Best Password Managers 2019

Here are the best password managers to stay safe online

Using a password manager is an easy, quick way to make your online life more secure. You won’t need to remember a unique, long, complex password for every online account. The password manager remembers each password for you, minimizing your risk next time there’s a massive data breach. The only password you’ll need to remember is the single “master” password to the password manager itself.

Based on our extensive testing of seven services — in which we focused on user experience, platform support, security and overall performance — the best overall password managers are Dashlaneand LastPass, which offer the ideal combinations of ease of use, convenience and security.

Best Overall: Dashlane Password ManagerView Deal

Dashlane has a well-designed desktop application and a tool that changes your passwords on hundreds of websites at once, a fully interactive website interface and support for Linux and Chrome OS. However, the price of Dashlane’s Premium plan has gone up by 50 percent, giving LastPass and especially Keeper, our second runner-up, more of a price advantage.

LastPass’ free version is unlimited and versatile; it recently also raised the price of its paid versions, but they’re the most full-featured of any password manager.

We also liked Keeper’s strong security and Enpass’ flexibility, although each lacked certain conveniences.

Two other password managers are best suited for niche segments: 1Password for Mac and iOS users, and Zoho Vault for couples and small families who want to share passwords. The seventh password manager, RoboForm, is the oldest on the list, and while it does a competent job, it needs an overhaul before we can recommend it over any other product.

News and Updates

— Dashlane, and LastPass and Keeper all support the Google Pixel 4’s new face-unlock feature.

— On Android devices running Android 8.0 Oreo and later, Dashlane can now copy and paste SMS text messages carrying one-time-use codes for two-factor authentication (2FA). On iPhones, Dashlane now supports iOS 13’s Dark Mode and voice controls, as do EnPass and 1Password.

— Another way to use 2FA is with authenticator apps that generate their own one-time-use codes, which is safer than texting the codes. Keeper has built a code generator into its mobile and desktop appsthat fills in the one-time-use code for the user.

Best Overall: Dashlane

Best Overall

Dashlane

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Chrome OS, watchOS | Free-version limitations: Single device; 50 passwords max | Two-factor authentication: Yes | Browser plugins:Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari, Edge | Form filling: Yes | Mobile app PIN unlock: Yes | Biometric login: Face ID, Touch ID on iOS, most Android fingerprint readers

Dashlane now has support for Linux, Chrome OS and the Microsoft Edge browser and has made its website interface truly interactive, matching LastPass in platform support and, with its excellent desktop software, surpassing its chief rival in interface flexibility.

Dashlane’s killer feature remains its bulk password changer, which can reset hundreds of your passwords at once, saving you time and worry in the event of a major data breach. There’s also a scanner that goes through your email inbox on iOS or Android to find online accounts you may have forgotten about. The password manager is well designed, easy to use and possibly the best at filling out your personal information in online forms.

Dashlane’s main drawback is its high price. When we last reviewed the service, it was $40 per year for the paid plan, already more than most of its rivals. But in July 2018, Dashlane jacked its Premium plan to $60 per year and added a Premium Plus plan that run $120 per year. At the same time, it capped its free plan, which once offered unlimited password storage, to 50 sets of credentials.

To be fair, the Premium plan now comes with a dark-web monitoring service and an unlimited VPN service. To that, the Premium Plus plan adds credit monitoring, identity-restoration assistance and identity-theft insurance. Taken together, all these features may justify the higher prices, and we look forward to giving them a thorough review soon.

Best Free Tier: LastPass

Best Free Tier

LastPass

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Chrome OS, Windows Phone, watchOS | Free-version limitations: Limited password sharing, limited 2FA | Two-factor authentication: Yes | Browser plugins: Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari, Edge, Maxthon, Opera | Form filling: Yes | Mobile app PIN unlock: Yes | Biometric login: Face ID, Touch ID on iOS & macOS, most Android & Windows fingerprint readers

LastPass shares our Editor’s Choice award with Dashlane because of its ease of use, support for all major platforms, wide range of features and variety of configurations. The free version of LastPass syncs across an unlimited number of devices and has almost as many features as the paid version. However, the paid version’s price has tripled in the past few years, going from $12 per year to $36 per year.

You don’t need to install an application on your computer to use LastPass. Instead, the software lives entirely in browser extensions and in a full-featured web interface. (If you want to keep your data entirely local, there’s the LastPass Pocket option for Windows and Linux.)

Best Security: Keeper

Best Security

Keeper

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Chrome OS, Windows Phone, Kindle, BlackBerry | Free-version limitations:Single device | Two-factor authentication: Yes | Browser plugins:Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari, Edge | Form filling: Yes | Mobile app PIN unlock: No | Biometric login: Face ID, Touch ID on iOS & macOS, Windows Hello, most Android fingerprint readers

Keeper ($25.49 per year for the premium service) is fast and full-featured, has a robust web interface, stores files and documents of any kind, offers perhaps the best security of any password manager and now has a premium service that is cheaper than both Dashlane’s and LastPass’.

The trade-off for that enhanced security is a bit of inconvenience: Keeper chooses not to have a bulk password changer, and it won’t let you create a PIN to quickly access the mobile app. If you have an older phone that can’t read your fingerprint or your face, you’ll have to enter the full master password every time.

Best Value: Enpass

Best Value

Enpass

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Chrome OS | Free-version limitations: 20 items on mobile; no biometric login on desktop | Two-factor authentication: No | Browser plugins:Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi | Form filling: Yes | Mobile app PIN unlock: Yes | Biometric login: Touch ID on iOS & macOS, Windows Hello, most Android fingerprint readers

Enpass has a strong free desktop version, and a more limited one for Android and that’s limited to only 20 passwords. But the premium software on Windows, Mac, Android or iOS costs a one-time flat fee of $11.99 per platform. (The Linux version is entirely free.) There are no recurring subscription fees.

