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I have no doubt that in the past, metal wallets would have never been considered a viable option. Whether it be because leather had more give or because it was easier to make. However, with the growth in popularity of minimalist wallets, that is perfectly suited to the metal form factor.
I’ve had a chance to test tons of different wallets, with plenty of them being made out of metal! In this article, I’m going to tell you ever metal wallet that you should consider (ranked by my favorite up top).
Quick note: All of the wallets on this list except the Ridge Aluminum were gifted to me by the brand, however all opinions are my own.
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1. Double Oak Essentials Founder’s Edition
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- The cardholder is removable from the wallet.
- The top-grain leather feels awesome.
- The cardholder mechanism is reliable and clicks.
- MagSafe compatible
- The gold color looks fantastic.
- Cards can get jammed in the cardholder.
- With the leather portion, it is quite thick
- Dimensions: 4.1" High by 2.7" Wide by .75" Deep
- RFID Blocking: Yes
- Card Capacity: 1 to 10
- Cash Organization: Yes
- Coin Storage: No
- Weight: Unknown
Yes, my favorite wallet on this list is a leather wallet, but hear me out! The Double Oak Founder’s Edition is a top-grain leather wallet, but it wraps itself around a Magsafe-compatible aluminum cardholder. This combination of the two gives you an amazingly flexible experience.
When you want a more classic feel, you can use the leather outer portion, and when you want a slimmer experience, you just pop the cardholder out, put it on the back of your phone, and you can take up to seven cards with you!
It should also be mentioned that this thing is incredibly high quality, great leather, a high-quality card holder with metal mechanisms, and more. All of that is for the price of many much lower-quality alternatives. Seriously, this is a good one that I thoroughly enjoyed using.
2. Proof Wallet Leather
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- The leather is high quality and feels great
- The pull tab works extremely well, and is held in place
- It seems to be very durable
- Fantastic card capacity
- It’s very compact
- It doesn’t fan out your cards
I was incredibly surprised when I picked the Proof Wallet (especially the leather one) for the first time. It was lightweight, compact, the leather felt amazing, and with its awesome capacity, I didn’t have to worry about how many cards I was carrying at any point in time. Top that off with an actually usable cash strap, and it was a recipe for becoming one of my favorite wallets to date.
Really, the only issue I had with the wallet was that (even though it is top-ejecting) it doesn’t fan the cards out of the wallet. That means you have to pull the whole bunch of cards out to sift through the middle cards. It’s not a huge deal, but worth mentioning for those that like everything done for them. You can check out my full review here!
3. Ekster Cardholder Pro
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- It has the metal ejector mechanism it deserves
- Seems more durable paint wise
- Inclusion of the more rubbery band is awesome
- Finally, it has a higher card capacity
- The rounded corner is a nice touch
- Expansion plates are the best
- Now includes a lifetime warranty
- Still wouldn’t recommend the money clip plate
- It’s still larger than the competition
Ekster has long put out some of my favorite wallets, however their biggest drawbacks were the lackluster warranty, and the plastic ejector mechnism. Both of these things were solved with their new Pro series wallets! They now offer a full metal button, full metal ejector button, a rounded corner, and lifetime warranty (plus an additional card in its capacity).
I have been extremely impressed with this wallet, and its expansion plate allows for extra cards to be held, the cash strap allows for easy storage of cash, making it an all around awesome wallet. The only downside I had was that it’s a bit bigger than some competitors due to the ejector mechanism living beneath the cards.
4. Ridge Aluminum Wallet
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- Easy access to your most-used cards
- It looks awesome
- Extremely durable
- You can't make it bloated.
- Compact sizing
- More difficult to access lesser-used cards
- It could hold a bit more cash.
- Dimensions: 0.24" by 3.39" by 2.13"
- RFID Blocking: Yes
- Card Capacity: 1 to 12
- Cash Organization: Strap or Money Clip
- Coin Storage: No (accessory available)
- Weight: 59 - 87 grams (depending on material)
The Aluminum (base version) of the Ridge Wallet was the wallet that started my fascination with metal (minimalist) wallets. This is also one of the first brands to really break into the market and show everyone that you can actually use a wallet that just might be better than your bifold or trifold.
This wallet’s shape is the same size as a credit card, and it utilizes a sandwich design (two plates and an elastic strap). You can put up to 12 cards in between those two plates, and your cash goes in either a money clip or a cash strap (whichever you choose).
While it can be a bit annoying to access many of your cards in this wallet, it is quite easy access to the two cards on the outside, and the cash itself. There of course are great ways to access the other cards, but you generally don’t need those quickly anyways.
5. Fantom Wallet Bamboo
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- The bamboo feels and looks great
- Side ejecting is really nice!
- The ejector tab is smooth and easy to use
- MagSafe - just yes
- The bamboo gets marks on it easily
- I still don't like money clips (cash straps are better).
- Cards sometimes get stuck, or are hard to insert
If having the ability to attach your wallet to the back of your phone is an important feature, this one is the one to get! While there are quite a few wallets with Mag-Safe capabilities, the fact that the cards fan out the side of the wallet means you aren’t fighting with your phone to to access them like many others. I also very much enjoyed the bamboo feel (not many wallets have wood on them), and the ejector mechanism has a soft close, making it feel even nicer.
The only real drawbacks I found were its lack of a cash strap option (it can only come with a money clip, which I do not like), the fact that the bamboo seems to mark quickly in your pocket, and cards sometimes like to get jammed when you are rotating them back into the wallet. You can see my complete review here!
