It can be difficult to keep track of all the passwords you use — even on a daily basis. The number of passwords you have can quickly rack up between work and personal accounts. Password managers helps you keep your passwords in a safe location, easy to find when you need them. A password manager that comes with many recommendations is LastPass, but if for some reason you’re looking for an alternative to LastPass, you’ve come to the right place.
Password managers are one of the most helpful (and important) tools a person can use, but I know a lot of people keep writing, forgetting and resetting the same few too quickly. -hacked credentials. I’ve even seen people with password sticky notes on monitors, which is terrifying. If that’s you, it’s time to get with the program — or in this case, the app.
Worried about the cost? Don’t: Many good password managers have very capable free versions. But those versions — including those of our roundup of the best password managers — limited in one important way: They keep your passwords on one device.
My top pick doesn’t have that limit; it synchronizes your passwords across all your devices. It is called Bitwarden.
What exactly is a password manager?
Simple. This is an encrypted database of all your passwords. Instead of trying to remember the same number of (perhaps less secure) passwords that you use everywhere you go online, you should remember one: The one that opens Bitwarden.
Why choose one of these over the likes of 1Password, Dashlane, Keeper, Password Vault, Sticky Password and other products, all of which are excellent? As mentioned above, only the free version of Bitwarden supports password synchronization. That means you can access your data on your phone, tablet and PC — a benefit that’s especially important if you use more than one device.
On top of that, they offer the usual helpers like strong password generation, automatic form filling, encrypted credit card storage (for easy online shopping), a digital vault and more.
Read more: The Best Password Managers and How to Use Them
Useful features like those help explain why I prefer a proper password manager over the basic capabilities built into Android, iOS and your web browser. In fact, if you are used to having such tools at your disposal, you will wonder how you will manage for so long without them.
Make no mistake, there is a learning curve with Bitwarden — and any password manager, really. It may take you a few weeks to really get used to using the app and break your old password habits.
But any such inconveniences are well covered by the overall convenience. Your goal as an internet citizen is to use a different, strong password for every app, site and service, and a password manager is the only practical way to make that happen. You should use one. Bitwarden is, in my opinion, the best free option out there.
Other free password management options
Should you bother with the premium version? Bitwarden only charges $10 per year for this, a price that gets you 1GB of encrypted cloud storage and password health reports. There’s also a family option ($40 a year) that gives you premium features for up to six users and adds unlimited sharing.
I would say that most of these features aren’t necessary for most people, though obviously that’s up to you to decide.
For the record, LogMeOnce Password-Not much is another tool that supports password syncing in its free version. I don’t like it much, but it’s worth a look.
In case you’re wondering, I currently use Bitwarden full-time. I used to be a user of Dashlane, but was disappointed because of its explosion and high price. Bitwarden has proven to be a solid product, one that I have no doubts about recommending.
What’s your preferred password management method these days? And if you refuse to use one of these tools, I want to know why! 😜
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This free password manager offers an important feature
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