Long-established open-source Bitcoin wallet with Lightning support
Privacy 8.6
Safety 8.5
Wallets Reviewed 22 Oct 2026
Sparrow Wallet review
Desktop Bitcoin wallet focused on transparency, coin control and hardware wallets
- No account needed
- Never holds your funds
- Open source
- No email needed
- No phone number
ID never required KYC 0 Documentation reviewed
Privacy
8.5/ 10
Excellent
Safety
7.0/ 10
Strong
Based on terms and documentation. No test transactions published yet. See the arithmetic
Sparrow Wallet review in short
Sparrow Wallet is a wallet. Its terms put it at KYC level 0 of 4: ID never required. NoKYC Score grades it 8.5/10 for privacy (excellent) and 7.0/10 for safety (strong). In its favour: no account needed, no email needed and no phone number. No incidents are on record.
- Category
- Wallets
- KYC level
- 0 of 4: ID never required
- Grades
- Privacy 8.5/10, Safety 7.0/10
- Sign-up
- No account needed
- Custody
- non-custodial
- Jurisdiction
- Decentralised / none
- Incidents on record
- 0
- Last reviewed
- 22 Oct 2026
Cite this review
NoKYC Score, "Sparrow Wallet review", reviewed 22 Oct 2026, https://nokycscore.com/service/sparrow-wallet
Also available as plain text.
What Sparrow Wallet is
Sparrow is an open-source desktop Bitcoin wallet aimed at users who want to see and control exactly what their transactions do. The site lists support for connecting to Bitcoin Core and private Electrum servers, full PSBT support, all common hardware wallets in USB and air-gapped modes, comprehensive coin and fee control, labelling of transactions and outputs, PayNym payments and built-in Tor. It also includes a transaction editor that doubles as a block explorer. The wallet is self-custodial software with no accounts and no operator-side service, so no identity information is collected.
What Sparrow Wallet offers, and what to watch
6 of 13 privacy and safety features, 0 warnings in its terms.
"Not stated" means its own pages do not say.
Identity
- ID never required Yes The terms rule identity checks out, or the design makes them impossible.
- No account needed Yes Usable without creating an account, or the account is only a random number.
- No email needed Yes An email address is not required to sign up or use it.
- No phone number Yes A phone number is never required.
Payment
- Accepts Monero Not stated
- Accepts Lightning Not stated
Access
- Tor onion address Not stated
- Works without JavaScript Not stated
Trust
- Never holds your funds Yes The operator never controls user funds, so it cannot freeze them.
- Open source Yes The code that matters is public and can be inspected.
- Independent audit Not stated
- Company named Not stated
- 5+ years operating Not stated
Warnings
- May ask for ID Not in terms
- Screens deposits Not in terms
- Holds your funds Not in terms
- Email required Not in terms
- Phone number required Not in terms
- Closed source Not in terms
- Nobody accountable Not in terms
Does Sparrow Wallet require KYC?
- 0 Never
- 1 Not mentioned
- 2 Rare
- 3 On risk flag
- 4 Mandatory
KYC level 0: ID never required. The terms rule out identity checks, or the design makes them impossible.
Self-custodial desktop software with no accounts; there is no service that could collect identity.
How the grades add up
Both grades start at 50 points and move by fixed, published amounts. Nothing is adjusted by hand. The total is divided by ten.
Privacy
8.5- Starting points 50
- KYC level 0: ID never required +20
- No registration +6
- No email needed +3
- No phone needed +1
- Open source +2
- Non-custodial +3
- Total, clamped to 0–100 85
Safety
7.0- Starting points 50
- Open source +8
- Non-custodial +12
- Total, clamped to 0–100 70
Test ledger
Real transactions run by our editors. A badge without a ledger is an assertion; this is the proof.
No test transactions published yet
The grades above rest on Sparrow Wallet’s terms and documentation. Tests will appear here with the date, route, amount band and result as they are run.
Incidents on record
No incidents are on record for Sparrow Wallet. If you have a documented case, report it.
User reviews
Reviews never change a grade. Reviews with a transaction reference are marked.
No reviews yet.
Write a review
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Sparrow Wallet: common questions
Does Sparrow Wallet require KYC?
Sparrow Wallet is rated KYC level 0 of 4 on this site: ID never required. Self-custodial desktop software with no accounts; there is no service that could collect identity.
Is Sparrow Wallet safe to use?
Sparrow Wallet has a Safety grade of 7.0 out of 10 and a Privacy grade of 8.5 out of 10. No incidents are on record. Evidence level: documentation reviewed.
Is Sparrow Wallet legit?
Sparrow Wallet is a working wallet. Being real is not the same as being safe: its Safety grade here is 7.0 out of 10, built from custody, liquidity, track record and incidents.
Is Sparrow Wallet a scam?
NoKYC Score does not label services as scams; it records documented incidents with their sources and outcomes. No incidents are on record for Sparrow Wallet.
Do I need an account or email to use Sparrow Wallet?
No account needed.
Does Sparrow Wallet have a Tor onion address?
No official onion address was found on Sparrow Wallet's own pages.
Which cryptocurrencies does Sparrow Wallet support?
Sparrow Wallet supports BTC.
Can I use Sparrow Wallet over Tor?
Sparrow Wallet does not publish an official onion address.
Listing history
- Listing added. Facts and KYC level set from the service's own terms and documentation.