# Openfort vs Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine)

> Openfort and Privy Wallets score within a point of each other for onchain wallets, 70.1 and 69.9 out of 100. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openfort-vs-privy
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openfort-vs-privy.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openfort-vs-privy.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openfort-vs-privy.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Openfort and Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 70.1 (BB) and 69.9 (B). Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do onchain wallets.

- Openfort: grade BB, 70.1/100, rank #163 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openfort.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openfort.json
- Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine): grade B, 69.9/100, rank #166 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/privy.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/privy.json
- Best agent wallets and spending controls: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-wallets/index.md
- All 23 wallets comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-wallets/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Openfort (BB)

Good for: A team that wants server-held wallets for agents on EVM chains and Solana with enclave signing, a free start and a CLI an agent can drive.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 88 against 48
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 83
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 55
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 80

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: An EVM backend send is evaluated only as `signEvmHash`, so address, value and calldata rules do not block it unless the caller pre-flights

### Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) (B)

Good for: Builders who need fine-grained, enclave-enforced spending rules on programmatic wallets, or who want an agent to sign for a person's wallet with a revocable scoped signer.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 73 against 65
- Security & auth, 85 against 65

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Openfort loses 5 points for them

Watch for: Database problems took API endpoints down for 71 minutes on 18 September 2026, one of 13 incidents since July


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Openfort | Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 88 | 48 | Openfort +40 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 83 | Openfort +6 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 73 | Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 65 | 85 | Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) +20 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 55 | Openfort +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 80 | Openfort +7 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 69 | 71 | Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **70.1 · BB** | **69.9 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Openfort | Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Openfort (Alamas Labs Inc.) | Privy (Stripe) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.openfort.io` | `https://api.privy.io/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP, stdio | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | payer tooling only | payer tooling only |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Openfort Developer Terms of Service. The Node SDK and OpenSigner are MIT. The CLI repository and package state no licence | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-09-28 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-01-16 | 2025-12-16 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-04 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 10 stars, 7.6k npm/wk | 296k npm/wk, 13k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Openfort.** Backend wallets sign inside a GCP Confidential Space enclave, secret keys carry 26 scopes, and rate limits, errors and prices are published. On EVM, a backend send reaches the policy engine only as a hash, so address and value rules bind only when the caller runs the pre-flight check first.

**Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine).** Default-deny policies with DENY precedence on recipients, values, contracts, calldata, typed data and time windows, enforced in AWS Nitro Enclaves. Database problems took API endpoints down for 71 minutes on 18 September 2026, one of 13 incidents since July.

## Before you call either

### Openfort

1. Call `policies.evaluate` with operation `signEvmTransaction` before every EVM backend send. The send itself is checked only as `signEvmHash`
2. Keep the signing policy and the gas sponsorship policy separate. Linking a signing policy to a fee sponsorship stops it working as a guardrail
3. Pass a fee sponsorship on EVM sends. Without one the transaction stays pending with no error
4. Give an agent a secret key without `accounts:export`, and limit the CLI MCP server to the tools it needs
5. On a 5xx after a write, read the resource before retrying. On a 429, wait the full `Retry-After`

### Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine)

1. Add a rule for every RPC method the agent needs; a wallet with a policy denies anything unlisted
2. Pair a rolling cap with a lower per-transaction cap, since aggregations update only after signing
3. Send an idempotency key on `/rpc`, `/transfer` and `/wallets` calls; reusing one with a changed body returns 400
4. Set `maxValue` on the x402 or MPP client for every request
5. Retry a `transaction_broadcast_failure`; don't retry a `policy_violation`

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Openfort or Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine)?

Openfort and Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 70.1 (BB) and 69.9 (B). Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth.

### Do Openfort and Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) need an API key?

Openfort needs an API key. Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Openfort and Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) without installing anything?

Yes. Openfort has a hosted endpoint at https://api.openfort.io and Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) at https://api.privy.io/v1.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openfort-vs-privy.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openfort-vs-privy.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "openfort", "b": "privy"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare openfort privy`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openfort.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/privy.json

## Other comparisons with Openfort or Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine)

- [Circle Wallets (Agent Wallets, Programmable Wallets) vs Openfort](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-wallets-vs-openfort.md)
- [Circle Wallets (Agent Wallets, Programmable Wallets) vs Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/circle-wallets-vs-privy.md)
- [Coinbase Developer Platform (Agentic Wallet, AgentKit, CDP MCP) vs Openfort](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coinbase-cdp-agentkit-vs-openfort.md)
- [Coinbase Developer Platform (Agentic Wallet, AgentKit, CDP MCP) vs Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coinbase-cdp-agentkit-vs-privy.md)
- [Openfort vs Sponge Wallet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openfort-vs-sponge-wallet.md)
- [Openfort vs Turnkey Agentic Wallets](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openfort-vs-turnkey-agentic-wallets.md)
- [Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) vs Sponge Wallet](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privy-vs-sponge-wallet.md)
- [Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine) vs Turnkey Agentic Wallets](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/privy-vs-turnkey-agentic-wallets.md)
- [Agentcard vs Openfort](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcard-vs-openfort.md)
- [Agentcard vs Privy Wallets (server wallets, agent wallets, policy engine)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentcard-vs-privy.md)