Ledger vs Foundation Passport Foundation Passport leads by 5 points.
Foundation Passport scores 5 points above Ledger, led by rebuildable firmware and checkable keys. Ledger ranks #12 and Foundation Passport #9 of 23 published hardware wallets. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.
Ledger63
vs
Foundation Passport68
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #12 and #9 of 23
Foundation Passport scores 5 points above Ledger, led by rebuildable firmware and checkable keys.
Ledger #12 of 2363
Foundation Passport #9 of 2368
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termFoundation Passport leads on 2 of 6 published criteria; Ledger on 2. The terms sum to the gap.
TermFoundation PassportLedgerWeightPoints
Rebuildable firmware10/104/106.5+10.1for Foundation Passport+5.2 of 32
Secure element5/1010/106.5−8.4for Ledger−4.3 of 32
Checkable keys7/100/102.9+5.2for Foundation Passport+2.7 of 32
Fund-loss record5/108/102.6−2.1for Ledger−1.1 of 32
Net of the terms+4.9
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread+0.1
Reproduced gap+4.9
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below6863+5.0
Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.
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 serverLedgerScore 63Certified chip you can look up, closed operating system — $69, USB-C onlyStrength: Secure element you can look up — 10/10Watch-out: Installing or updating a signing app needs Ledger's live HSM servers (developer sideloading of an app you compile yourself aside), so a new or reset Nano S Plus cannot be readied to sign the normal way without the maker
Quick facts
At a glance
3 of 5 rows read the same for both.
FactLedgerFoundation Passport
One-time priceSnapshotLedger Nano S Plus: the Offer on https://shop.ledger.com/products/ledger-nano-s-plus reads "price":"69","priceCurrency":"USD", read 1 October 2026. The same page shows a visitor in Germany "€59" (read 28 October 2026).Foundation Passport Prime at $349 on the US store https://foundation.xyz/products/passport-prime?country=US, read 1 October 2026.
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, EAL6+ certified; partly open source; no air-gapped signing.Secure element, no listed certificate; fully open source; air-gapped signing.
From the published criteria
Which should you pick?
Ledger
63#12 of 23
Pick it when
Pick Ledger 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
Installing or updating a signing app needs Ledger's live HSM servers (developer sideloading of an app you compile yourself aside), so a new or reset Nano S Plus cannot be readied to sign the normal way without the maker
Foundation Passport
68#9 of 23
Leads
Pick it when
Pick Foundation Passport if rebuildable firmware matters most — it scores 10/10 to Ledger's 4/10 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
Self-identify in 10 seconds
Which one is actually for you?
Ledger
Choose Ledger if secure element matters most
Secure element: 10/10 against 5/10 for Foundation Passport (weight 27)
Fund-loss record: 8/10 against 5/10 for Foundation Passport (weight 11)
LedgerScore 63Certified chip you can look up, closed operating system — $69, USB-C onlyStrength: Secure element you can look up — 10/10Watch-out: Installing or updating a signing app needs Ledger's live HSM servers (developer sideloading of an app you compile yourself aside), so a new or reset Nano S Plus cannot be readied to sign the normal way without the maker
Foundation PassportLeads
Choose Foundation Passport if rebuildable firmware matters most
Rebuildable firmware: 10/10 against 4/10 for Ledger (weight 27)
Checkable keys: 7/10 against 0/10 for Ledger (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
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 86Ledger leads
Ledger10/10 out of 10
Foundation Passport5/10 out of 10
Rebuildable firmware
by 6 of 10weight 6.5 of 86Foundation Passport leads
Ledger4/10 out of 10
Foundation Passport10/10 out of 10
Genuine check
weight 2.9 of 86Tie
Ledger7/10 out of 10
Foundation Passport7/10 out of 10
Checkable keys
by 7 of 10weight 2.9 of 86Foundation Passport leads
Ledger0/10 out of 10
Foundation Passport7/10 out of 10
Maker independence
weight 2.6 of 86Tie
Ledger6/10 out of 10
Foundation Passport6/10 out of 10
Fund-loss record
by 3 of 10weight 2.6 of 86Ledger leads
Ledger8/10 out of 10
Foundation Passport5/10 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
Ledger14/20Foundation Passport14/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
Ledger14.8/30Foundation Passport16.7/30
Foundation Passport leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
Ledger2.7/10Foundation Passport2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
Ledger3.2/8Foundation Passport3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
Ledger5.5/18Foundation Passport5.5/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose Foundation Passport unless the term Ledger leads on is the one you are buying.
Pick Ledger if secure element matters most — it scores 10/10 to Foundation Passport's 5/10 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% (Ledger 10/10, Foundation Passport 5/10)
Scored by Firmware anyone can rebuild and match · 27% (Ledger 4/10, Foundation Passport 10/10)
Scored by Proof the device is genuine and unmodified · 12% (Ledger 7/10, Foundation Passport 7/10)
Scored by Key creation and signing you can check · 12% (Ledger 0/10, Foundation Passport 7/10)
Scored by Sign and recover without the maker · 11% (Ledger 6/10, Foundation Passport 6/10)
Scored by Years in buyers' hands without a device-level fund loss · 11% (Ledger 8/10, Foundation Passport 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
Foundation Passport scores 5 points above Ledger, led by rebuildable firmware and checkable keys. Published scores, out of 100: Ledger 63 (rank 12 of 23 hardware wallets), Foundation Passport 68 (rank 9 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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