Safe (Gnosis Safe) at a glance: 8.95/10 in July 2026
Safe (Gnosis Safe) is a smart contract multisig for storing and managing cryptocurrency. On our six-criterion composite for wallets, it currently leads our composite ranking, ahead of Trezor Safe 5 and Rabby.
Wallet scoring weights security most heavily (30%) — for anything holding meaningful capital, security dominates other considerations. Chain support, UX, open-source posture, reputation, and price/accessibility fill out the picture.
Security model
Multi-signature smart contract wallet. Configurable m-of-n signer setups. Most-trusted DeFi treasury wallet — holds tens of billions in DAOs and institutions. Battle-tested contracts audited multiple times.
Security is the foundation of every wallet decision. Hardware wallets keep private keys offline in a secure element, protected against malware on your device. Software wallets are convenient but keep keys in memory — vulnerable to compromised devices. For anything above a small trading balance, hardware wallet storage is standard practice.
Chain support and multichain UX
Deployed on 15+ EVM chains — Ethereum, all major L2s, BNB, Polygon, etc. Same contract addresses across chains.
Chain coverage determines which networks you can access from a single wallet. Multichain wallets simplify DeFi participation across many networks but require careful attention to which chain you're currently interacting with — sending to the wrong chain is one of the most common ways to lose funds permanently.
User experience
Aimed at power users and treasuries, not consumers. Multi-signature workflow requires coordination among signers. UI functional but complex.
Wallet UX shapes daily usage. Great UX (transaction previews, clear dApp connection prompts, mobile-desktop sync) prevents user errors that cost real money. Rough UX increases the risk of signing something you didn't mean to sign.
Open source and auditability
Fully open-source smart contracts. Multiple independent audits. Reference implementation for smart contract wallets.
Open-source wallets can be independently audited by security researchers, and vulnerabilities can be discovered and patched by the community. Closed-source wallets require trust in the vendor's internal security process. For maximum-security setups, open-source is the safer bet.
Reputation and track record
The reference multisig for DAOs and institutions. Holds most of DeFi's DAO treasuries. No exploits in core contract history.
Wallet reputation is built over years of clean operation. Well-established wallets with millions of users and no history of user losses are safer defaults than new entrants, however clever their design.
Who Safe (Gnosis Safe) is for — and who should look elsewhere
Best fit: Security-conscious users who require open-source code they can independently audit.
Look elsewhere if: Safe (Gnosis Safe) is less suitable for users whose primary priority is user experience.
Safe (Gnosis Safe) currently leads the composite wallet ranking. See Best Crypto Wallets.
