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Freighter Wallet: How to Set Up and Use Stellar's Most Popular Wallet
Olvis Gil · September 25, 2026 · 7 min readFreighter is a non-custodial browser extension wallet for the Stellar network, developed by the Stellar Development Foundation. "Non-custodial" means your private keys are generated and encrypted on your own device — no company holds them, and no one can recover your account for you. It is the wallet nearly every Stellar dApp integrates with, and the one you will use throughout EduNode's courses.
Setting up Freighter in 6 steps
Freighter is a browser extension available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Brave. Install it only from freighter.app or the official browser extension stores — never from links sent to you in DMs or search ads.
Open the extension and choose "Create Wallet". You will set a password that encrypts Freighter locally — this protects the extension on your device but is not your recovery method.
Freighter shows you a 24-word mnemonic phrase. Write it down on paper and store it somewhere safe and offline. Anyone with this phrase controls your funds; no one legitimate will ever ask for it.
Your public address (starting with "G") is your receive address. A Stellar account needs a minimum balance of 1 XLM to be activated — buy XLM on an exchange or via an on-ramp and send it to your address.
Stellar requires an explicit opt-in (a "trustline") before your account can hold non-native assets. In Freighter, go to Manage Assets, find the asset (e.g., USDC issued by Circle), and approve the trustline — it costs 0.5 XLM of reserved balance per trustline.
Send payments to any Stellar address, swap assets through the built-in swap feature (powered by the Stellar DEX), and connect to Soroban dApps — Freighter pops up a signing window whenever an app requests a transaction.
Understanding trustlines
Stellar works differently from account-based chains: before your wallet can hold an asset like USDC, your account must explicitly opt in via a trustline. This is a feature, not friction — it prevents strangers from spamming unwanted tokens into your account and lets issuers enforce compliance on who can hold their assets. Each trustline locks 0.5 XLM as a reserve, which you get back if you remove it.
Using Freighter with dApps
Freighter is how you interact with Soroban smart contracts: when a dApp needs a signature, Freighter opens a confirmation window showing exactly what you are about to sign — read it every time. For signing flows without a browser extension, Albedo is a popular alternative. Developers integrate Freighter through its JavaScript API (freighter-api), which handles address lookup and transaction signing.
Security checklist
Verify the source — install only from freighter.app or official browser stores.
Paper backup — write the 24-word phrase on paper, stored offline, in two locations.
Read every signature request — a malicious site can only take what you sign.
Separate hot and cold funds — keep savings on a hardware wallet, and only spending amounts in Freighter. More tips in how to keep your lumens safe.
Frequently asked questions
Freighter is a non-custodial wallet developed by the Stellar Development Foundation — your keys are generated and stored on your device, never sent to a server. Safety ultimately depends on how you protect your recovery phrase and which sites you sign transactions for.
Yes, the wallet is free. You only pay the Stellar network itself: the 1 XLM minimum account balance, 0.5 XLM reserves per trustline, and transaction fees around 0.00001 XLM.
Without the recovery phrase there is no way to restore the wallet — non-custodial means no company can reset it for you. Store the phrase offline in at least two secure locations and never digitally (no photos, cloud notes, or email).
Freighter started as a browser extension; for mobile Stellar wallets, apps like Lobstr are popular. For dApp connections, the extension remains the standard — Soroban apps use the Freighter API to request signatures.
Freighter is the default choice for desktop and dApp development. Lobstr is popular on mobile. xBull offers advanced features like multi-signature support. Many users run Freighter for dApps and a mobile wallet for daily payments.