Bitwarden is an open supply password supervisor that gives a beneficiant free model, a formidable privateness and safety structure, and inexpensive pricing throughout the board.

Its free model is without doubt one of the most full provided by password managers, making it an attractive possibility for these on a tighter funds. Whereas its desktop software isn’t essentially the most intuitive, its total bundle nonetheless makes it one of many high password administration apps immediately.

Is Bitwarden free?

Sure, Bitwarden has a devoted free without end model. Bitwarden’s Free Plan is without doubt one of the finest free password managers obtainable, because it gives limitless passwords and entry for a vast variety of gadgets. That is in distinction to some password managers, akin to Dashlane, whose free model solely permits entry on one gadget at a time and solely shops 25 passwords.

Bitwarden’s Free Plan comes with all of Bitwarden’s core password administration options, akin to zero-knowledge encryption, username and password generator, and two-step logins. Nevertheless, it doesn’t include Bitwarden’s 24/7 e-mail help, emergency entry, and encrypted file attachments just like the paid subscriptions.

Bitwarden’s free tier is without doubt one of the most full free variations obtainable. It’s excellent for customers on a good funds wanting a fully-functioning password administration system.

SEE: Bitwarden Free vs Premium: Which Plan Is Greatest for You? (TechRepublic)

Bitwarden pricing

Bitwarden gives pricing plans for each private and enterprise use.

Private plan pricing

Except for having a robust free model, Bitwarden continues to be an amazing worth possibility with its inexpensive pricing for its private plans. As premium subscriptions vary from $1.66 (RoboForm) to $4.99 (Dashlane) per thirty days, Bitwarden Premium gives a yearly price of simply $10 per yr, or round $0.83 per thirty days, to be precise. This makes Bitwarden one of the inexpensive password managers obtainable.

Given the cheaper price, I’d say Bitwarden Premium isn’t essentially the most feature-packed password supervisor. It lacks further options like Dashlane’s built-in VPN or 1Password’s extra polished consumer interface. Nevertheless, you’re getting the basic options you want at a really inexpensive value.

For first time customers, I like to recommend making an attempt out Bitwarden’s free model. It’s straightforward to arrange and offers you a good really feel for his or her service. It additionally helps that upgrading to a premium model isn’t that costly both.

Marketing strategy pricing

Bitwarden’s business-tailored Groups plan falls inside the regular pricing in comparison with the competitors. You get 10 customers, all of Bitwarden’s core and premium options, occasion and audit logs, consumer teams, and a listing connector.

In 2023, Bitwarden’s Groups plan was truly referred to as Groups Starter and was priced at $20 per thirty days for as much as 10 customers. In 2024, it’s now simply referred to as Groups and is priced per consumer at $4 per thirty days. It maintains the identical characteristic set, akin to all Bitwarden premium options, occasion and audit logs, and consumer teams. 

Whereas I personally like how Groups is now priced at a per consumer foundation, which could be nice for companies that don’t essentially want all 10 seats stuffed, it’s unlucky that it’s now additionally double the worth. Because of this the identical 10 customers can be priced at $40 per thirty days. In the event you’re searching for a extra inexpensive subscription in your small workforce, 1Password’s Workforce Starter Pack is priced at $19.95 per thirty days for as much as 10 customers.

Fortunately, Bitwarden’s cost-effective Enterprise subscription at $6 per thirty days, per consumer was retained from final yr. Compared with different business-to-enterprise degree plans, it nonetheless sits as one of many extra inexpensive choices. LastPass’ Marketing strategy is priced at $7 per thirty days; whereas 1Password’s Enterprise subscription is at $8 per consumer, per thirty days.

For options, self-hosting and passwordless SSO integration are solely obtainable on Bitwarden’s Enterprise subscription. You get limitless customers, insurance policies, account restoration administration, and free Households Plan for customers.

Total, Bitwarden’s inexpensive pricing on most of its subscriptions is certainly one of its strongest options. If you’d like an inexpensive password supervisor that doesn’t skimp out on key options, Bitwarden is a good decide.

Is Bitwarden actually safe?

Sure, Bitwarden is a secure password supervisor. It operates on a zero-knowledge structure, which signifies that the end-user is the one one with actual entry to their knowledge. It’s additionally distinctive in that it’s open supply software program, permitting the general public to evaluate their code and monitor it for any vulnerabilities. That is an incredible little bit of transparency that I do know privateness fans will discover precious.

As well as, Bitwarden makes use of business main AES 256 encryption and undergoes common safety audits that validate its safety claims. I additionally recognize how Bitwarden makes it clear that consumer grasp passwords are by no means saved both domestically or in reminiscence. That is massive, provided that your grasp password is your most important key to unlocking all of your different passwords.

At time of publication, Bitwarden had no reported hacks or knowledge breaches. Altogether, Bitwarden is without doubt one of the most secure password managers to make use of in 2024.

