The Best Password Manager of 2024

Editor's Note:LastPass has suffered a significant security breach. Encrypted and unencrypted user backup data was stolen from a LastPass employee's personal computer. If you're a LastPass user, we recommend changing all of the passwords associated with your LastPass account, as soon as possible.

LastPass has a lot in common with Bitwarden, but its free-to-use tier offers a lot less utility than Bitwarden’s. The free version of LastPass lets you store your information on only one device. So, as a free user, if you choose to install and use LastPass on your smartphone, you’ll have to access the app on your phone to find your usernames and passwords to type into your laptop or tablet. Similarly, you can share a password with only one other individual.

We were also disappointed to discover LastPass lacks a security dashboard to ensure you’re not creating weak passwords or reusing them. For that functionality, users have to spring for a premium or family plan subscription.

That said, LastPass does offer some interesting security features. If you keep your passwords on your computer, the LastPass authentication app (not to be confused with their iOS or Android-based password management apps) can be used for two-factor authentication. With this, LastPass creates a welcome extra layer of security by requiring users to log into the LastPass app on their computer and then confirm their login attempt via LastPass’ smartphone authentication app before being able to access passwords or other sensitive materials —in theory.

Unfortunately, this functionality is clunky to set up. We had to enter our password into the computer we used to test the LastPass desktop apps a number of times before the authenticator could be used. This near-constant need to log into the desktop app eventually became frustrating enough to make us turn the feature off.

While other password managers have full-blown tutorials to guide users through their complicated setup, NordPass keeps things simple with a short checklist. NordPass' software and services are easy to navigate and understand; just follow the instructions and you’ll be up and running in no time.

We were pleased to find NordPass felt noticeably faster than the other password managers we tested for this guide. Auto-fill, password generation, data breach scanning, and other software features all returned results very quickly. Some of this may be purely illusory due to NordPass' UI being as simple and easy to navigate, but without a slew of nested options like other password managers in this guide, Nordpass makes it easy to find what you’re looking for.

NordPass offers three different levels of service: free, premium, and family, which supports up to six users. Unfortunately, its free tier is frustrating to use; as with LastPass, NordPass’ free tier supports only one device at a time.

But you can store an unlimited number of passwords on that one device, making it a cinch to keep all of your login credentials secure. Users who want to use their account on multiple devices and get access to those other options we mentioned above, will have to pony up the dough for a premium or family subscription.

Senior Editor Seamus Bellamy has been using—and paying for—a 1Password subscription for close to a decade. He likes it for its cross-platform compatibility, simplicity, and flexibility. It’s compatible with Windows, macOS, Apple, and Android smartphones and tablets—Linux, too! (1Password for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS works just fine.) Your mileage, however, may vary.

Unlike the majority of the password managers featured in this guide, 1Password doesn’t offer a free plan. However, it does offer a free 14-day trial. During this two-week period, all of the features that are normally locked behind a paywall are available, making it easy for a security-minded individual to decide whether or not they’d like to invest in a subscription or move on to a different service.

If you like what 1Password has to offer, you can purchase either an individual package or a family package that supports up to five users on an annual basis. Where 1Password’s family plan is concerned, each user has access to their own personal password vault, but each family member can also access a shared vault. You can store an unlimited number of passwords, credit card numbers, notes, and digital attachments within your 1Password vault and share this information between all of your connected devices. 1Password will create complex passwords for you to use, which can be tailored for length and complexity.

1Password also has browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Brave so you can easily log into your accounts from your computer instead of your mobile device. As an added bonus, users with Windows Hello-equipped computers can use their system’s biometric authentication hardware to open their vaults—no master password required.

One of the best things about Roboform is how reliable and accurate it is when it comes to automatically filling in web forms. During testing, the website forms we filled in with our Roboform-stored personal information were always populated correctly—a feature that can speed up the checkout processes when you are shopping online.

