Zano WalletZano Wallet vs Feather Wallet
Two open-source desktop wallets, two different chains. Feather is the lean Monero choice. Zano Wallet is the Zano choice — with more features that only matter if you want what Zano offers.
Feather Wallet is a free open-source desktop Monero wallet supporting Linux, Tails, macOS, and Windows. It is Tor-first by default and trusted by the Monero community as the lightweight desktop alternative to Monero GUI. Zano Wallet is independent third-party desktop wallet software for the Zano privacy blockchain. Both are open source, both desktop-native, both ship signed releases. They support different blockchains: Feather is Monero-only; Zano Wallet is Zano-only.
The short answer
Feather Wallet is excellent if you hold Monero. It is fast, Tor-first by default, lean, and has a multi-year track record in the privacy community. If your privacy interest stops at Monero, use Feather and you will be well-served.
Zano Wallet is for a different audience: people who specifically want the Zano blockchain. Zano supports things Monero doesn't — Confidential Assets (private tokens beyond the base coin), hidden-amount staking, on-chain aliases, native atomic swaps. None of those exist on Monero, so Feather doesn't address them. If you want those features, you want Zano, and Zano Wallet is the desktop way to use it.
The two wallets are not competitors. They are siblings.
Side by side
- Zano WalletZano (Layer 1, CryptoNote-derived)
- Feather WalletMonero (Layer 1, CryptoNote)
- Zano WalletWindows · macOS · Linux
- Feather WalletWindows · macOS · Linux · Tails
- Zano WalletYes
- Feather WalletYes
- Zano WalletYes
- Feather WalletYes
- Zano WalletNo
- Feather WalletNo
- Zano WalletConfigurable (opt-in)
- Feather WalletYes (Tor-first design)
- Zano WalletYes — Zarcanum PoS
- Feather WalletN/A — Monero has no staking
- Zano WalletYes
- Feather WalletN/A — Monero has only XMR
- Zano WalletYes — human-readable @name
- Feather WalletN/A
- Zano WalletYes — Ionic Swaps via Zano Trade
- Feather WalletN/A
- Zano WalletYes — ProgPoWZ
- Feather WalletN/A — Monero uses RandomX, no in-wallet mining
- Zano WalletNot yet (Foundation roadmap)
- Feather WalletTrezor (Monero hardware integration)
- Zano WalletNew (launching 2026)
- Feather WalletActive since 2021
- Zano WalletNew
- Feather WalletTens of thousands
Where Feather Wallet wins
If your interest is Monero specifically, Feather has things Zano Wallet does not.
Tor-by-default is the headline feature. Feather routes all network traffic through Tor without configuration. New users do not have to think about IP leakage. Zano Wallet does not bundle a Tor circuit; if you want network-level anonymity, you configure it yourself (system Tor, VPN, or running over a Tor proxy). For users who specifically want zero-configuration network privacy, this is a real difference.
Tails OS support. Feather is one of the few wallets that runs cleanly on Tails, the privacy-focused live OS. If your threat model includes physical-machine compromise, Tails is part of the answer, and Feather supports it. Zano Wallet runs on standard Linux distributions but is not specifically packaged for Tails.
Track record. Feather has been in active development since 2021, with broad community trust, regular reviews, and a maintainer (tobtoht) who is well-known in the Monero space. Trust in a privacy wallet is partly time-on-mainnet. We do not have that yet. Zano Wallet is new in 2026.
Lighter system requirements. Feather is a remote-node wallet by default — it does not require a full local Monero node. That makes it lighter on disk and faster to set up. Zano Wallet syncs the Zano blockchain locally (~20-30 GB) by default for full verification.
Where Zano Wallet wins
Feather is Monero-only. Zano Wallet supports the Zano blockchain, which has a different feature surface entirely.
Confidential Assets. Zano supports issuing private tokens on the chain. fUSD (a private stablecoin) and other Confidential Assets are usable inside Zano Wallet. Monero supports only XMR; Feather correspondingly supports only XMR. If you want to hold a private stablecoin or any tokenized asset with the same privacy guarantees as the base coin, Zano Wallet is the path.
Hidden-amount staking. Zano's Proof-of-Stake mechanism (Zarcanum) is the first PoS scheme that hides the staked amount cryptographically. Stake any quantity of ZANO without revealing how much you hold. No minimum, no lock-up. Monero has no staking — it is Proof-of-Work only — so Feather does not address this.
On-chain aliases. Zano supports human-readable addresses (e.g., @alice) registered on-chain. Send to a name, not a 95-character address. Monero does not have this at the protocol level.
Atomic swaps via Zano Trade. Zano supports peer-to-peer atomic swaps between ZANO and Confidential Assets directly between wallets. Feather does not have an equivalent for Monero (cross-chain swaps with Monero are possible but require external tools and intermediaries).
GPU mining from inside the wallet. Zano uses ProgPoWZ (GPU-friendly, ASIC-resistant). Zano Wallet exposes mining controls directly. Monero uses RandomX (CPU-optimized); Feather does not include in-wallet mining, and Monero mining typically uses external miners like XMRig.
Both, not either
If you hold both Monero and Zano, hold both wallets. Feather for XMR. Zano Wallet for ZANO. Each is best at the chain it serves.
The privacy-coin ecosystem benefits from each chain having dedicated, focused, open-source wallet options. Mobile-multichain wallets (Cake, Edge, etc.) cover the casual end. Chain-specific desktop wallets cover the serious end. Feather and Zano Wallet are in the second category, serving different chains.