Blur 8. Your passwords and other sensitive data will be encrypted on your devices and in the password manager's servers. And two-factor authentication will make it harder to break into your account, even if someone else learns your master password.
However, none of the best password managers let you recover your master password if you forget it, although some let you regain access to your account in other ways. This is done for security reasons. You can sync your passwords across an unlimited number of devices, although you may have to pay for that; free versions are often limited to one or two devices.
So why use a stand-alone password manager when web browsers can remember passwords too? Sadly, it's not hard to steal passwords from web browsers, and malware that does so is pretty common. Apple's own Keychain software is more secure and even has a Windows version now, but it's bare-bones and doesn't work on Android devices.
Stand-alone password managers are very secure, offer tons of features and work across all major browsers and devices. We've tried out nearly a dozen password managers, focusing on user experience, platform support, security and overall performance. We think the best password manager is LastPass for its ease of use, convenience and security. Until recently, LastPass had the best free tier of any password manager, with unlimited syncing across all devices. But in March , LastPass cut it back so that LastPass Free will no longer sync all a user's devices , but either only computers or only mobile devices.
LastPass's paid tier adds unlimited syncing, encrypted online storage, advanced two-factor authentication 2FA , dark-web monitoring of your accounts and emergency access for your friends and loved ones. Keeper is a close runner-up for best password manager. Keeper also has a tight focus on user privacy and security.
The best free tier now belongs to Bitwarden, which lets you sync all your passwords across all your devices for gratis.
Our previous top pick, Dashlane, has a great desktop application and can change hundreds of your passwords at once. Windows and Android users who travel a lot should also consider 1Password for its unique Travel Mode, which can temporarily delete stored passwords and other valuable pieces of information to protect them from snoopy border guards.
LastPass is still our choice for best password manager because of its ease of use, its support for all major platforms and its wide range of features. That's even though its once-excellent free tier has been greatly diminished.
The free version of LastPass no longer syncs across all your devices, but instead only among your computers or among your mobile devices — not both. Otherwise, it still has nearly as many features as the paid version, such as a password generator, unlimited passwords and secure storage.
The paid version adds unlimited syncing among all devices, support for physical two-factor-authentication keys, 1GB of online file storage, dark-web monitoring of your accounts and access to premium tech support. You don't need to install an application on your computer to use LastPass. Instead, the software can live entirely in browser extensions and in the full-featured web interface. There are legacy desktop applications for Windows and Mac still available, with some limits.
Meanwhile, the local-network-only LastPass Pocket option for Windows and Linux has been discontinued, as has password filling for Windows applications. Read our full LastPass review. Its free tier gives you everything except syncing among devices. 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, as both features can be abused.
If you're still using a phone that can't read your fingerprint or your face, you'll have to enter the full master password every time. It also offers a free secure messaging service. Read our full Keeper review. Launched in , Bitwarden has soared into the top ranks of password managers with its low prices, attractive design and full-featured free tier. Now that LastPass has hobbled its own free service, Bitwarden is the best option for anyone who wants to sync all their logins across all their devices without paying a dime.
Privacy geeks will appreciate that Bitwarden gives you the option of setting up your own server to sync your passwords. Other key features are an innovative secure information-sharing service called Send, a "portable" Windows version that you can install on a flash drive and extensions for eight different browsers.
The only major downsides to Bitwarden are a somewhat limited desktop app and the fact that the mobile apps can't auto-fill credit-card numbers or other non-login information.
Read our full Bitwarden review. Dashlane matches LastPass in platform support and has very good desktop software, at least for now. Its killer feature remains the bulk password changer that can reset hundreds of passwords at once, which has recently been overhauled. In January , Dashlane announced that it would be phasing out its desktop applications sometime during the next year.
It encourages all users to switch to the browser extensions before the plug is pulled on Jan. The password manager is well designed, easy to use and excellent at filling out your personal information in online forms. A scanner goes through your email inbox to find online accounts you may have forgotten about. Dashlane's drawback is its high price. These non-password-management features may justify the high prices.
The Premium Plus plan, which added identity-theft protection, has been discontinued. Read our full Dashlane review. They work directly with web browsers and now support biometric logins. So choosing wisely is vital - and we have tested and evaluated more than twenty of the best password manager tools around, and selected the pick of the bunch for our list.
Our expert reviewers have evaluated each service individually, ranking them on features, setup, platform compatibility, value-for-money as well as support, security and performance.
Many of the best password manager options listed here offer both free and paid accounts, so you can pick one that suits not just your needs, but also your wallet. Check out our best business password manager buying guide for business and enterprise grade password management platforms.
We've also featured the best password generators and best password recovery software around. In a hurry? The best password manager of is Dashlane Dashlane is an advanced password manager with all the functionality you would expect from a market-leading brand: a free VPN, a one-click password importer and changer, dark web monitoring and encrypted cloud storage.
As one of the most popular password managers in the world, Dashlane is a capable password manager for a single device, capable of storing logins for up to 50 accounts in a secure vault with multi-factor authentication, Like LastPass, it can do much more than just fill in passwords for you; it can also store all kinds of information and fill out forms with delivery addresses and contact details automatically.
