Can you use your seed phrase in another wallet?

In most cases you can use your seed phrase in another wallet. Most wallets follow BIP39, the standard that turns random data into 12 or 24 words, and Trezor says its purpose was compatibility between different wallets. The catch is that the new wallet must look for your coins in the same places.

Can you use your seed phrase on any wallet?

Trezor's guide to BIP39 says the phrase can be entered into any other wallet that supports the standard and the same coins.

Two common exceptions:

• Different backup formats. Newer Trezor models create 20-word backups under a separate standard called SLIP39. Trezor lists Sparrow, MetaMask, Rabby, Wasabi, BlueWallet and Electrum as supporting it, but a wallet that only reads BIP39 will not accept those words. Our guide to Shamir and multi-share backups explains the format.
• A passphrase. If a passphrase was added, the new wallet needs it too, or it will open a different, empty wallet.

There is also a safety trade-off. Ledger's Academy notes that restoring a hardware wallet's phrase into other software may be something to avoid for security reasons, since the words then touch an internet-connected device, a risk covered in hot wallet vs cold wallet.

Can you use a Ledger seed phrase on Trezor?

Generally yes. Ledger describes a recovery phrase as the 12 to 24 words a wallet shows at setup, and its glossary says a phrase created on one hardware device can be loaded into another. Trezor says its devices support BIP39, the standard 12 and 24-word phrases follow. A Trezor that already holds a wallet must be wiped before a different backup can be entered.

Why does my balance not show after restoring?

The usual reason is the derivation path. A seed phrase does not hold addresses. A wallet generates them from the seed by following a path, written like m/44'/60'/0'/0. Under the BIP-44 standard, the parts of the path mark the purpose, the coin, the account number, and the address number. Different paths from the same seed lead to entirely different addresses.

MetaMask's help center says it supports only the default BIP-44 path for Ethereum when importing a phrase, while Ledger devices connected to MetaMask offer three path options. If the old wallet used another path, the funds are safe on the blockchain but simply not shown.

Other common causes:

• MetaMask says some accounts may not reappear automatically and must be added again in their original order.
• Accounts imported with a separate private key are not part of the seed, so MetaMask says they must be imported again.
• BIP-44 says wallets stop scanning after 20 unused addresses in a row, so funds far down the list can be missed.

Can you get a seed phrase from a private key?

No. Under BIP-32, a wallet creates its master key by running the seed through a one-way hash function, and the specification says a parent key cannot be found from a child key faster than by brute force. A single exported private key cannot be turned back into the words.