Best password managers of 2022

Password managers are non only among the safest ways to keep all your online accounts secure, merely they also relieve you from 1 of the almost annoying predicaments in the world: forgetting your password.

Gone are the days of conjuring upwardly a mishmash of letters, numerals, and symbols for every application y’all’ve signed up for, as the best countersign managers store all your unique passwords in a secure digital vault that tin can just be accessed by you. Better yet, if y’all’re ill of creating some other jumble of characters, a password manager will create a strong, random countersign for you.

In a earth rife with large-scale hacks that leak individual information that can lead to fraud, identity theft, and ransom threats, it’south more important than always to fortify all your professional, social and personal accounts. Using the aforementioned password with the inevitable “!” lobbed in at the end for all your profiles no longer makes the cut, as all it takes is one depression-level hacker to crack the code and reap the rewards yous thought were once secure.

While the

best authenticator apps

and

best VPN services

add an extra layer of protection for your daily online activity, the best password managers will keep the prying eyes of threat actors at bay. But there are a few things to remember about before choosing the right password director for y’all.

While the best password managers will create, save and secure your credentials — whether it exist on your

laptop

,

tablet

or

smartphone

— for multiple online accounts, you lot’ll nonetheless need to come up with a master password to admission all the others. This countersign needs to exist unguessable and unforgettable at the same time, as it’s hard to recover this vital slice of information; it isn’t as simple as hitting “forgot password.”

Well-nigh of us volition consider ourselves password savvy, but it’s a good idea to take these tips on board when yous’re planning to create ane password to rule them all. Speaking of that obvious Lord of the Rings reference, information technology’s important to find a connexion betwixt your assortment of characters and something y’all care well-nigh — and, even more importantly, make it obscure. “IHeartLOTR!” isn’t what we’re going for hither.

Instead of using something generic, have a quote or passage that’s memorable to you but completely random to others, and so mix it upward to your liking. For case, take this famed quote from J. R. R. Tolkien:

“1 ring to rule them all, one ring to find them,


Ane ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them” –  J. R. R. Tolkien

Change “One” into numerical characters and take the first messages from each give-and-take and you’ll get this: “1rtrta,ortft,1rtbta,aitdbt-J.R.R.T”. Here, you have alphabetical characters, numerals, and symbols all wrapped up in a quote you’ll think. Of course, this is just a simple instance that can be made shorter or filled to the brim with other symbols you run into fit. The idea is to take something that volition stick in your mind and plough it into an uncrackable code.

An extra step you lot can have is by setting up ii-gene authentication on your called password managing director. This tin be done with many types of authenticator apps, whether it be one-time passwords (OTP) set up on your smartphone or speedy biometric access via Face up ID or fingerprint recognition.

Finally, y’all’ll also want to keep in mind what systems the countersign managing director works on. The best services tend to work on all devices, whether it be

Windows

,

macOS

, or even

Linux

. Any the example, you’ll also notice password managers will work as an app on your devices while too working every bit a browser extension for like shooting fish in a barrel admission.

While LastPass has express the number of devices it stores passwords on to but one for free users, it’southward yet the easiest password manager to recommend to most. LastPass still offers Free users all the bells and whistles you lot’d want from a countersign manager, including the ability to store an unlimited number of passwords, an AES-256 fleck encrypted vault, multi-cistron authentication (MFA), a countersign generator, and will autofill passwords for you to save yous time.

This isn’t even the premium plan. For $36 per yr, users tin access multi-device password sharing to an unlimited number of devices, 1GB of encrypted file storage, one-to-many sharing with trusted people, advanced MFA options including fingerprint authentication or tertiary-party authentication tools, the extremely handy Emergency Access features such as countersign inheritance, night web monitoring, and more.

The previous free version of LastPass made it the best effectually, as it not only offered sharing passwords on multiple devices, be information technology laptops or smartphones, but as well the Emergency Access features that grant sometime access to your vault to another LastPass user. Losing these features makes information technology a no-brainer to go along the paid premium plan, access our online accounts on multiple devices. It’southward a shame you accept to pay a fee, but having the ability to salvage and autofill passwords on the wing, receive a written report with an upwardly-to-date security score and monitor accounts for data breaches, LastPass is still among the best password managers out there.

