Bitwarden is often considered one of the best cross-platform password managers available. Through a single account and password, you can safely store thousands of credentials in the cloud with easy synchronization and auto-fill functionality on mobile and PC platforms. Not only can you host your own instance of Bitwarden from the home or office, but it's free for most people and costs very little to create a family account or manage employees in a business. Still, you may want to learn about Bitwarden's competitors, which is what this list will do.
Best password managers in 2024
Stop using birthdays and your pet's name for passwords and use one of these to secure your online accounts.
1 1Password
1Password is a solid password manager that has been around for almost two decades. Available across multiple platforms, it's possible to load 1Password on all your devices for convenient access to your security vault. Like Bitwarden, 1Password has a long list of features to help secure and manage multiple account passwords. If you already use an integrated password management feature, such as what's available through iOS or Android but want something a little more powerful, 1Password would be a good upgrade.
To ensure all your passwords are safe and sound, 1Password has a bug bounty program to encourage white hat hackers to locate and report vulnerabilities. There are also frequent audits of processes and technology and a zero-knowledge policy whereby only you can access what's stored inside your vault. Industry-standard encryption is used and a secret key can be supplied that's separate from the usual master password. There's a 14-day free trial available with 1Password, allowing you to give it a go before paying for a subscription.
This is one of the main drawbacks of 1Password compared to Bitwarden. You have to pay for a subscription. There's no free tier for individuals.
1Password
1Password is among the most feature-rich password managers out there, and it comes with a free 14-day trial to let you experience them before spending money. It uses industry standard encryption to protect your passwords and other sensitive information, and you also get access to a neatly designed app with a user-friendly interface.
2 Dashlane
Dashlane is yet another competitor to Bitwarden and is worth considering as a password manager. This would be the better fit for family members with the available four subscriptions. A free tier is available, unlike 1Password, through $3 or $5 per month unlocks unlimited devices and VPN access, respectively. The $7.50 family plan is the best value from Dashlane, offering access for up to 10 members so you can include the less tech-savvy grandparents too!
You can expect to see all the standard password manager features, including important and exporting, a secure vault for card details and notes, and encrypted access. Dashlane's Site Breach Alert is a handy tool for keeping tabs on any sites you frequently browse and use for security breaches. The company even goes one step further by monitoring online sources for any signs of stolen personal data and alerting you should any compromised data be discovered.
One area where Dashlane may require getting used to is the lack of a desktop app for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Dashlane promotes a web-first experience and you'll be using your browser extension for PCs, though mobile devices do have apps through the Android and iOS app stores. The best part of trying out Dashlane is the generous 30-day free trial.
Dashlane
Dashlane is a good and reliable password manager that's ideal for those looking to share their family subscription with other members. It also offers a free tier with almost all the same features, and you can also get a 30-day free trial to see if you like all the features it brings to the table.
3 Enpass
Enpass is all about local storage, which is why the company uses no cloud systems for handling your data. Everything is stored on your device, which can then be synchronized with other vaults on other hardware through any storage solution of your choosing. For this, I would recommend a NAS or cloud storage service such as Dropbox. An Enpass app is available for most systems, including desktop and mobile OSs, keeping your credentials safe with the possibility of not relying on third-party cloud storage for the vault.
Other handy features are included with Enpass, such as auto-generating and auto-filling passwords, biometric login, and breach alerts on used websites. Card details and other identifications can be stored through Enpass, keeping everything in a single location. Other highlights of Enpass include the ability to tag passwords for easier searching and a password audit feature to highlight any weak passwords that you may have been using.
Enpass is completely free to use on Windows, Mac, and Linux, but its mobile version only lets you sync up to 25 items in one vault for free. You can then choose to pick up either an individual or a family subscription plan, or you can also just make a one-time purchase for a lifetime license. You can hit the link below to check the regional pricing for Enpass.
Enpass
Enpass is among the best and the most secure password managers out there as it doesn't store any of your passwords or other sensitive information on its servers. You instead use its app to sync all your locally stored data using a third-party file sharing platform.
4 NordPass
NordPass is another password manager that doesn't require a fee for an unlimited amount of passwords across multiple devices and platforms. Like Bitwarden, it offers a plethora of features and the free version is good enough for most people who are starting out using randomly generated passwords stored inside Harry Potter's magical vault. If you want additional functionality, NordPass has a $2 per month subscription that's considerably cheaper than some of the competition.
NordPass is also packed with a lot of useful features, so it's not like you're missing out on anything with a free tier. All the usual must-haves like biometric sign-in, secure vault for file storage, import-export passwords, etc. are available on NordPass. You even get support for Passkeys that sync on all devices and operating systems. Some added features like password audits and email masking are locked behind a paywall, but you can get a free trial to see if they're even worth splurging on for your usage.
NordPass
NordPass is among the best free password managers you can use, as it doesn't gatekeep any of the essential features behind a paywall. It's also among the cheapest options out there when you pay annually.
I recommend hosting your own Bitwarden vault
Bitwarden is an excellent password manager and being able to host your own local instance is an added benefit not available with some other providers. If you don't mind working with a more advanced system that isn't incredibly user-friendly for beginners, Bitwarden is worth the time investment to learn how to run a local instance at home. This way you can keep tabs and manage precisely how your password manager is run and oversee all security measures without relying on third parties.
