Foundation Passport vs Keycard Shell Keycard Shell leads by 1 point.
Keycard Shell scores 1 point above Foundation Passport, led by secure element and maker independence. Foundation Passport ranks #9 and Keycard Shell #6 of 23 published hardware wallets. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.
Foundation Passport68
vs
Keycard Shell69
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #9 and #6 of 23
Keycard Shell scores 1 point above Foundation Passport, led by secure element and maker independence.
Foundation Passport #9 of 2368
Keycard Shell #6 of 2369
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termKeycard Shell leads on 2 of 6 published criteria; Foundation Passport on 2. The terms sum to the gap.
TermKeycard ShellFoundation PassportWeightPoints
Secure element10/105/106.5+8.4for Keycard Shell+4.3 of 32
Rebuildable firmware7/1010/106.5−5.1for Foundation Passport−2.6 of 32
Checkable keys0/107/102.9−5.2for Foundation Passport−2.7 of 32
Maker independence10/106/102.6+2.7for Keycard Shell+1.4 of 32
Net of the terms+0.9
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread−0.1
Reproduced gap+0.8
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below6968+1.0
Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.
Keycard ShellScore 69An air-gapped QR signer with a screen around an EAL6+ Keycard — firmware rebuilt and matched, €129Strength: Secure element you can look up — 10/10Watch-out: First shipped in 2025, so it has a short record in buyers' handsFoundation PassportScore 68Open KeyOS rebuilt and matched — air-gapped by QR, $349Strength: Firmware anyone can rebuild and match — 10/10Watch-out: First setup needs the Envoy app over Bluetooth and a check against Foundation's validation server
Quick facts
At a glance
3 of 5 rows read the same for both.
FactFoundation PassportKeycard Shell
One-time priceSnapshotFoundation Passport Prime at $349 on the US store https://foundation.xyz/products/passport-prime?country=US, read 1 October 2026.Keycard Shell (with two Keycards) at €129 including VAT (regular €149) on https://keycard.tech/products/keycard-shell, read 1 October 2026; no US dollar list price is published.
Asset coverageEditorial——
Region fitSnapshotus, europe, globalus, europe, global
Custody modelEditorialSelf-custody: the keys stay on the deviceSelf-custody: the keys stay on the device
Security postureSnapshotSecure element, no listed certificate; fully open source; air-gapped signing.Secure element, EAL6+ certified; partly open source; air-gapped signing.
From the published criteria
Which should you pick?
Foundation Passport
68#9 of 23
Pick it when
Pick Foundation Passport if rebuildable firmware matters most — it scores 10/10 to Keycard Shell's 7/10 there (weight 27).
Strength
Firmware anyone can rebuild and match — 10/10
Tradeoff
First setup needs the Envoy app over Bluetooth and a check against Foundation's validation server
Keycard Shell
69#6 of 23
Leads
Pick it when
Pick Keycard Shell if secure element matters most — it scores 10/10 to Foundation Passport's 5/10 there (weight 27).
Strength
Secure element you can look up — 10/10
Tradeoff
First shipped in 2025, so it has a short record in buyers' hands
Self-identify in 10 seconds
Which one is actually for you?
Foundation Passport
Choose Foundation Passport if rebuildable firmware matters most
Rebuildable firmware: 10/10 against 7/10 for Keycard Shell (weight 27)
Checkable keys: 7/10 against 0/10 for Keycard Shell (weight 12)
Foundation PassportScore 68Open KeyOS rebuilt and matched — air-gapped by QR, $349Strength: Firmware anyone can rebuild and match — 10/10Watch-out: First setup needs the Envoy app over Bluetooth and a check against Foundation's validation server
Keycard ShellLeads
Choose Keycard Shell if secure element matters most
Secure element: 10/10 against 5/10 for Foundation Passport (weight 27)
Maker independence: 10/10 against 6/10 for Foundation Passport (weight 11)
Keycard ShellScore 69An air-gapped QR signer with a screen around an EAL6+ Keycard — firmware rebuilt and matched, €129Strength: Secure element you can look up — 10/10Watch-out: First shipped in 2025, so it has a short record in buyers' hands
Criterion by criterion
Scorecard
Published criteria · weight in points of 8612 of 12 cells scored. Strength is read from the evidence file; the weight is the published one. Methodology
Secure element
by 5 of 10weight 6.5 of 86Keycard Shell leads
Foundation Passport5/10 out of 10
Keycard Shell10/10 out of 10
Rebuildable firmware
by 3 of 10weight 6.5 of 86Foundation Passport leads
Foundation Passport10/10 out of 10
Keycard Shell7/10 out of 10
Genuine check
weight 2.9 of 86Tie
Foundation Passport7/10 out of 10
Keycard Shell7/10 out of 10
Checkable keys
by 7 of 10weight 2.9 of 86Foundation Passport leads
Foundation Passport7/10 out of 10
Keycard Shell0/10 out of 10
Maker independence
by 4 of 10weight 2.6 of 86Keycard Shell leads
Foundation Passport6/10 out of 10
Keycard Shell10/10 out of 10
Fund-loss record
weight 2.6 of 86Tie
Foundation Passport5/10 out of 10
Keycard Shell5/10 out of 10
Score dimensions
weights sum to 86
The published score is five dimensions, each weighted for the category. "Published criteria" is the criteria block above; the other four are the engine's own terms — availability, friction, trust record, measured data. Each bar is one side's points out of that dimension's maximum; the weight beside the name is its points of the 86-point weighted total. The published criteria above can fill 24 of the block’s 30. A weight marked “constant here” belongs to a dimension every ranked product in the category holds at the same value: it still counts in the total, and it orders nothing here.
Availabilityweight 20 of 86 · constant here
Foundation Passport14/20Keycard Shell14/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
Foundation Passport16.7/30Keycard Shell17/30
Keycard Shell leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
Foundation Passport2.7/10Keycard Shell2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
Foundation Passport3.2/8Keycard Shell3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
Foundation Passport5.5/18Keycard Shell5.5/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose Keycard Shell unless the term Foundation Passport leads on is the one you are buying.
Pick Foundation Passport if rebuildable firmware matters most — it scores 10/10 to Keycard Shell's 7/10 there (weight 27).
The published order weighs every criterion the same way for everyone. To weigh them your way, run .
From the published order
Next best action
If this isn't your case
Other matchups worth comparing
How you can lose money here, and what the ranking scores
Key failure: your own keys are made, shown or recovered unsafely.
Scored by Secure element you can look up · 27% (Foundation Passport 5/10, Keycard Shell 10/10)
Scored by Firmware anyone can rebuild and match · 27% (Foundation Passport 10/10, Keycard Shell 7/10)
Scored by Proof the device is genuine and unmodified · 12% (Foundation Passport 7/10, Keycard Shell 7/10)
Scored by Key creation and signing you can check · 12% (Foundation Passport 7/10, Keycard Shell 0/10)
Scored by Sign and recover without the maker · 11% (Foundation Passport 6/10, Keycard Shell 10/10)
Scored by Years in buyers' hands without a device-level fund loss · 11% (Foundation Passport 5/10, Keycard Shell 5/10)
Every failure family that applies to this category is scored, except Information failure, which the provider pages show as a fact.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Keycard Shell scores 1 point above Foundation Passport, led by secure element and maker independence. Published scores, out of 100: Foundation Passport 68 (rank 9 of 23 hardware wallets), Keycard Shell 69 (rank 6 of 23).
Reviewed means both products compared here was read against its sources on or after that date; every ranked category is re-read at least every 45 days. Models research, extract and parse. A deterministic engine ranks. Every quote passes an adversarial refute pass.
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