Trezor vs Ledger: Which Hardware Wallet Should You Pick in 2024?

Table of Contents

• Trezor vs Ledger – Side-by-side comparison
• Who should choose a Trezor hardware wallet?
• Who should choose a Ledger hardware wallet?
• Price point
• Features
• Security
• Connectivity with mobile devices
• Software wallets
• Supported cryptocurrencies
• The bottom line – Ledger has a small edge in terms of features and user-friendliness

Trezor and Ledger are the largest cryptocurrency hardware wallet manufacturers in the world. Although they both offer great products for protecting digital assets, there are considerable differences between them from a user experience, hardware, and software perspective.

This article will help you understand the main differences between Trezos and Ledger wallets, based on factors such as cost, connectivity, security, and, supported cryptocurrencies.

It is worth noting that there are no clear winners when it comes to Ledger vs Trezor, as both support thousands of cryptocurrencies and offer robust security. The decision of which one is “better” will therefore primarily depend on your own personal circumstances and particular use cases.

Trezor vs Ledger – Side-by-side comparison

Trezor and Ledger are widely known for making the best cryptocurrency hardware wallets. They share many similarities, but there are also quite a few differences between the two in terms of accessibility, price, and, particularly, software integrations. Let’s see how Trezor and Ledger compare at a glance.

Who should choose a Trezor hardware wallet?

Trezor is best for users who might already be familiar with cryptocurrencies and don’t necessarily need access to the beginner educational content that Ledger provides. If the following describes you, then a Trezor hardware wallet is the right choice for you:

• You don’t plan on using your crypto wallet with a mobile device
• You prefer open-source solutions
• You value having a bigger screen and a lighter design

Get a Trezor Wallet

Who should choose a Ledger hardware wallet?

Ledger is hands down the best option if you are looking for a cryptocurrency wallet that is easy to set up and works with mobile devices. If the following describes you, then a Ledger hardware wallet is the right choice for you:

• You prefer a metallic and slightly heavier design over a plastic body
• You want to use your crypto wallet when on the go
• You need seamless integrations with DeFi and NFTs

Price point

Trezor has three hardware wallets in its lineup – the Trezor Model T, Trezor Model One and Trezor Safe 3. The Model T is the more expensive option, starting at $179. Meanwhile, the Model One starts at $59. The Trezor Safe 3 is positioned in the middle, with a price point of $79. The reason why the Trezor Safe 3 is pricier than the Model One is because the Safe 3 features a Secure Element chip.

All Trezor devices integrate seamlessly with Trezor Suite, a software solution for managing coins and tokens. We provide a Trezor Model T vs Trezor Model One article where we compare the company's two most popular models head-to-head.

The more expensive Model T comes with a touchscreen, USB-C, and the ability to anonymize transactions with CoinJoin, a trustless method for combining multiple BTC payments from multiple spenders into a single transaction. Moreover, the Model T features PIN and direct passphrase entry on the touchscreen, which offers extra security. 

Ledger devices start at $79 and can reach a price tag of up to $279. The least expensive and basic option in Ledger’s crypto hardware wallet lineup is Ledger Nano S Plus, which starts at $79. The Nano S Plus is a successor to the popular Nano S model, which has recently been discontinued but is still available at some retailers. The newer Nano S Plus has more onboard storage and other improvements over the Nano S.

If you are looking for the best mobile support, then the Ledger Nano X at $149 is your best choice, as the device allows you to connect to an iOS or Android device using either a cable or Bluetooth connection.

Finally, there is the recently announced Ledger Stax, arguably the most advanced cold storage device on the market. At $279, the Ledger Stax has all the features of the Nano S Plus and Nano X, but comes with a large E-Ink touchscreen which makes it much easier to manage crypto assets on the physical device itself. The Ledger Stax has been sold out during the preorder. It will start shipping later this year.

Features

Both Trezor and Ledger hardware devices are equipped with all the essentials required for safely storing private keys and, thus, securely managing crypto assets. 

In the features department, Ledger has a slight overall advantage, as the Nano X and Stax have Bluetooth support. Moreover, the Ledger Stax comes with wireless charging, a curved E-Ink display, and a customizable lock screen.

The Trezor Model T has one distinct advantage over other wallet models, as it comes with a large and bright touchscreen LCD with a resolution of 128x64 px. While this is less than the Ledger Stax, Model T’s bright display and high responsiveness make it a very solid choice for power users.

