MetaMask scores 13 points above Rainbow, led by clear signing, key export, and incident record. MetaMask ranks #2 and Rainbow #8 of 11 published wallets. Every term of the gap is on the ledger below; the inputs are on the audit receipt.
MetaMask80
vs
Rainbow67
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99 · ranks #2 and #8 of 11
MetaMask scores 13 points above Rainbow, led by clear signing, key export, and incident record.
MetaMask #2 of 1180
Rainbow #8 of 1167
Scores are out of 100; published scores fall within 41–99; a bar is empty at 41 and full at 99.
Why, term by termMetaMask leads on 3 of 4 published criteria; Rainbow on 0. The terms sum to the gap.
TermMetaMaskRainbowWeightPoints
Clear signing6/105/107.2+1.9for MetaMask+1.0 of 32
Key export9/108/106.7+1.7for MetaMask+0.9 of 32
Incident record8/102/105.8+9.0for MetaMask+4.6 of 32
Net of the terms+12.6
Criteria roundingThe criteria block is rounded to whole points before it is spread+0.1
Reproduced gap+12.7
Published gapAfter score rounding and bounds — see the note below8067+13.0
Weight is in points of the 86-point weighted total. Points are score points of the gap between the two.
MetaMaskScore 80The default EVM wallet: seed and per-account private-key export both documented on a stated BIP-44 path, a 2017-2025 public audit trail with three dated vendor advisories, and a pre-signature balance preview for contract interactions only, enforced onchain on 15 named networks for smart accounts on Extension.Strength: Key export — 9/10Watch-out: Read the fine print behind the three security claims on metamask.io before treating them as the product. All three are true and all three are narrower than they read. "Transaction protection available up to $10k" is not a wallet feature: it is Transaction Shield, "$9.99 monthly or $99 yearly", "Early access is now available on MetaMask Extension" only, capped at "Coverage of up to 100 transactions per month", and it explicitly "does not cover transactions deemed malicious by MetaMask" — so it does not pay out on the flagged case you most fear, and it does not exist on mobile. "Regularly audited by security firms" is backed by 17 genuinely public report links across 15 dated entries, but no report published since 2022 audits the shipped application itself: the 2023-2024 entries cover libraries, Snaps and build hardening, and the 2025 entries audit the mUSD stablecoin contract. And the pre-signature preview most buyers assume they are getting is, per MetaMask's own page (re-read 2026-09-28), available only "for contract interactions", not for native transfers; the enforced onchain simulation that reverts a transaction when execution diverges from the preview covers 15 named networks but is on by default only for "MetaMask smart accounts on Extension", and no page says what the confirmation screen shows when a simulation cannot be produced. If you pair a hardware device, two MetaMask troubleshooting pages tell you to enable blind signing, one of them with no qualifier at all. Finally, the exit that makes this record strong — pulling your encrypted vault out of local storage and decrypting it offline — is Chromium-desktop-only: MetaMask's own recovery page says it is "not currently possible" on Android or iOS, that the iOS method "is no longer working", that an Android solution is still being worked on, and that Firefox's data-encoding changes have made the instructions "of limited use".RainbowScore 67GPL-3.0 open-source EVM wallet whose export and exit docs are unusually complete, wrapped in a vendor that publishes no security surface at all and has repositioned itself as a leveraged-trading app.Strength: Recovery exit — 9/10Watch-out: Read the security surface before you commit, because there isn't one. rainbow.me/security is a 301 to a marketing article whose case for safety is "Rainbow is open source" and a "world class team" — no advisory archive, no linked audit, no bug bounty, and the GitHub Security tab says outright "This project has not set up a SECURITY.md file yet" with zero advisories. Rainbow's own sitemap lists 11 URLs and not one of them is a security page. Everything verifiable about this wallet, you verify yourself from the GPL-3.0 source; nothing is verifiable from the vendor. That matters more in 2026 than it did in 2024, because the app you install today is a leveraged-trading front end — 50x perps via Hyperliquid, prediction markets, $RNBW staking tiers — while the Terms of Use governing it were last updated December 13, 2023, the release-notes feed stops at September 23, 2024, and the App Store listing, refreshed with version 2.0.45 on 2026-09-17, still describes a six-chain Ethereum wallet with no mention of perps. The wallet underneath is genuinely good and genuinely exportable. The company around it stopped publishing.
Quick facts
At a glance
3 of 4 rows read the same for both.