Enpass handles all the basics quite well, but you’ll have to sync your own devices via Dropbox or a similar service, as Enpass doesn’t offer any cloud-syncing of its own. (Some users might see that as a security advantage.)

The Enpass desktop interface is a bit spare, but functional; the mobile apps are sleek and handle biometric logins. Enpass says a local-sync feature is in the works, which would make the service ideal for users who are wary of putting their data online.

1Password

1Password

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android. Linux, Chrome OS | Free-version limitations: Single mobile device | Two-factor authentication: Yes | Browser plugins: Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari, Edge | Form filling: Yes | Mobile app PIN unlock: Yes | Biometric login: Face ID, Touch ID on iOS & macOS, most Android fingerprint readers

1Password’s Windows and Android versions have finally reached rough parity with their Mac and iOS equivalents, but many functions still feel clunkier than they are on newer password managers. 1Password now asks new users to sign up for a $36 yearly cloud subscription, although for $65, Mac users can buy the older stand-alone application that lets them sync devices locally.

However, 1Password’s new browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, dubbed 1Password X, mostly replicate the desktop experience and work directly with web browsers instead of operating systems. Better yet, they extend 1Password to Chromebook and Linux users.

Only cloud subscribers can use 1Password’s killer feature, a Travel Mode that deletes sensitive data from your devices (you’ll get it back later) so that snooping border-control agents can’t find it. 1Password also has great form-filling abilities, and it has finally added true two-factor authentication.

Zoho Vault

Zoho Vault

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Windows Phone | Free-version limitations: No sharing | Two-factor authentication: Yes | Browser plugins: Chrome, Firefox, Safari | Form filling: No | Mobile app PIN unlock: Yes | Biometric login:Touch ID on iOS, most Android fingerprint readers

Zoho Vault is part of a larger suite of paid enterprise tools, and the company makes the password manager free for individual personal use. (Group plans that can be used by families start at $12 per user per year.) You won’t get consumer-friendly features such as personal-data form filling or a bulk password changer, but all of the essentials are in place and work smoothly.

Unlke EnPass, Zoho Vault will do the syncing for you using its own servers, and there’s no fee to sync across all your desktop, laptop and mobile devices. The only drawbacks are that Zoho Vault sometimes trips over Google logins (there’s a somewhat technical workaround) and that LastPass does even more for free.

RoboForm

RoboForm

Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Chrome OS | Free-version limitations: Single device | Two-factor authentication:Yes | Browser plugins: Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari, Edge, Opera | Form filling: Yes | Mobile app PIN unlock: Yes | Biometric login:Face ID, Touch ID on iOS & macOS, most Android & Windows fingerprint readers

RoboForm has been around since 1999 and, unfortunately, shows its age. At $24 per year, its premium version isn’t expensive, and the service has excellent form filling and runs on a wide variety of platforms and browsers. But its website interface is still read-only, its desktop software can be confusing (the mobile apps are a little more user-friendly) and its functionality is limited. RoboForm needs an overhaul to compete with even the free version of LastPass.

What to Look for in a Password Manager

All seven password managers we reviewed secure your data, both on your machine and in the cloud, with the toughest form of encryption in wide usage today. All have software for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. All have free options, but none of them are entirely free.

All can be installed on an unlimited number of devices for a single (usually paid) account, store an unlimited number of passwords and generate new, strong passwords for you (though not always on the mobile version). Some alert you to the latest data breaches. Most offer a two-factor authentication option for master passwords.

Many offer to save your personal details, credit-card numbers and other frequently used information so that they can quickly fill out online forms for you. (You don’t have to do this, but it’s safer than letting the retail website save your credit-card information.) Finally, none can recover your master password for you if you forget it, although some let you reset that password to something else.

How We Test Password Managers

We installed and used all seven password managers on a dual-boot Apple laptop running Windows 10 and macOS 10.12 Sierra, an iPad Pro 12.9, a Samsung Galaxy S8+ and a Google Pixel. The primary browser we used was Google Chrome on all platforms, but we also used Apple Safari on macOS and iOS.

We considered each service’s ease of use, user interface, variety and usefulness of features, and security practices, especially concerning two-factor authentication. Price was considered only when two or more password managers were otherwise roughly equal.

Cloud vs. Local Management

1Password gives you an option to store and sync your “vault” of passwords and other sensitive information locally (in other words, only on your own devices) without using the service’s cloud servers. LastPass Pocket lets you do the same thing, but only on Windows and Linux.

There’s a security advantage to syncing your passwords locally because none of the data will ever need to reach the internet, but it can be a hassle to synchronize all of your devices. (Enpass plans to add a similar local-sync feature, but for now, you’ll have to sync your devices using a third-party file-sharing service such as Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive or OneDrive.)

Far more convenient are cloud-based password managers, which include Dashlane, Keeper and Zoho Vault, plus LastPass and 1Password’s default modes. These services keep encrypted copies of your vault on their own servers, ensure all your devices are always synced and encrypt the transmissions between your devices and their servers.

The risk, though small, is that one of the cloud-based services could be compromised, and your passwords could be released out into the wild. (LastPass has had a number of documented security issues, all of which have been quickly fixed, and has not lost any passwords.)

Whether it’s local or cloud-synced, a password manager puts all your eggs in one basket, so to speak, unless you use more than one password manager. But for most people, the demonstrable security benefits of using a password manager far outweigh the disadvantages.