Cavos

5 Magic alternatives compared in 2026

Cavos, Privy, Dynamic, Turnkey, and Web3Auth are the five Magic alternatives compared here for an embedded wallet.

The sections below use the same facts as the compare pages. Cavos publishes its own fees on the pricing page; other vendors set theirs independently. The one-to-one write-up is Cavos vs Magic. The replacement shortlist for Privy is Privy alternatives. Migration is a project, not a config change: wallet addresses are derived differently, so accounts do not transfer automatically.

Why teams look for a Magic alternative

Magic is not the weaker product. It covers ground several of these alternatives do not, especially simple email-first EVM onboarding. Teams still shortlist replacements when they want a device-bound key, or when the chain is Starknet, Solana, or Stellar.

Where signing authority lives

Magic’s delegated key management is backed by hardware security modules operated by the provider. If access to the email account grants the provider the ability to sign, wallet security reduces to the security of that inbox. Some reviews require a device-bound key that the vendor cannot use.

Chain coverage

Magic is EVM-focused with additional chain support. Teams building on Starknet, Solana, or Stellar, or that want each chain’s native account model rather than an abstraction over it, look past an EVM-first email wallet.

Onboarding versus custody

Magic pioneered invisible wallet onboarding and remains a strong choice for simple, email-first flows. Invisible UX does not decide custody. Cavos pursues the same invisible login with a different model: the key is created and used on the user’s device.

Commercial terms and vendor risk

Magic’s public Developer plan includes 1,000 monthly active wallets and 50,000 signatures at $0/mo; the next listed team plan is $99/mo with 2,500 monthly active wallets. Cavos is free up to 1,000 wallets, then Essential at $59/mo and Complete at $139/mo. In 2026 Payward, the parent of Kraken, acquired Magic Labs wallet infrastructure. Acquisition is a vendor-risk input. It does not change who can produce a signature.

The category has consolidated. Stripe acquired Privy in 2025. Fireblocks acquired Dynamic in 2025. Consensys acquired Web3Auth in 2025 and now ships it as MetaMask Embedded Wallets. In 2026 Payward, the parent of Kraken, acquired Magic Labs wallet infrastructure.

Magic alternatives compared

Cavos, Privy, Dynamic, Turnkey, Web3Auth / MetaMask Embedded Wallets, and Magic all ship an embedded wallet. They do not share a key model, the same native chain coverage, or the same pricing. Each name opens the full comparison except Cavos, which links to published fees.

ProviderPricing and free tierChainsKey model
CavosFree up to 1,000 wallets. Essential $59/mo. Complete $139/mo.Starknet, Solana, and Stellar.Device-native. One stark key from MasterDEK and app salt. No MPC. Starknet uses an audited OpenZeppelin AccountUpgradeable v3.0.0.
PrivyFree (0–499 MAU) with 50K signatures and $1M volume/mo. Core $299/mo. Scale $499/mo.Broad EVM support plus Solana; coverage and feature parity vary by chain.User wallets: 2-of-2 Shamir shares reconstituted only in AWS Nitro Enclaves (enclave share + auth share). Key export is supported. Optional custodial wallets via Bridge.
Dynamic$249/mo for up to 5,000 MAUs. Then $0.05 per extra MAU. Sandbox is free.Multi-chain, with EVM breadth and additional non-EVM support; parity varies by chain.Embedded wallet keys managed by the provider’s key infrastructure with configurable custody models.
TurnkeyPay as you go: 1,000 wallets and 25 free signatures/mo, then $0.10/signature. Pro $99/mo.Broad cryptographic curve and chain support at the signing primitive level.In hardware-backed secure enclaves operated as infrastructure.
Web3Auth / MetaMask Embedded WalletsFree 1,000 monthly active wallets. Growth $69/mo. Scale $399/mo.Broad multi-chain coverage.MPC / threshold shares combined to reconstruct a private key.
MagicFree 1,000 monthly active wallets and 50K signatures. $99/mo includes 2,500 MAWs.EVM-focused with additional chain support.Delegated key management backed by hardware security modules operated by the provider.
Alchemy Account KitFree 30M compute units/mo. PAYG $0.525 per million CUs. Gas Manager: 8% admin fee on PAYG; free on testnets.Many EVM networks plus Solana. Bundler, ERC-20 gas payments, and Bundler Sponsored Operations are documented for those EVM networks, not for Solana.Bring-your-own signer. Wallet APIs leave login and keys to Privy (recommended), Turnkey, Openfort, or a viem-compatible signer.

Cavos fees are from this site. Other fees are from each vendor's public pricing page as of October 2026 and can change.