FactMetaMaskRainbow
PricingSnapshot"Subscribing to Transaction Shield is $9.99 monthly or $99 yearly, and includes: Transaction Protection of up to $10,000 per month for eligible interactions", with "Coverage of up to 100 transactions per month", "Try it free for 14 days." and "Early access is now available on MetaMask Extension." (support.metamask.io/manage-crypto/transactions/transaction-shield/, fetched 28 October 2026). The wallet client itself carries no download or subscription price on any vendor page; MetaMask monetises through transaction fees, both vendor-stated on their own pages: the buy FAQ says "MetaMask receives a 1% fee on every transaction, calculated as a percentage of the fiat value you request" (support.metamask.io/manage-crypto/move-crypto/buy/faqs/, fetched 28 October 2026), and the swaps guide breaks a quote into "Quote rate", "Network fee" and "MetaMask fee: 0.875%" (support.metamask.io/trade/swap/user-guide-swaps/, fetched 28 October 2026).Free to download and use (iTunes lookup for app id 1457119021, fetched 2026-10-28: formattedPrice "Free", version v2.0.46 released 8 October 2026). The only vendor-stated charge on the wallet is on swaps, quoted without a rate, on rainbow.me/support/app/bridge-and-swap-tokens (fetched 28 October 2026): "Rainbow Fee: This is the percentage/amount that Rainbow applies. This fee will always be visible for you to review." No Rainbow page loaded publishes the percentage; the learn.rainbow.me article cited in August now returns HTTP 404. A separate page, rainbow.me/support/app/staking-rnbw (fetched 28 October 2026), prices tiered cashback against that unstated fee: "Silver (5,000) → 25% fee cashback in RNBW. Gold (10,000) → 50% fee cashback in RNBW. Diamond (15,000) → 75% fee cashback in RNBW. Black (20,000) → 100% fee cashback in RNBW." and "When someone unstakes, they pay a 10% exit fee, which is distributed to everyone still staking."
Asset coverageEditorial——
Region fitSnapshotglobalglobal
Custody modelEditorialSelf-custody: the vendor cannot move funds without your keySelf-custody: the vendor cannot move funds without your key
From the published criteria
Which should you pick?
MetaMask
80#2 of 11
Leads
Pick it when
Pick MetaMask if clear signing matters most — it scores 6/10 to Rainbow's 5/10 there (weight 30).
Strength
Key export — 9/10
Tradeoff
Read the fine print behind the three security claims on metamask.io before treating them as the product. All three are true and all three are narrower than they read. "Transaction protection available up to $10k" is not a wallet feature: it is Transaction Shield, "$9.99 monthly or $99 yearly", "Early access is now available on MetaMask Extension" only, capped at "Coverage of up to 100 transactions per month", and it explicitly "does not cover transactions deemed malicious by MetaMask" — so it does not pay out on the flagged case you most fear, and it does not exist on mobile. "Regularly audited by security firms" is backed by 17 genuinely public report links across 15 dated entries, but no report published since 2022 audits the shipped application itself: the 2023-2024 entries cover libraries, Snaps and build hardening, and the 2025 entries audit the mUSD stablecoin contract. And the pre-signature preview most buyers assume they are getting is, per MetaMask's own page (re-read 2026-09-28), available only "for contract interactions", not for native transfers; the enforced onchain simulation that reverts a transaction when execution diverges from the preview covers 15 named networks but is on by default only for "MetaMask smart accounts on Extension", and no page says what the confirmation screen shows when a simulation cannot be produced. If you pair a hardware device, two MetaMask troubleshooting pages tell you to enable blind signing, one of them with no qualifier at all. Finally, the exit that makes this record strong — pulling your encrypted vault out of local storage and decrypting it offline — is Chromium-desktop-only: MetaMask's own recovery page says it is "not currently possible" on Android or iOS, that the iOS method "is no longer working", that an Android solution is still being worked on, and that Firefox's data-encoding changes have made the instructions "of limited use".
Rainbow
67#8 of 11
Pick it when
Rainbow leads MetaMask on no published criterion and no score dimension — pick it only if a fact outside the score (country, funding rail, custody) decides for you.
Strength
Recovery exit — 9/10
Tradeoff
Read the security surface before you commit, because there isn't one. rainbow.me/security is a 301 to a marketing article whose case for safety is "Rainbow is open source" and a "world class team" — no advisory archive, no linked audit, no bug bounty, and the GitHub Security tab says outright "This project has not set up a SECURITY.md file yet" with zero advisories. Rainbow's own sitemap lists 11 URLs and not one of them is a security page. Everything verifiable about this wallet, you verify yourself from the GPL-3.0 source; nothing is verifiable from the vendor. That matters more in 2026 than it did in 2024, because the app you install today is a leveraged-trading front end — 50x perps via Hyperliquid, prediction markets, $RNBW staking tiers — while the Terms of Use governing it were last updated December 13, 2023, the release-notes feed stops at September 23, 2024, and the App Store listing, refreshed with version 2.0.45 on 2026-09-17, still describes a six-chain Ethereum wallet with no mention of perps. The wallet underneath is genuinely good and genuinely exportable. The company around it stopped publishing.
Self-identify in 10 seconds
Which one is actually for you?