In the budget category, consisting of the Ledger Nano S Plus and Trezor Model One, there aren’t big differences. Both devices come equipped with two physical buttons that allow users to interact and connect their wallets to supported desktop operating systems. The S Plus offers mobile connectivity as well (although only via a cable), whereas the Model One does not.

Security

When it comes to security, both Trezor and Ledger use certified hardware and software technologies to make their devices as secure as possible. 

The Trezor Model T uses advanced Shamir backups, a new security standard that diminishes the effects of two primary security risks to your recovery seed: theft and destruction. In addition, the Trezor Model T uses FIDO2 and U2F authentication standards. Finally, anonymization of transactions via CoinJoin is available as well.

The Trezor Model One is not as feature packed as its bigger brother – it offers standard backups instead of Shamir backups and has no support for CoinJoin’s anonymous transactions. Both Trezor devices support up to 50-character long passphrases (consisting of letters, words, phrases, and spaces) as an extra layer of security for your cryptocurrency holdings.

All Ledger models use a secure element ship with CC EAL5+ certification. In addition, all can be locked and unlocked using physical buttons and use a 24-word secret recovery phrase for backups.

A major difference, which caused quite a bit of controversy when announced in May 2023, was the decision made by Ledger to offer Ledger Recover, a cloud service meant to recover the user's secret recovery phrase. When launched, the service will be available for Ledger Nano X, with support for additional devices coming down the line.

If the user subscribes to Ledger Recover, they are required to create a Ledger Recover account and verify it with their ID card. Next, the Ledger Nano X must be connected to confirm the creation of an online backup of your secret recovery phrase. The encrypted phrase is then sent to Ledger, Coincover, and EscrowTech, who store them in Hardware Security Modules (HSMs). To get access to your recovery phrase, the user needs two of the three encrypted fragments.

While Ledger Recover does enable users to recover their digital assets in case they lose their recovery phrase, some crypto users are complaining that it could lead to a security risk, as a third party could get access to a security recovery phrase, either by faking the identity or via a court order mandated by the court. The service is not enabled by default and requires an opt-in.

Connectivity with mobile devices

Trezor offers no native support for mobile devices, although an app for Android is in the pipeline. Meanwhile, mobile device support is where Ledger shines.

All Ledger wallets can be connected to mobile devices via cable, or via Bluetooth in the case of more expensive Nano X and Stax. While all three devices support Apple’s products with Android 9 or higher, the Ledger Nano S Plus doesn’t ship with iOS support.

The mobile connectivity allows users to connect their Ledgers with the Ledger Live software on the mobile device to buy, sell, and transfer crypto assets and NFTs, and interact with DeFi with an additional layer of security.

Software wallets

Both Trezor and Ledger have their own version of a software platform. In the case of Trezor, that’s Trezor Suite, and in the case of Ledger, that’s Ledger Live.

Trezor Suite and Ledger Live are essentially software wallets that allow users to manage their assets. They both feature options for selling and buying crypto as well.

Trezor Suite is available on Apple, Windows, and Linus desktops, as well as via a browser app. Meanwhile, Ledger Live also supports all three big desktop operating systems, but features support for iOS and Android as well.

In addition to the native wallet solutions, both Trezor and Ledger allow users to connect to third-party wallets. Ledger provides a full list of compatible third-party wallets, whereas its competitor provides a sample list of supported third-party wallets and apps for Trezor, but not the whole list.

Supported cryptocurrencies

Both Trezor and Ledger support all the major coins and tokens, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cardano, Solana, Polkadot, and more.

In total, Ledger support over 5,500 cryptocurrencies. However, that includes assets that are supported only via third-party wallets and services. Still, Ledger Live supports more than 500 coins natively, more than enough for most crypto users.

Trezor supports over 1,300 cryptocurrencies. While that might seem lower than Ledger at first glance, the difference is that the more than a thousand coins supported by Trezor are supported natively via Trezor Suite, and don’t require any third-party integrations.

The bottom line – Ledger has a small edge in terms of features and user-friendliness

Whether you go for Trezor or for Ledger, both manufacturers offer supreme build quality and a rich set of features necessary to store your crypto assets securely. 

However, with Ledger’s ability to connect with iOS and Android devices, as well as a more beginner-friendly interface, it’s hard not to give a small edge to Ledger overall.

Buy a Ledger Hardware Wallet

As long as you safely back up your recovery phrase and don’t disclose it to anyone, your cryptocurrencies will be protected very well. However, you can use a purpose-made metal device for more secure seed phrase storage.