Cavos

Cavos is a Magic alternative when you want invisible onboarding with a device-bound key rather than delegated HSM signing. The wallet is embedded in the application. Identity selects which account you are, but a device factor is required to sign. Cavos holds no key that can move user funds and does not reconstruct a master key with MPC.

One SDK ships chain-native adapters for those three networks. On Starknet each wallet is an audited OpenZeppelin account contract — AccountUpgradeable v3.0.0 — controlled by one stark key derived from the MasterDEK and app salt. Solana uses a native Ed25519 system account. Stellar uses a classic G-account. Recovery is off-chain: a new device restores the MasterDEK with a passkey or an opt-in hardware-isolated enclave. There is no on-chain device-signer list and no on-chain social recovery.

Cavos is not a drop-in for Magic. Magic is stronger for simple email-first EVM onboarding. Cavos is Starknet, Solana, and Stellar with native adapters and Gas Sponsorship in Any Token. The published free tier covers the first 1,000 wallet creates; Essential is $59/mo and Complete is $139/mo.

  • You want the signing key to be device-bound and non-exportable rather than provider-delegated.
  • You need Starknet, Solana, or Stellar with native account and execution semantics.
  • You need documented, non-custodial recovery and passkey restore on new devices.

Embedded Starknet wallet, Embedded Solana wallet, Embedded Stellar wallet, How to Add an Embedded Wallet to a React App, Embedded Wallet API (2026): SDK Methods & Auth, Non-Custodial Embedded Wallets: How Self-Custody Works (2026), Embedded Wallet Providers Compared in 2026, and Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS): How Embedded Wallet Platforms Work (2026).

Cavos vs Magic

Privy

Privy is a widely adopted embedded wallet and authentication provider focused primarily on EVM chains, offering both embedded wallets and external wallet connection.

Privy manages embedded wallet keys through its key-management infrastructure, with configurable self-custody and recovery options. Chain coverage is broad EVM plus Solana. Gas sponsorship is available through paymaster and bundler integrations, typically on EVM smart accounts. Connecting existing extensions is a core capability Cavos does not offer.

Choose Privy when the product is EVM-first, when you want a single vendor for embedded wallets and WalletConnect or injected wallets, or when you need the largest available ecosystem of integrations. Stripe acquired Privy in 2025. The public Developer free tier is 0–499 MAU with 50K signatures and $1M volume per month; Core is $299/mo and Scale is $499/mo.

  • Your product is EVM-first and you need broad, battle-tested EVM coverage today.
  • You want a single vendor for both embedded wallets and external wallet connection (WalletConnect, injected wallets).
  • You need the largest available ecosystem of integrations and reference implementations.

Privy alternatives.

Cavos vs Privy

Dynamic

Dynamic provides wallet connection, embedded wallets, and authentication tooling with a strong emphasis on multi-wallet login experiences and developer-facing configuration. Connecting existing external wallets is a core capability. Cavos provisions the wallet rather than connecting to one the user already holds. The two models can coexist in one product.

Embedded wallet keys are managed by the provider’s key infrastructure with configurable custody models. Dynamic’s public pricing page lists TSS-MPC key management as a plan feature. Chain coverage is multi-chain, with EVM breadth and additional non-EVM support; parity varies by chain. Gas sponsorship is supported through account abstraction and paymaster integrations, mainly on EVM.

Fireblocks acquired Dynamic in 2025. That is a vendor-risk and custody-stack input, not a reason to treat the products as interchangeable. Dynamic’s public Growth plan is $249/mo for up to 5,000 monthly active users, then $0.05 per extra MAU. A sandbox is available for integration testing before live mode.

  • You need to support many external wallets alongside embedded ones in a single login flow.
  • Your users are existing crypto users who already hold wallets you must connect to.
  • You want extensive dashboard-level configuration of the authentication experience.

Embedded Wallet vs Browser Extension: Where Should Users Sign?.

Cavos vs Dynamic

Turnkey

Privy vs Turnkey is usually a layer question, not a feature checklist. Privy is a finished embedded wallet and authentication product. Turnkey is secure key-management infrastructure running in hardware-backed secure enclaves, exposed as a low-level API for building wallets and signing systems. You assemble the wallet experience on top of policy-driven signing primitives.

Keys live in remote enclaves, not on the end user’s device. Server-side signing, organizational policy, quorums, and approval workflows are the point of that design. Chain coverage is broad at the cryptographic-curve and signing-primitive level. Recovery is something you design on top of those primitives.

Choose Turnkey when you are building your own wallet or custody product. Choose a finished SDK when you want login, recovery, and sponsorship already wired. Turnkey’s public Pay as you go tier includes 1,000 wallets and 25 free signatures per month, then $0.10 per signature. Pro is $99/mo.