6. Ridge Wallet Lite
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- Incredibly easy to access your outside two cards
- Doesn’t add much bulk to your pocket
- It’s built with the same quality as the other wallets
- Cards in your pocket are more prone to damage
- It’s considerably more expensive than the competition
While at first glance, the Lite version of Ridge’s wallets may seem a bit rediculous, I found it to be one of my favorite renditions of the wallet! While it may not be for everyone, I found that it cut back on bulk considerably, gave me quicker access to all of my cards, and looked considerably better than its main competitor (the rubber band).
That said, considering the ends of your cards are out and about in your pocket, you might find your keys (or key organizer) damaging your cards considerably more than normal wallets, and of course, the fact that it is that much more expensive than a rubber band.
Regardless, even though many other people disliked this wallet, I found it to be one of my favorites! Check out my full review here.
7. Evermade Aviator Wallet
- Extremely high quality
- Great card capacity
- Easy access to card with pull strap
- Comes with coin tray
- Fabric pull strap is loud in your pocket
- Dimensions: 0.41" by 2.12" by 3.37"
- RFID Blocking: Yes
- Card Capacity: Up to 20 Cards (Chosen at Purchase)
- Cash Organization: Cash Strap
- Coin Storage: Yes
- Weight: 42.4 grams
If you are one of those people that just isn’t quite willing to conform to the norm, and refuse to get a Ridge Wallet, or any of its copycats. Then you probably should get yourself this Aviator Wallet. It maintains a similar sandwich design (two plates, and an elastic strap), however you push (or should I say pull) all of your cards out vertically via a pull strap.
While I have found the Ridge Wallet to be a bit easier to use overall, the Aviator tends to be of a bit higher quality and even comes with a coin tray. It also stands out as having a bit better build quality (in my opinion, at least).
Regardless, this is an extremely nice wallet that was built (and shipped) from Germany, and I thoroughly enjoyed using it.
8. Axwell Aluminum
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- Stronger magnets
- It's a Fantastic value
- The Bolt Blue color is intense.
- Very Easy to swap cash strap for money clip
- Aluminum material is obvious and feels great.
- Large card capacity
- Clean design with NO screws
- Somewhat difficult to access cards
- A less mature design
- The vibrant color makes it difficult to mix and match.
- Dimensions: 0.31" by 3.39" by 2.13"
- RFID Blocking: Yes
- Card Capacity: 1 to 12
- Cash Organization: Strap & Clip Included
- Coin Storage: No
- Weight: 74 grams
If you are looking for a fully customziable wallet, but wish it had the form factor of a Ridge Wallet, you’re in luck, as you likely are looking for htis one right here. This wallet carries similar specs to the afformentioned, with a capacity of 12 cards, and the choice between a cash strap and a money clip for the exterior.
However, the wallet has a leg up on the competition by offering magnetic plates that can be removed from either side of the wallet. This allows you to not only swap out your plates for different colors whenever you might want but also quickly swap out the cash strap and money clip at a moment’s notice (it comes with both in the package).
The Axwell Aluminum recently went through a bit of a revamp, which gave its magnetic plates around 50% more magnetism. This gave me a lot of additional confidence in making sure you don’t lose those plates, which, to me, was a huge upgrade.
9. Ekster Aluminum Cardholder
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- Fantastic card capacity
- Easy access to plenty of cards
- Great day-to-day usability
- Lots of color options available
- Only a 2-year warranty
- Fabric elastic band allows external cards to slide around
- Dimensions: 4.1" High by 2.3" Wide by .29" Deep
- RFID Blocking: Yes
- Card Capacity: 1 to 12
- Cash Organization: Strap
- Coin Storage: No
- Weight: 87 Grams
It’s difficult to make it through any list of minimalist wallets without mentioning Ekster! This is a massive company in this industry, and for good reason. They have a fantastic cardholder that ejects cards out the top of the wallet (much like the Double Oak at the top of this list) with a simple push of a button.
It builds on that great functionally by including an expansion plate for the exterior, that can hold another six or so cards. On the other side of the wallet, is where you can insert a decent amount of cash.
The aluminum body is high quality and has been an impressively reliable wallet for me. However, the major downside to this one was that the aluminum started to show its age quickly. Little nicks and scratches started to show through the thin paint after only a week or two of usage. While this doesn’t affect its usability, it was unfortunate.
10. Groove Life Groove Wallet
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- Very high quality
- Simple internal mechanism
- Satisfying click when it is engaged
- Compact sizing
- Small Capacity
- Hard to get cards in and out of front pocket
- Metal can damage things in the pocket
- Dimensions: 3.89" High by 2.48" Wide by .27" Deep
- RFID Blocking: Yes
- Card Capacity: 1 to 9
- Cash Organization: Strap or Money Clip
- Coin Storage: No
- Weight: 98 Grams
The Groove Wallet is an impressive wallet! While I ran into the issue of it not being able to hold quite as many cards as I need (max real-life capacity of 7 cards), it holds up as being one of the highest-quality wallets I have reviewed.
By far, my favorite thing about the wallet is the card ejection motion. You just push upwards on the exterior plate of the wallet, and six cards are fanned out in front of you. It gives an awesome, satisfying click every time you do that and results in minutes of fun by just clicking the mechanism.
The wallet has proven to be incredibly reliable, and with the “Go” accessory, you are able to add on a cash strap, along with an additional card (which is how I got to seven cards).