Key options of Bitwarden

On high of the basic password supervisor options like password technology and encrypted vaults, Bitwarden gives just a few options that assist it stand out from the competitors.

Limitless passwords and gadgets without spending a dime

Bitwarden is finest recognized for its beneficiant free model. Particularly, the truth that Bitwarden permits for a vast variety of passwords and gadgets to apply it to without spending a dime makes it an amazing starter password supervisor, particularly for these on a funds.

In idea, particular person customers don’t should spend for a premium subscription to get a useful and safe password supervisor. Different password managers, like Dashlane, solely enable for 25 saved passwords, whereas 1Password doesn’t even provide a free tier of their service altogether.

Bitwarden Ship

Bitwarden Ship permits customers to ship out encrypted information and textual content for safe file-sharing. It may transmit textual content of as much as 1000 encrypted characters or information of as much as 500 MB. The cool factor about Bitwarden Ship is the configurable lifespan, permitting customers to set how lengthy a textual content or file could be accessed or seen earlier than being deleted from the system.

This characteristic will likely be particularly helpful to customers who commonly ship out delicate or confidential paperwork like contracts, agreements, and the like.

Emergency entry

Whereas many password managers provide emergency entry, Bitwarden’s implementation stands out for its comfort. In Bitwarden, customers can grant emergency entry to trusted contacts via e-mail — permitting them to request vault entry when wanted. This course of is much more streamlined in comparison with 1Password’s Emergency Package system, which makes use of a stowed PDF or Dashlane’s use of a proprietary DASH file for emergency entry.

I like how one can set a Wait Time for vault entry, which provides the account proprietor time to simply accept or deny emergency entry requests if crucial. Do observe that emergency entry is simply obtainable for premium Bitwarden customers and isn’t obtainable on their free tier.

Bitwarden authentication and safety choices

Bitwarden contains two-factor authentication for customers to entry their Bitwarden vaults. It gives quite a few 2FA strategies, akin to an authenticator app, e-mail, through FIDO2 WebAuthn credentials, YubiKey, through Duo Safety, and extra. Take observe, nevertheless, that solely the primary three 2FA strategies talked about are provided in Bitwarden’s free model.

By way of safety choices, Bitwarden permits customers to unblock vaults through biometric know-how akin to fingerprint or face authentication. Throughout my testing, I used to be capable of manually set a vault timeout motion to both require re-authentication or a grasp password to unlock my vault after a given period of time.

For password technology, Bitwarden allowed me to create a random password with as much as 128 characters. I used to be additionally capable of create a username utilizing Bitwarden’s password generator — a helpful characteristic to make sure I didn’t reuse the identical username for various accounts.

Bitwarden interface and efficiency

Bitwarden’s desktop consumer interface follows a quite simple and minimalistic design. Whereas it appears to be like clear, I do really feel that it may be extra intuitive when it comes to menu placement.

I would favor that essential menus such because the Password Generator and Settings not be hidden in dropdown menus on the high of the appliance.

Bitwarden’s browser extension is extra intuitive to make use of, as essential menus just like the vault and settings are extra simply accessible.

In 2023, I had a little bit of bother with Bitwarden’s auto-fill performance. Not like different password managers that robotically had pop-up icons in username or password fields for straightforward auto filling, Bitwarden required me to open their browser extension first, then click on on the steered credential, for the login particulars to get stuffed in. You possibly can see a pattern of this within the picture beneath.

In the event you check out the Amazon e-mail tackle area, there’s no Bitwarden brand or icon in sight to click on on for straightforward password filling. Whereas this wasn’t the top of the world, it did add a further step to the log-in course of and was barely inconvenient — particularly contemplating how that is the same old follow with different password managers.

Now that we’re in 2024, I’m very completely happy to report that Bitwarden has addressed this concern and now has its autofill menu showing on kind fields if you click on on them by default.

In my opinion, this modification supplies a big enchancment to the day-to-day consumer expertise, because it not solely makes kind filling a lot simpler nevertheless it additionally helps make utilizing Bitwarden really feel like a seamless expertise. Beneath is a screenshot of the Bitwarden brand for autofill in a username area, as per the brand new modifications carried out.

Like final yr, Bitwarden’s auto-fill on web page load characteristic continues to be off by default. For context, what auto-fill on web page load does is that when a webpage hundreds and Bitwarden detects a login kind inside the web page, your login credentials will robotically get fed to the shape area with none motion from the consumer. Per Bitwarden, this characteristic is turned off as a result of some untrusted or malicious web sites might use this to steal consumer credentials.

To me, I recognize Bitwarden going the additional mile in ensuring that its options are literally safe and don’t go away consumer credentials vulnerable to being stolen. For customers keen to tackle that danger, it’s nice that Bitwarden provides you the choice to take action.

