A password manager is a security product, so the ranking weights what can be verified rather than what is claimed: published audits, an open source client, a recovery model that does not depend on the vendor, and a breach history. Convenience matters too, because a manager nobody uses protects nothing.
Positions one to six in this ranking are commercially available. Paid placement moves the order and nothing else: it never decides whether a product is listed, and it never changes a word of what its entry says. How that works · full disclosure.
Open source clients and server, audited annually
#1 of 8 in Password managers
The only major manager whose clients and server are both open source and independently audited each year, and you can host it yourself. The admin console is plainer than Keeper or 1Password.
The one people keep using after a month
#2 of 8 in Password managers
The best-designed manager here, and the two-secret key derivation means a stolen vault is useless without the local key. Closed source, and no self-hosting option at all.
Swiss jurisdiction, open source clients
#3 of 8 in Password managers
Combines audited open source clients with Swiss data protection and built-in email aliasing, which is a strong package for privacy-sensitive teams. The youngest product here, and business administration features are still catching up.
XChaCha20 encryption and a clean admin view
#4 of 8 in Password managers
Straightforward, quick and cheap for small teams, with independent audits published. Fewer integrations and a thinner secrets story than the leaders, and the parent company sells a lot of adjacent products.
Credential risk reporting for admins
#5 of 8 in Password managers
The admin reporting on weak and reused credentials is the most actionable in this group, which suits an IT team that has to prove improvement. Priced above Bitwarden for a closed-source product.
Compliance certifications and secrets management
#6 of 8 in Password managers
The certification list is why regulated organisations pick it, and the policy engine is the most granular here. Every useful capability is a separately priced module.
Large installed base, difficult history
#7 of 8 in Password managers
Still competent software with a large installed base, but the 2022 breach exposed encrypted vaults and unencrypted URLs, and that is a fact a security review has to address rather than move past.
Form filling first, at a low price
#8 of 8 in Password managers
Cheap and unusually good at filling awkward legacy web forms, which is a real problem in some industries. The interface and the sharing model both feel a decade behind.
| Rank | Tool | Country | Pricing |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Bitwarden | United States | Free personal tier; business plans per user per month, published |
| #2 | 1Password | Canada | Per user per month, published |
| #3 | Proton Pass | Switzerland | Free tier; paid per user per month, published |
| #4 | NordPass | Lithuania | Free tier; business plans per user per month, published |
| #5 | Dashlane | United States | Per user per month, published |
| #6 | Keeper | United States | Per user per month, published; modules extra |
| #7 | LastPass | United States | Free tier; business plans per user per month, published |
| #8 | RoboForm | United States | Free tier; business plans per user per year, published |
Country is where the vendor is headquartered or contracts from, which is a different question from where your data is hosted. Where the two tell different stories, the entry says so.
From our report ICT Security Measures in European Enterprises,
built on Eurostat dataset isoc_cisce_ra,
reference period 2024.
Bitwarden leads our ranking of 8 password managers tools. The only major manager whose clients and server are both open source and independently audited each year, and you can host it yourself. The admin console is plainer than Keeper or 1Password.
We rank on what separates products after the demo: setup effort, what the price becomes with the modules most buyers need, and how hard it is to get your data back out. Paid placement can move a listed tool up the order and never changes what its entry says. Our method is on the editorial process page.
Bitwarden, 1Password, Proton Pass, NordPass, Dashlane, Keeper, LastPass, RoboForm