1Password matches the $36 per year pricing of LastPass and is a long-time favorite of the Apple community. However, if y’all’re looking for an all-in-i password manager focused on families, this is the one for you. Fortunately, it also offers back up across Windows, Android and

Chrome OS

every bit well. The service has a solid set of password cosmos and management tools along with some unique extras like its Travel Mode.

There are multiple 1Password options, whether information technology exist for personal use, teams and business. That includes free family accounts, and families that permit an additional five members. Membership includes a host of security features, including AES-256 fleck encryption, alerts for compromised websites and vulnerable passwords, forth with a digital wallet that stores credit and debit cards, online banking data, and PayPal logins. Plus, yous can use 1Password on equally many computers and devices equally you ain.

Travel mode is great for the on-the-move professional, as it removes sensitive information from your devices when travelling. Sort of similar Airplane way that cuts off connectedness until you turn information technology dorsum on again, but for security. Along with the added ii-gene authentication, browser verification, protection from phishing and keyloggers, 1Password has you covered on all cybersecurity fronts. It’s difficult to find any faults with 1Password. Yet, it doesn’t come up with other nifty features such as LastPass’ night web monitoring or countersign inheritance.

At $threescore per year, Dashlane makes LastPass Premium feel like a bargain. However, beyond its incredible set of password management tools, it also includes an unlimited VPN. Dashlane’southward biggest merits to fame though is its Password Changer, every bit it allows you to change potentially hundreds of passwords with a single click. Particularly for those that are looking to switch to a password manager for the first time and update to unique and complex passwords, this is an awesome feature.

While there is a free version of Dashlane, which includes password storage for up to 50 passwords for one device, yous’ll be getting your money’s worth with the premium pick. The added advantage of throwing in a VPN for protection when scouring the spider web is a huge bonus, along with nighttime web monitoring for upward to five email addresses, 1GB of encrypted file storage, a countersign generator and autofill. Like LastPass, there’southward besides a Secure Notes characteristic that saves private documents and data, and securely sends it to those you trust.

It’s popular among users of virtually every platform and browser, including Windows, MacOS, iOS and Android, along with

Safari

,

Edge

,

Chrome

and

Firefox

. If you lot take the cash to spare and are looking for top-of-the-line countersign direction, Dashlane has you covered.

Keeper does exactly what it says on the tin, and is another stiff contender with an excellent user interface and expansive support across all platforms. At $35 a yr, y’all’re getting a premium countersign managing director service that not merely offers a mode to shop an unlimited number of passwords on multiple devices, simply too a secure messaging service.

Users tin can save sensitive files, documents, photos and videos in a heavily encrypted digital vault, while the KeeperChat is a fantastic alternative to other messaging services such as WhatsApp or Telegram. With 256-bit AES finish-to-end encryption and the ability to send and cocky-destruct media and messages from a private gallery, Keeper is for those who want to make certain their daily advice is kept behind a bolted door. The Emergency Access feature also lets you add up to five emergency contacts that yous trust when you lot’re in a demark.

Keeper as well has y’all covered for
all
types of multi-factor authentication, including Time-based onetime passwords (TOTP), SMS, Affect and Face ID, forth with Universal 2d Factor (U2F) security keys such every bit YubiKey. Along with a password generator, reports on password wellness for each account, nighttime web monitoring and the ability to retain the total history of important data, such as a driver’south license and passport number, Keeper is, well, a keeper.

Bitwarden is one of the more well-known password managers, every bit its free tier and bargain premium tier options are what get in so appealing. It’due south an open-source password managing director that gives y’all unlimited passwords, syncing across all devices and the selection to cocky-host your passwords if y’all want total control of your passwords. While the free tier volition be plenty for well-nigh users, the premium account is but $ten a twelvemonth and brings with it TOTP, 2FA back up with YubiKey and more.

It’due south free plan is the existent eye-catcher, as well-nigh users volition get admission to unlimited password storage and sharing to unlimited devices, a secure password generator, the ability to store private notes and credit card information, messaging platform Bitwarden Send, forth with browser, mobile and desktop apps. What more could you want from a password manager?

Equally for the premium programme, you’ll get 1GB of encrypted file attachments, health reports for all your passwords and information, access to Bitwarden’s ain TOPT authenticator, Emergency Admission features and more ii-step login options. Many will flock to the gratis version, as the premium selection offers more basic features when compared to the other premium services on this list. Still, that only shows Bitwarden is offer more than enough excellent password manager features that y’all won’t take to spend a penny on.