Setting up and migrating to Dashlane from another password manager is simple, and you’ll use a secret key to encrypt your passwords, much like BitWarden’s setup process. In practice, Dashlane is very similar to the others on this list. Dashlane offers a 30-day free trial, so you can test it out before committing.
After signing up, download the app for Android and iOS, and grab the browser extensions for Firefox, Chrome, and Edge.
Best for Bundled Services
Photograph: Nordpass
You might know Nord better for its VPN service, but the company also offers a password manager, NordPass, and a pretty nice online storage system, NordLocker. A part of the appeal of NordPass comes in bundling it with the company’s other services for some compelling deals. As a password manager, NordPass offers everything you need. It uses a zero-knowledge setup in which all data is encrypted on your device before it’s uploaded to the company’s servers. Unlike most services here, NordPass uses XChaCha20 for encryption. It would require a deep dive into cryptography to get into the differences, but the short story is that it’s just as secure and maybe slightly faster than the AES-256 encryption used by other services.
There’s a personal information storage feature to keep your address, phone number, and other personal data safe and secure, but easy to access. NordPass also offers an emergency access feature, which allows you to grant another NordPass user emergency access to your vault. It works just like the same feature in 1Password, allowing trusted friends or family to access your account if you cannot.
Other nice features include support for two-factor authentication to sign in to your account, as well as security tools to evaluate the strength of your passwords and alert you if any of your data is compromised. Note that NordPass Premium is theoretically $3 a month, but there are always sales that bring that much lower.
The downside, and my one gripe about all Nord services, is that there is no monthly plan. As noted above, the best deal comes in combining NordPass, NordVPN, and NordLocker for a bundled deal. A free version of NordPass is available, but it’s restricted to only a single device.
After signing up, download the app for Android and iOS, and grab the browser extensions for Firefox, Chrome, and Edge.
Best DIY Options (Self-Hosted)
Want to retain more control over your data in the cloud? Sync your password vault yourself. The services below do not store any of your data on their servers. This means attackers have nothing to target. Instead of storing your passwords, these services use a local vault to store your data, and then you can sync that vault using a file-syncing service like Dropbox, NextCloud, or Edward Snowden’s recommended service, SpiderOak. There are two services to keep track of in this scenario, making it a little more complex. But if you’re already using a file-syncing file service, this can be a good option.
You can also properly host your own vault with network-attached storage or a local server.
Courtesy of Enpass
Enpass does not store any data on its servers. Syncing is handled through third-party services. Enpass doesn’t do the syncing, but it does offer apps on every platform. That means once you have syncing set up, it works just like any other service. And you don’t have to worry about Enpass being hacked, because your data isn’t on its servers. Enpass supports syncing through Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, Box, Nextcloud, or any service using WebDAV. Alas, SpiderOak is not currently supported. You can also synchronize your data over a local WLAN or Wi-Fi network.
All of the features you expect in a password manager are here, including auto-generating passwords, breach-monitoring, biometric login (for devices that support it), auto-filling passwords, and options to store other types of data, like credit cards and identification data. There’s also a password audit feature to highlight any weak or duplicate passwords in your vault. One extra I particularly like is the ability to tag passwords for easier searching. Enpass also makes setting up the syncing through the service of your choice very easy. Enpass added support for passkeys, too.
