Electrum vs Sparrow Wallet Comparison

Electrum creates its own seed phrase: 12 words from the same 2048-word list as BIP39, but with a version number hidden in the phrase's hash instead of a BIP39 checksum, so a wallet that reads only BIP39 phrases cannot restore it. Electrum publishes the format, and it can also restore BIP39 phrases and SLIP-39 shares.

Creates BIP39 phrases of 12 to 24 words. It can also restore from SLIP39 shares, and it can hold no seed at all when the keys live on a hardware wallet.

Electrum Technologies GmbH, Berlin, develops and distributes the software and hosts electrum.org. The company holds no user accounts and cannot freeze or reverse payments. Anyone can run an Electrum server, and none of the 84 servers in the app's built-in list is on electrum.org.

Sparrow is built by one developer, Craig Raw, who is based in South Africa. No company stands behind the project, and Sparrow runs no wallet servers of its own.

Thomas Voegtlin created Electrum in November 2011 and founded Electrum Technologies GmbH in 2013. Two developers, Thomas Voegtlin and SomberNight, have write access to the code; website changes and releases must be signed by both.

Built and maintained by a single developer since 2020, with code contributions from others. Sparrow is free and is funded by donations; it has no support team, only a community-run Telegram group.