This isn’t something all password managers can do. If you’ve ever had your home address pop up in a website field meant for your email, you understand how frustrating that can be but Roboform eliminates that. Better still, if you frequently visit a website that makes requests for personal information you don’t want it to have, Roboform makes it easy to blacklist it. Bye-bye unwanted requests!

One of the worst things about Roboform is how much important functionality its free version lacks; two-factor authentication, multiple device support, security alerts, automatic password updating, and secure notes are all features that require users to pay for a Personal Everywhere or Family plan.

We were also underwhelmed by Roboform’s mobile device support. Where the service’s desktop apps for macOS and Windows offered a robust, easy-to-navigate feature set, the apps we tested on iOS and Android were comparatively anemic. The same can be said for the service’s web portal. For example, if you want to import passwords from another password manager to your Roboform account, it can only be done using the service’s desktop software. If the only computing device you own runs iOS or Android, there's no way to import the data.

Dashlane is a solid service that offers strong encryption, password importing, and two-factor authentication across all three service plans it offers: free, premium, and family.

Dashlane’s free tier of service supports an unlimited number of computers, smartphones, and tablets. This could make Dashlane great for anyone that wants to keep their password information on all of their personal and work-provided devices. However, a free account will only hold a maximum of 50 passwords. This may be enough to keep those who only occasionally log on to do a bit of online shopping or to check their email happy, but if you work from home, you might need to store more passwords than this.

Paying for a Dashlane Premium account removes the 50-password maximum and unlocks a number of desirable features, like auto-fill and secure notes—and you can send those notes to other Dashlane users. Premium subscribers also gain access to encrypted online file storage, making it possible to protect and access your files from anywhere.

A Dashlane subscription also includes access to its VPN (Virtual Private Network,) software, which encrypts your internet connection for added security. Dashlane even provides its subscribers with dark web monitoring, which allows them to check on their usernames and passwords against a series of sites that hackers are known to frequent to see if they've been compromised. Unfortunately, from what we were able to ascertain during testing, Dashlane’s VPN and dark web monitoring features can’t be accessed from a mobile device.

We were also disappointed with the way Dashlane handles emergency access to account content. To ensure you can access your passwords if you’re unable to access your account, you’ll have to choose a trusted contact—your partner, for example—and give them an exported copy of your passwords so they can manually import them into their own Dashlane account... provided they have one. If you make any changes to your account, you’ll have to pass those changes along to your trusted contact to hold on to. That’s a clunky solution.

Keeper is a solid password manager with desktop and mobile apps along with a web interface. There are Keeper apps for macOS, Windows, iOS/iPadOS, and Android, and you can sync account information between multiple devices. Keeper also has a browser extension. Two-factor authentication, password sharing, auto-fill, and the rest of the usual suspects are available, as well.

As with the other password managers in this guide, Keeper offers a few subscription options. On the free tier, you have access to all of the perks mentioned above, but you can only use them on one device. There’s also a paid, single subscriber package and one geared towards families or small groups of users. From here, things with Keeper begin to get a little weird and, if you’re not careful, expensive.

Keeper offers a wide variety of a la carte add-ons in addition to their basic subscription: dark web monitoring, differing levels of secure file storage (ranging between a few gigabytes up to 1TB in size), and even personalized concierge support are all available for for purchase. To take some of the sting out of the cost of using Keeper with these extras, the company offers significant discounts when users pay for multiple years of service. There are also steep price reductions for military, first responders, students, and medical personnel.

While we appreciate the efforts Keeper goes through to make its product more affordable, it's hard to overlook how expensive its services are in comparison to some of the other password management solutions we’ve reviewed for this guide. For example, at the time of writing, a one-year Keeper Unlimited plan with BreachWatch, 10GB of secure file storage, and Concierge Service cost $165. A family plan with the same options costs $215. LastPass, which has almost all of the same functionality, is $48 a year.

Keeper could be a good option for larger organizations with very specific needs, but there are better options for individual users.