Lightning Wallets Compared

The Lightning wallet landscape has matured significantly since the early days of clunky command-line tools and unreliable routing. Here are the main options worth knowing about.

For beginners — custodial, maximum simplicity:

Wallet of Satoshi is the most widely recommended starting point. Completely custodial, extremely simple, available globally. No channel management, no liquidity concerns. Send and receive Lightning payments in under a minute of setup. Appropriate for small amounts used for spending.

For everyday use — self-custodial with automatic management:

Phoenix Wallet (by ACINQ) is widely considered the best balance of self-custody and usability. You hold your own keys. Phoenix manages channels and liquidity automatically in the background. When you receive a payment for the first time, Phoenix opens a channel on your behalf. The UX is close to custodial simplicity with non-custodial security.

Breez is another strong self-custodial option with more features — point-of-sale functionality, podcast streaming payments, and deeper customisation for users who want more control.

For power users — full self-custody:

Muun Wallet takes a different technical approach — it uses on-chain and Lightning together with submarine swaps, meaning you always hold on-chain keys. Slightly higher fees but maximum security.

BitKit combines a Lightning wallet with a full Bitcoin node on your phone — significant storage requirements but complete sovereignty.

For desktop and technical users, Core Lightning and LND are full Lightning node implementations for running your own routing infrastructure.

The right choice depends on what you’re doing with Lightning and how much technical complexity you’re comfortable with. Most people start with Wallet of Satoshi and graduate to Phoenix as they become more comfortable.

Tomorrow: setting up a Lightning wallet — step by step.

— The Daily Bit