MetaMaskLeads
Choose MetaMask if clear signing matters most
Clear signing: 6/10 against 5/10 for Rainbow (weight 30)
Key export: 9/10 against 8/10 for Rainbow (weight 28)
Incident record: 8/10 against 2/10 for Rainbow (weight 24)
MetaMaskScore 80The default EVM wallet: seed and per-account private-key export both documented on a stated BIP-44 path, a 2017-2025 public audit trail with three dated vendor advisories, and a pre-signature balance preview for contract interactions only, enforced onchain on 15 named networks for smart accounts on Extension.Strength: Key export — 9/10Watch-out: Read the fine print behind the three security claims on metamask.io before treating them as the product. All three are true and all three are narrower than they read. "Transaction protection available up to $10k" is not a wallet feature: it is Transaction Shield, "$9.99 monthly or $99 yearly", "Early access is now available on MetaMask Extension" only, capped at "Coverage of up to 100 transactions per month", and it explicitly "does not cover transactions deemed malicious by MetaMask" — so it does not pay out on the flagged case you most fear, and it does not exist on mobile. "Regularly audited by security firms" is backed by 17 genuinely public report links across 15 dated entries, but no report published since 2022 audits the shipped application itself: the 2023-2024 entries cover libraries, Snaps and build hardening, and the 2025 entries audit the mUSD stablecoin contract. And the pre-signature preview most buyers assume they are getting is, per MetaMask's own page (re-read 2026-09-28), available only "for contract interactions", not for native transfers; the enforced onchain simulation that reverts a transaction when execution diverges from the preview covers 15 named networks but is on by default only for "MetaMask smart accounts on Extension", and no page says what the confirmation screen shows when a simulation cannot be produced. If you pair a hardware device, two MetaMask troubleshooting pages tell you to enable blind signing, one of them with no qualifier at all. Finally, the exit that makes this record strong — pulling your encrypted vault out of local storage and decrypting it offline — is Chromium-desktop-only: MetaMask's own recovery page says it is "not currently possible" on Android or iOS, that the iOS method "is no longer working", that an Android solution is still being worked on, and that Firefox's data-encoding changes have made the instructions "of limited use".
Rainbow
Rainbow leads MetaMask on no published criterion
Choose it only if something outside the published criteria decides for you — your country, a funding rail, or custody.
RainbowScore 67GPL-3.0 open-source EVM wallet whose export and exit docs are unusually complete, wrapped in a vendor that publishes no security surface at all and has repositioned itself as a leveraged-trading app.Strength: Recovery exit — 9/10Watch-out: Read the security surface before you commit, because there isn't one. rainbow.me/security is a 301 to a marketing article whose case for safety is "Rainbow is open source" and a "world class team" — no advisory archive, no linked audit, no bug bounty, and the GitHub Security tab says outright "This project has not set up a SECURITY.md file yet" with zero advisories. Rainbow's own sitemap lists 11 URLs and not one of them is a security page. Everything verifiable about this wallet, you verify yourself from the GPL-3.0 source; nothing is verifiable from the vendor. That matters more in 2026 than it did in 2024, because the app you install today is a leveraged-trading front end — 50x perps via Hyperliquid, prediction markets, $RNBW staking tiers — while the Terms of Use governing it were last updated December 13, 2023, the release-notes feed stops at September 23, 2024, and the App Store listing, refreshed with version 2.0.45 on 2026-09-17, still describes a six-chain Ethereum wallet with no mention of perps. The wallet underneath is genuinely good and genuinely exportable. The company around it stopped publishing.
Criterion by criterion
Scorecard
Published criteria · weight in points of 868 of 8 cells scored. Strength is read from the evidence file; the weight is the published one. Methodology
Key export
by 1 of 10weight 6.7 of 86MetaMask leads
MetaMask9/10 out of 10
Rainbow8/10 out of 10
Clear signing
by 1 of 10weight 7.2 of 86MetaMask leads
MetaMask6/10 out of 10
Rainbow5/10 out of 10
Incident record
by 6 of 10weight 5.8 of 86MetaMask leads
MetaMask8/10 out of 10
Rainbow2/10 out of 10
Account recovery
weight 4.3 of 86Tie
MetaMask9/10 out of 10
Rainbow9/10 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
MetaMask14/20Rainbow14/20
Tie
Published criteriaweight 30 of 86
MetaMask18.9/30Rainbow14/30
MetaMask leads
Frictionweight 10 of 86 · constant here
MetaMask2.7/10Rainbow2.7/10
Tie
Trust recordweight 8 of 86 · constant here
MetaMask3.2/8Rainbow3.2/8
Tie
Measured dataweight 18 of 86 · constant here
MetaMask8.3/18Rainbow8.3/18
Tie
Decision rulePublished order
Choose MetaMask unless the term Rainbow leads on is the one you are buying.
Rainbow leads MetaMask on no published criterion and no score dimension — pick it only if a fact outside the score (country, funding rail, custody) decides for you.
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 Can I export my own keys and use them elsewhere? · 28% (MetaMask 9/10, Rainbow 8/10)
Scored by Can I see exactly what I am signing? · 30% (MetaMask 6/10, Rainbow 5/10)
Scored by What has gone wrong, and did they publish it? · 24% (MetaMask 8/10, Rainbow 2/10)
Scored by If I lose my device, how do I get back in? · 18% (MetaMask 9/10, Rainbow 9/10)
MetaMask scores 13 points above Rainbow, led by clear signing, key export, and incident record. Published scores, out of 100: MetaMask 80 (rank 2 of 11 wallets), Rainbow 67 (rank 8 of 11).
ReviewedRe-read in progressOverdue; re-read by 10 November 2026.Methodology v2026.10.18
How this page is reviewed
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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