Best Password Managers (Archive)

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publicq

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Sep 20, 2013
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This article should be updated to include 1Password in the cloud-based managers. They do technically offer a standalone local vault product, but their main product is a cloud-based manager that offers easy syncing between devices (it's hard to even find the standalone version on their site anymore without doing some digging.)
 

Honey8

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Apr 18, 2017
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I was really hoping this might be more detailed and insightful.
The review of 1password is out of date. At the end of Feb 2017, a month before this was published on march 30 2017, the developer AgileBits announced subscription based licensing with passwords etc to be synchronised and stored on the developers servers.

There's almost nothing in this article that speaks to the relative security of these types of software.

Nothing that addresses the security breaches that have impacted market leaders in the last few months and in the years prior.

Nothing that addresses the security profile of online developer hosted systems vs achieving multi device synchronisation via iCloud, Dropbox or wifi.

It's really just a checklist of marketing features.

There is comment about 2FA without any suggestion that it's only relevant if you have to logon to the developers web site to get your passwords. It's authentication, it's got zip to do with encryption.

There is no recognition of the demonstrated danger of poorly crafted browser plugins that password managers seem to rely upon. (See recent Tavis Ormandy findings)

Tom's Guide .... how about a more detailed assessment as a follow up on this basic introduction paper? It would be really helpful.
 

talbotrg

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Apr 22, 2017
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Why was RoboForm excluded, it has the flexibility of syncing passwords across all your devices using a cloud-synced account.
 

johnm719

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Sep 17, 2011
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I am shocked at your comments about KeePass.

First, opposite of what you claim, it is extremely as easy to use and extremely flexible as well. As a testimoney to this, it is simple enough that my sons, my daughters, and my extremely non-techincal wife all use Keepass and love it.

Second, sync is not a problem. I have it sync with a free DropBox account so it is available on my cell phone, my pc, my laptop, etc. On my cell phone, I just go to DropBox, click on the keepass data file to open it, DropBox downloads the latest file if there is one, kicks off KeePass, and away I go.

Even better, KeePass allows this sync via DropBox to be MORE secure than the others. Why? Because to open, keepass can require a combo of BOTH the password you type in, AND a local file with a very long 1k+ byte passcode. This local file never touches the internet. I will grant you that setting up this "dual-authentication" takes a small modicum of savvy, but the core strength is there to use. And it is fully explained in the manual, for those who will take a few moments to read it. The only savvy required is that you read a page explaining it.

Its "AutoType" feature allows KeePass to work with virtually everything. It does the typing for you.

As a testimony to its power and simplicity, my more inventive son dreamed up using it in for a very non-standard application. His job is renting apartments in at a very large complex. For a particular apartment style, he creates a KeePass entry that would normally just hold a username and password. But, since KeePass can save an arbitrarily large data base of user defined fields beyond just a username field and a password field, he creates fields AD1, AD2, AD3, etc. and types in slightly differently worded advertising text. He will then go onto Craig's List and have KeePass "Autotype" whichever AD he wants to post. This lets him easily and very quickly re-post a slightly changed AD to keep his AD near the top of the list, when people search Craig's List.

What's not to like about all this! And it is totally free!!
 

CJ_8__

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May 17, 2017
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I've loved using Keeper for several years. It is easy to use, works on my phone, tablet, and laptop, and provides the kind of security I need. I give it a 10!
 

DLE

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Jul 22, 2014
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RoboForm has failed to keep up with Gmail's inane login process. I have more than one Gmail account, RoboForm has no way to get to a specific account and RoboForm/Gmail (not sure where most of the blame falls) insists on taking me to the last account I signed into.

Do any of these "2017" Password Keepers allow me to go straight to the account I wanted to use, or at a minimum, take me to the Gmail "choose an account" screen consistently?
 

totallynuss

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Aug 16, 2017
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LastPass is $24 a year not $12. Why are you misleading your readers? Guess how angry I was when I went to sign up and was asked for double? Jerk!

 

rgd1101

Don't
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Because the article came out before the price got change.
 

labuschin

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Aug 23, 2017
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You need to get your facts straight (You published this article on Jul 21, 2017 according to yourself). 1Password has two factor authentication (either for login to it and for using saved logins for services). Also the Android version is very useful, it fills passwords in every app, you can manage your logins completely from the app and its performance is absolutely okay.
 

hanskra

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Sep 9, 2017
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Good but now BAD: lost all my passwords

I had to change my Master Password prior to loosing face recognition. All went fine, till I tried to find a password. Revealing the password is BLANK. ALL passwords are BLANK. not a single character to be seen.

Customer service in India was useless and escslated. They said they research my "unique" problem. Not a sound or emsil since. No customer service. None. Only words

Therefore trust your passwords to anyone but NOT TO TRUEKEY.

If they fix their mess I will repost. I hope soon, it HAS been a week since I lost all fingers crossed.
 

slave_driver

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Sep 17, 2017
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I am afraid I am not very comfortable with most of these choices. While I am sure their servers are very secure, the platform that most of these are using (Web Extensions) has been hacked numerous times.

Last Pass has been hacked at least 3 times.

I may be old school, but for me there is something wrong if the only way you can interact with your personal information is by using a web browser.

Browsers are inherently insecure.

I would prefer a password manager that operated outside of web browsers and interacted with the browser in a limited fashion.

I also find it interesting that this article shows last pass for having support for all major browsers... how about browsers like Waterfox, Vivaldi, Slimjet

I was never impressed with google chrome and it seems all the browsers now are trying to emulate it.
Firefox seems to be moving backward, adding features I don't want and getting rid of features I liked.

Now with IE fading and Edge is there for what?

Yeah! No! I'll want a password manager that operates outside a web browser thank you.
 

n7.narcosis

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Sep 20, 2017
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Thank you for this great article! After many years of using 1Password, first on my iPhone and then on my windows pc (was it only 2014 this was available - seems much longer) have decided to try LastPass after your recommendation. The problem with 1Password is my frustrating experience with Chrome add-ins/extension which is just so unreliable! It regularly fails to load and then regularly fails to enter log in details when it does load. App on HTC android work phone is also pretty useless - but that could just be the phone constantly needing to be authorised after every app update.

Thanks again.
 

cosmicpea

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Sep 20, 2017
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It doesn't work with the new Firefox and even when I rolled FF back a couple of versions now Lastpass refuses to remember my email address, and also refuses to remember my settings. Every single time I go to my vault I have to manually skip the tour and reconfigure the page view.

It no longer works well, if at all, on multiple gmail addresses. I have to manually enter my user name and then click, click, click to get the thing to pop up and give me option to choose account. Sometimes I can't get it come up at all and have to enter my password manually. Way to go Lastpass. Let's defeat the purpose of a password manager.

It no longer works with Chrome OS -- but one savvy user in the Chrome Store pointed people to a link from a legacy version. Fine, but I can't update it. There have been complaints dating back to the last Chrome OS update and they still haven't fixed it.

I would have to say at this point Lasspass is almost a total fail. But nothing else works with a Chromebook. I will revert to the free version but no way am I paying $24/year for this.
 

mholden

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Sep 29, 2017
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Hi Paul, When I search for "password manager" in the iPhone App Store, the first app listed is Datavault by Ascendo. It's number 3 for Mac. Any reason you didn't consider it for your review?
 

therealwireball

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Oct 8, 2017
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Bitwarden seems like a drop-in replacement for Lastpass, judging by my experience with importing my passwords from lastpass to bitwarden.
 
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