For password seize and replay, I had zero points with Bitwarden. It was capable of reliably seize new logins and passwords and replay them as soon as I revisited the corresponding websites.

As of November 2024, Bitwarden now additionally permits one-click password creation inside kind fields. This allows customers to generate and autofill robust, distinctive passwords for brand spanking new accounts instantly from the inline autofill menu. This implies customers don’t want to depart the web page each time they need to generate a brand new password. As soon as created, these credentials are then robotically saved within the encrypted vault.

Bitwarden cellular app

To Bitwarden’s credit score, their cellular software mimics that of their intuitive browser extension. I examined the Bitwarden cellular software on my Android telephone.

It adopts an easy-to-use interface and is pretty simple. I observed that the appliance’s animations did really feel a bit clunky, nevertheless it was nonetheless a steady expertise total.

I additionally preferred how the Bitwarden cellular app doesn’t enable for any screenshots or screen-grabs by default. It is a delicate however essential safety characteristic that may assist forestall your credentials from being stolen by unhealthy actors.

SEE: How you can Create an Efficient Cybersecurity Consciousness Program (TechRepublic Premium)

Bitwarden execs

• Free model with limitless password storage.
• Very inexpensive pricing throughout plans.
• Simple-to-use emergency entry characteristic.
• Encrypted file-sharing system.
• Open-source.
• Clear safety status.
• Improved auto fill capabilities.

Bitwarden cons

• Desktop UI could be extra intuitive.
• Doesn’t have a ton of additional options.

Is Bitwarden value it?

Bitwarden’s beneficiant free model, zero-knowledge encryption, and inexpensive pricing make it an amazing alternative for customers searching for a bang-for-your-buck password supervisor. The truth that you get limitless passwords and might entry them on limitless gadgets, on high of its open supply platform, makes Bitwarden a robust contender within the password supervisor area.

Whereas its desktop software could be extra intuitive, Bitwarden packs a whole lot of worth for cash throughout all its plans to make it maybe the most effective funds password supervisor obtainable.

Bitwarden alternate options

In the event you discover that Bitwarden lacks in performance, I’ve listed just a few alternate options that could possibly be a greater match in your wants and workflow.

Dashlane

Dashlane is a widely known password supervisor answer that gives top-tier safety, tons of options, and a modern consumer interface. It comes with a formidable darkish net monitor characteristic that sends customers alerts in case a saved password or credential is concerned in a knowledge breach. It additionally permits for limitless safe password-sharing to share credentials with a number of customers.

To be taught extra, learn our full Dashlane evaluate.

1Password

For many who prioritize safety above all, 1Password is an efficient alternative. On high of the common password administration options, it comes with vulnerability alerts and phishing safety to safeguard towards malicious people. It additionally robotically locks the password vault in periods of inactivity, including a further degree of safety to defending your logins.

To be taught extra, learn our full 1Password evaluate.

Keeper

For big organizations, Keeper generally is a nice match. It supplies a extra organizational strategy to password administration with folders, subfolders, and shared workforce folders. For safety, Keeper additionally implements darkish net monitoring that scans worker information and informs them of any points with their credentials.

To be taught extra, learn our full Keeper evaluate.

Continuously requested questions on Bitwarden

Has Bitwarden been breached earlier than?

No, Bitwarden has by no means been breached. As of October 2024, there have been no studies of incidents the place Bitwarden’s service or infrastructure has been compromised in any method.

The place are you able to discover a tutorial on learn how to use Bitwarden?

You possibly can try our How you can Use Bitwarden information that takes you thru the step-by-step course of of selecting a Bitwarden subscription, organising the Bitwarden browser extension, and saving your first password, amongst different issues.

We additionally present some ideas and methods on learn how to finest use Bitwarden for your small business and learn how to maximize its characteristic set.

Can Bitwarden be used on a number of gadgets?

Sure, Bitwarden can be utilized on a vast variety of gadgets regardless in case you have an lively Bitwarden Premium subscription or are a Bitwarden Free Plan consumer.

What platforms does Bitwarden help?

For desktop, Bitwarden has functions for Home windows, macOS, and Linux. It additionally has cellular apps for each iOS, Android, and F-Droid

By way of net browser extensions, Bitwarden helps Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Courageous, Vivaldi, Tor, and DuckDuckGo.

Evaluate methodology

My evaluate of Bitwarden concerned an in depth evaluation of its security measures, value, and real-world efficiency. I had hands-on expertise with Bitwarden via its free model and supplemented my findings with consumer testimonials and respected evaluations.

To check Bitwarden, I put in its desktop software on my Home windows laptop computer and its cellular app on my Google Pixel 6. I additionally examined Bitwarden’s Chrome extension on my browser.

I rated Bitwarden on every part from its password administration options to its pricing based mostly on an inner algorithm to get a score of 4.6 out of 5 stars. The scoring was based mostly each on Bitwarden by itself and in relation to different obtainable password managers.