  • You are building your own wallet or custody product and want raw, policy-driven signing primitives.
  • You need server-side signing for automated or backend-initiated transactions at scale.
  • You want fine-grained organizational policy, quorums, and approval workflows over keys.

Privy vs Turnkey & Turnkey vs Privy (2026).

Cavos vs Turnkey

Web3Auth

Web3Auth — shipped by Consensys as MetaMask Embedded Wallets after the 2025 acquisition — provides social-login wallets using multi-party computation. Key shares are split across the user’s device, the provider’s network, and recovery factors. Signing reconstructs or jointly computes a signature from those shares.

That is the clearest architectural contrast with Cavos. Cavos never reconstructs a signing key: the device derives the account key and signs. MetaMask’s product page states that Embedded Wallets use MPC with threshold signatures and Shamir’s Secret Sharing, and that export is part of the model. The same page lists native support for EVM and Solana, plus additional networks including Bitcoin and StarkNet.

Choose Web3Auth when you need very broad chain coverage from a single social-login wallet layer, or a key you can export and use in other tooling. Public pricing starts at a free Base plan with 1,000 monthly active wallets. Growth is $69/mo. Scale is $399/mo.

  • You need very broad chain coverage from a single social-login wallet layer.
  • You want a key you can export and use in other tooling.
  • Your users expect a familiar social-login wallet with a long track record.

Cavos vs Web3Auth

How to choose a Magic alternative

Ask the custody question first — whether email login can authorize a spend — then the chain question, then whether you are buying a wallet product or signing infrastructure.

  1. Who can produce a valid signature without the user present?
  2. Where does the signing key live — device, MPC shares, HSM, or remote enclave?
  3. Which chains are native, and which are a compatibility layer?
  4. Do you need to connect existing wallets, or only provision new ones?
  5. Do you want a finished embedded-wallet SDK, or key-management infrastructure you build on?
  6. What does recovery actually do, and is it on-chain or off-chain?

Worked one-to-one comparisons live on the compare pages. For the category itself — what an embedded wallet is, and how embedded wallets vs browser extensions, MPC, and device-native models differ — start with the pillar guide.

When Magic is still the right choice

Magic is a strong choice for simple email-first flows on EVM chains. It is not the weaker product — it covers ground Cavos does not. Stay with Magic when the following are true.

  • You want the simplest possible email-link onboarding on EVM chains.
  • You prefer a mature, long-established provider for a straightforward wallet requirement.
  • You need a broad set of prebuilt login methods with minimal configuration.

Frequently asked

What is the best Magic alternative?

There is no single best Magic alternative — the right pick depends on chain and key model. Cavos is the alternative when the product is on Starknet, Solana, or Stellar and the review requires a device-native key. Privy is the more mature choice across the EVM ecosystem. Dynamic is stronger when you must connect wallets users already hold. Turnkey is key-management infrastructure, not a finished SDK. Web3Auth / MetaMask Embedded Wallets fits broad social-login chain coverage. Magic itself remains a strong choice for simple email-first EVM onboarding.

Is there a free Magic alternative?

Yes. Cavos is free for the first 1,000 wallet creates, then Essential at $59/mo and Complete at $139/mo. Web3Auth / MetaMask Embedded Wallets starts free at 1,000 monthly active wallets. Turnkey’s Pay as you go tier includes 1,000 wallets and 25 free signatures per month. Privy’s own Developer free tier is 0–499 MAU. Magic’s Developer plan is already $0/mo for 1,000 monthly active wallets and 50,000 signatures. Those figures are from each vendor’s public pricing page as of October 2026 and can change.

Which Magic alternative is best for Starknet, Solana, or Stellar?

Cavos ships native adapters for all three: an audited OpenZeppelin account contract on Starknet, a native Ed25519 system account on Solana, and a classic G-account on Stellar. Magic is EVM-focused with additional chain support. MetaMask Embedded Wallets lists EVM, Solana, and additional networks including StarkNet on its product page; feature parity still varies by chain.

Is Cavos a drop-in replacement for Magic?

No. They target different chain ecosystems and different key models. If your application is email-first on EVM, Magic covers ground Cavos does not. Cavos is a direct alternative when you are building on Starknet, Solana, or Stellar and want a device-native, MPC-free signing model. Wallet addresses are derived differently, so accounts do not transfer as a config change.

Is email-link login enough for self-custody?

It depends on what backs the key. If access to the email account grants the provider the ability to sign, the security of the wallet reduces to the security of that email account. Cavos separates the two: identity selects which account you are, but a device factor is required to sign.

Does Cavos support email login?

Yes. Cavos supports hosted login including email, or you can bring your own auth and pass an identity directly. In both cases signing still requires an enrolled device.

Evaluate it against your own requirements.

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