If you need more convenience, security, and cross-platform integration than you can get with your browser’s autofill, you need a premium password manager like 1Password or Bitwarden. I recently reviewed both and put together this comparison to help you choose which works best for you.
Levels and prices
1Password is only available as a subscription, but Bitwarden has a very good free version. If you don’t want to pay an annual fee to use a password manager, Bitwarden is a great choice.
If you want more than the basics, you’ll need a subscription. Bitwarden is remarkably affordable, starting at just $10 per year for an individual account. 1Password’s cheapest plan for individuals is $36. While that’s more than three times the price, it’s still not expensive and has a feature set you might prefer.
If you want to share a large number of passwords with others, both password managers have group subscription savings. 1Password’s family plan costs $60 per year for five people, while Bitwarden Families is slightly less, supporting six members for $40 per year.
You can try 1Password for 14 days before you pay, and Bitwarden has a seven-day free trial to briefly try out its family plan.
Both services offer business plans. 1Password has a Teams plan for 10 people for $20 per month. For groups of at least six people, it’s cheaper than the Bitwarden Teams plan, which is $4 per person per month.
For more advanced administrative control, 1Password’s $8 Business plan and Bitwarden’s $6 Enterprise plan will be more suitable.
Characteristic
Dedicated password managers like 1Password and Bitwarden go beyond basic autofill for your browser and operating system, adding organizational features and reports on weak and compromised logins so you can close old accounts, delete duplicates, and clean out your vault for more good security and easier access.
Both work on all your devices with apps and extensions for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android. 1Password even has a watchOS app, so you can unlock your vault with your Apple Watch. There is no solution for Wear OS.
The 1Password extension supports the most popular web browsers — Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, and Brave. Bitwarden goes further, adding Vivaldi, Opera, Tor and DuckDuckGo. From any device and most browsers, you can access your encrypted credentials, notes, and credit card numbers with any of the password managers.
1Password and Bitwarden can autofill two-factor authentication (2FA) codes as well as passwords. Both also work with passwords and are easy to use once you’ve completed the setup.
Another key feature of the password manager is sharing login details with others. With Bitwarden’s free and individual plans, you can share with one more person, and the Families plan expands sharing to six people.
1Password beats this easily with unlimited sharing, even with people who don’t have a 1Password account. You can make the link expire after an hour, day, week, or more, and limit viewing to once if you’re concerned that the link might be re-shared.
Overall, 1Password seems easier and friendlier, while Bitwarden is more technical. This makes sense given that Bitwarden is an open source project created by a team of developers.
supports
1Password and Bitwarden offer email support to subscribers, as well as community forums and social media accounts that may be able to help more quickly. You can expect responses within a day if you encounter a problem that you cannot resolve by reviewing the support center documentation.
Both services are rated well in Trustpilot customer service reviews. Bitwarden averages 4.3 stars with 136 reviews, a surprisingly low number, while 1Password enjoys an impressive 4.7 stars with over 12,000 reviews.
Privacy and security
Security shouldn’t be an issue with 1Password or Bitwarden, as they each have annual third-party security checks and use the best end-to-end encryption available: AES-256. Neither company has suffered a breach, and both protect your privacy within legal limits.
Bitwarden cannot access your data without the master password you save. 1Password also uses a master password, but goes one step further by adding a high-entropy secret key to its encryption. The secret key is stored on your devices, acting as another authentication factor for added security.
Bitwarden allows you to self-host your password vault, storing all data on your own server. To do this, you’ll need to know how to set up and manage a server and have the confidence that your own security beats Bitwarden’s.
Which password manager is the best?
If you’re a developer, Bitwarden’s user interface and open source development will sound appealing. Being able to inspect the code of your security software can help alleviate any concerns.
1Password also has no answer for Bitwarden’s free version. Price isn’t the only important detail, but if you use antivirus software like Bitdefender or Norton, you may already have access to a bundled password manager.
When it comes to ease of use and login sharing, 1Password has the upper hand. 1Password also offers additional security through its unique secret key, making it highly unlikely that your data will be compromised. Hackers will need access to one of your devices as well as your master password. Without the two keys, decryption is impractical, even with quantum computing.
Both are among the best password managers available and the subscription prices are affordable, but 1Password will be a better solution for most people.
Editors’ recommendations