So far so good, but Dashlane's premium service is even more impressive. Not only does it let you synchronize all your passwords across all your devices both desktop and mobile , it also monitors the dark web for data breaches and sends you personalized alerts if any of your stored details appear in a batch of stolen data.
There's secure file storage too ideal for scanned ID documents, insurance policies and receipts and even a VPN for browsing the web more securely via Wi-Fi hotspots. Unsurprisingly, all of this comes at a price, and Dashlane's premium plan is one of the most expensive options around, but the extra services plus remote account access and priority support do justify the cost.
LastPass is easy to use, super-secure, packed with features, and offers both free and premium tiers so you can choose the option that suits you best. You can also store credit card details and delivery addresses so they can be entered automatically when you're shopping online, plus encrypted notes, details of insurance policies and much more besides.
The free version of LastPass is superb, but premium accounts are very reasonably priced and offer an extremely useful extra feature: the ability to log into apps on your phone. Very few password managers offer this, and it could prove invaluable if you ever lose your phone, preventing people from accessing your emails and social media. One of our favorite LastPass features is its support for multi-factor authentication, which helps protect you from phishing attempts by requiring an additional form of authorization to log into your accounts, such as a code generated by a mobile app or a fingerprint scan.
Although it's becoming more widespread, not all sites and services offer this yet, so having all your logins secured in a vault that's protected this way is a real boon. Do note, though, that as of March , LastPass Free users will now have to choose whether they want their accounts on mobile of desktop, with the company saying it will only include access on unlimited devices of one type. Nordpass offers a very capable password manager with browser plugins for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera, as well as desktop apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux, plus iOs and Android mobile devices.
As well as storing encrypted passwords, NordPass can also suggest strong passwords as well as offer to safely and securely store credit card and banking details for faster checkouts on ecommerce websites. With the premium edition, you can then sync this information across up to 6 devices per licence. The free version only allows one, but you get to try out other premium features for a week.
Another positive is that there is no limitation to the number of passwords you can save, unlike some others that have restrictions. However, one restriction here is that NordPass won't autofill forms automatically providing common details such as your name, address and email , like some other password managers offer.
Overall, though, NordPass is a highly capable password manager that does a little more than would be expected. There's no free version of Keeper , but you can try it for 30 days before deciding whether to commit to a subscription. Keeper Security scores highly for offering support for unlimited devices. As you'd expect from a purely premium product, Keeper is one of the most sophisticated password managers around. Not only does it offer plugins for every major browser, plus mobile apps for iOS and Android, it's also available as a desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux.
There's support for biometric authentication on mobile devices too, and syncs your data across an unlimited number of devices. Like the paid-for version of Dashlane, Keeper will warn you if any of your passwords appear in a data breach.
It will also alert you if any of your passwords are particularly weak, or have been re-used, and help you create strong replacements. There's an excellent family plan as well. This not only protects the login details of everyone in your household, it also lets you share files securely between one another and offers an encrypted messaging tool that's a solid alternative to WhatsApp if you'd prefer to avoid Facebook products.
There are two main service provisions, with one being for individuals and their families, allowing either a single user or a family of up to five people to use the 1Password service for protected logins.
This ensures your account stays secure in case of a data breach. It also means that if you forget your master password, there may not be a way to recover your account through the company. Because of that, a few password managers offer DIY kits to help you recover your account on your own.
Worst-case scenario, you start over with a new password manager account and then reset and save passwords for all your accounts and apps. Read more: This is how we might finally replace passwords. When trying to avoid a weak password, a good password should be a long string of capital and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation and other nonalphanumeric characters -- something that's difficult for others to guess, but a snap for a password manager to keep track of.
And despite what you may have heard, once you select a good complex password or passphrase, you don't really need to change it periodically. You can certainly use Chrome, Safari or Firefox to manage your passwords, addresses and other login data. You can even set up a master password to unlock your credentials within a browser.
And while using an online browser's password tool is certainly better than not using a password keeper at all, you can't easily access your passwords and other login info outside of the browser or share login info with others you trust. Through iCloud Keychain, you can access your Safari website usernames and passwords, credit card information and Wi-Fi network information from your Mac and iOS devices.
This cloud storage option is great if you live in Apple's world. But if you venture outside the Apple operating system and have a Windows or Android device or use the Google Chrome or Firefox browser, iCloud Keychain comes up short. If you subscribe to only one CNET newsletter, this is it. Get editors' top picks of the day's most interesting reviews, news stories and videos. Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic.
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Bitwarden: Best free password manager. Jump to details. See at Bitwarden. LastPass: Best paid password manager. See at LastPass. It allows you to safely share those logins with others when necessary. And because these tools encrypt your login info in a virtual vault—either locally or in the cloud—and lock it with a single master password, they protect the passwords themselves. But password managers vary widely in their capabilities and cost, so we compared several of the most popular.
And all will let you sync your data across multiple devices, though you may have pay extra for the privilege. Here are our top two picks, followed by tips on what to look for when shopping for a password manager and links to full reviews of all the products. LastPass ticks all the boxes on our password manager want list.
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