transaction breakdown (inputs, outputs, fees, change address) before broadcasting. This allows: (a) privacy control — spend only UTXOs not linked to the user's identity, leave dusting-attack UTXOs unspent, freeze specific UTXOs; (b) fee optimization — spend only SegWit UTXOs for fee efficiency, batch outputs to save on fees, set custom fee rate; (c) address-type preservation — spend only SegWit UTXOs to keep transactions SegWit-only. This is materially stronger Bitcoin coin control than Coinomi (basic dusting-attack protection + Do-Not-Spend flags), and stronger than Atomic Wallet + OKX Wallet + Bitget Wallet + Trust Wallet which have no coin control. The coin-control UI is the strongest desktop coin-control UX in this directory (comparable to Electrum).

Labeling of all transactions, inputs, and outputs

Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "Labeling of all transactions, inputs and outputs." Sparrow supports comprehensive labeling — the user can label every transaction, every input (UTXO), and every output (address) for future reference + granular control. Labels are stored locally (encrypted) and can be optionally synced via a cloud storage (Google Drive / Dropbox) for cross-device consistency. This labeling is the foundation of privacy-aware UTXO management (label UTXOs by source — "KYC exchange withdrawal" / "P2P purchase" / "salary" — so the user can avoid spending KYC-linked UTXOs to anonymous recipients). No other wallet in this directory has stronger labeling support than Sparrow.

Lightweight and multi-platform

Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "Lightweight and multi platform." Despite being a feature-rich desktop wallet, Sparrow is lightweight (the app download is ~80 MB, the installation is fast, the app startup is quick). Multi-platform: Sparrow runs natively on Windows (10+), macOS (11+), and Linux (AppImage + DEB + RPM + source). Sparrow does NOT have a mobile app + does NOT have a web app — desktop only. For users who want a mobile companion to Sparrow, BlueWallet is the recommended pick (BlueWallet is mobile-first, open-source Bitcoin-only, with multisig vaults + hardware-wallet pairing + Watch-only support; BlueWallet + Sparrow can both be watch-only wallets over the same hardware-wallet xpub).

Send and receive to PayNyms (BIP47) — directly + collaboratively

Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "Send and receive to PayNyms, both directly (BIP47) and collaboratively." Sparrow supports PayNyms / BIP-47 payment codes. The user publishes a single reusable PayNym (a BIP-47 payment code) and any payer can derive a unique address from it for each payment, so the user's addresses aren't all linked to a single published address. Direct BIP-47 = the payer derives the addresses themselves. Collaborative BIP-47 = the payer + receiver use the PayNym service (Samourai Wallet's PayNym bot) to coordinate. This is a unique privacy feature in this directory (only BlueWallet + Sparrow Wallet + Samourai Wallet (deprecated) + Wasabi Wallet have BIP-47 natively). For privacy-focused Bitcoin users, Sparrow is the recommended desktop pick.

Built-in Tor

Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "Built in Tor." Sparrow has built-in Tor routing — all of Sparrow's Bitcoin network traffic (Electrum-server connections, public-server connections, blockchain-explorer queries) can be routed through Tor, so the user's IP address is anonymized. This is unique in this directory — only Sparrow Wallet has built-in Tor support natively (Electrum requires the user to configure Tor as an external SOCKS proxy; BlueWallet relies on the user's own node + doesn't have built-in Tor). For privacy-focused Bitcoin users, Sparrow is the strongest pick in this directory for out-of-the-box Tor integration.

Testnet, regtest, and signet support

Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "Testnet, regtest and signet support." Sparrow supports all main Bitcoin test networks — testnet (public test network with free test BTC), regtest (private local regression-test network for development), signet (signed test network with deterministic signatures for testing). This is the strongest test-network coverage in this directory, useful for Bitcoin developers who want to test wallet behavior on each test network. No other wallet in this directory supports all three.

Fully-featured transaction editor + blockchain explorer

Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "Sparrow is also unique in that it contains a fully featured transaction editor that also functions as a blockchain explorer. This feature not only allows editing of all of a transaction's fields, also easy inspection of the transaction bytes before broadcasting." The transaction editor lets the user manually edit each transaction field (inputs, outputs, fees), see the raw transaction bytes before broadcasting, and broadcast only when satisfied. Sparrow's blockchain explorer (right inside the wallet) lets the user look up any Bitcoin address / transaction ID without leaving the wallet — useful for verifying incoming transactions, checking confirmations, exploring UTXOs of any address. This is the only wallet in this directory with a fully-featured transaction editor + blockchain explorer built in. For Bitcoin power users + coinjoin users, this is a killer feature.

Best Practices guide + Quick Start guide

Per the official Sparrow Wallet homepage: "Sparrow is also strongly supportive of privacy, and aims to be a wallet that takes users on a privacy journey from using public servers to using cold storage techniques on private servers. For more details, read the Best Practices guide." + "Despite being a wallet suitable for advanced users, Sparrow is not difficult to use. Download it, install and follow the Quick Start guide - you'll be flying soon!" Sparrow's documentation (Best Practices + Quick Start) is among the strongest in this directory — the Best Practices guide walks the user through the full privacy journey (from public servers to Bitcoin Core to private Electrum server to cold storage) with concrete tutorials for each step. The Quick Start guide gets a new user from install to broadcasting their first transaction in minutes.

Limitations

Sparrow is desktop-only (Windows + macOS + Linux) — no mobile app, no web app. For mobile Bitcoin users, BlueWallet (mobile-first) is the recommended alternative. Sparrow does NOT support Lightning Network (Sparrow is on-chain only) — for Lightning, the recommended alternatives are Electrum (has built-in Lightning in the same desktop app), Phoenix + Breez (mobile non-custodial Lightning), Zeus + Mutiny. Sparrow's GPL license is slightly more restrictive than the MIT license used by Electrum + BlueWallet (still fully auditable + forkable, but downstream code that uses Sparrow's code must also be GPL). Sparrow's release-signing model is single-signer (Craig Raw's GPG key) — for the strongest supply-chain binary-verification (5 independent signers + reproducible builds), Electrum is the recommended alternative.