Password managers

Michael Reed is very securityconscious. He only occasionally uses an OS that isn’t Linux and has two locks on his bike.

HOW WE TESTED…

We installed everything on to Linux Mint, and all our notes about installation are based on that. However, part of the idea of a password manager is that your logins should be easily available across multiple platforms. We installed the latest, stable release of each tool, and this meant we typically had to perform a manual installation.

In each case, we imported a sizable password collection that we had exported from the Google Chrome web browser, giving us real-world credentials to work with.

All of the password managers come with web browser plugins, offering autocomplete functions. We tested the plugins to make sure that they worked, but we didn’t notice any standout features because they all operated in the same way. For this reason, we decided not to give plugins their own separate section.

Finally, we tested each Android app to make sure they could work with that set of credentials for browsing, retrieval and editing.

CREDIT: Getty Images/Jon Feingersh Photography Inc

Password managers can store a variety of credentials and private information, and they do so in a way that isn’t tied to a particular web browser, operating system or device. Ideally, the way they work integrates with your online life for hiccup-free retrieval and storage of passwords from whatever platform you’re using at the time. As well as having your passwords available to you wherever you are (including mobile), you can step up your security level by using more complex passwords, which are harder to hack, without any extra effort on your part.

Some of the systems we’re looking at offer paid options, but all of them offer a usable free service. RoboForm, NordPass and Keeper belong in the freemium category as they are commercial software with a feature-limited free version. KeePass 2 is a completely free, open source program that you run entirely on your own computer like any other application, but it’s a bit more complicated to make its database available on other devices. Bitwarden sits in the middle, because it’s open source software backed by a large company that happily offers commercial options for extra features.

Premium (paid) plans

What do you get if you choose to pay extra for a premium package?

We’ll get on to what you get for free later on, but if you want to pay for premium features, the trick is to visit each website, examine the prices for different plans, and decide which features you need or can live without. With all of the systems, it’s worth checking out the latest prices before making a decision because there are sometimes special offers, which can be significant for a long-term subscription. To give an example, currently the cheapest NordPass plan (called Personal) is around £32 for two years, thanks to a 50% off offer.

Bitwarden is quite a lot cheaper on its single-user plan than the others. Obviously, prices could increase, but at the time of writing, it’s $10 (about £7.80) a year, which is excellent value. It also adds the ability to attach files, handy for things like scanned documents. However, its business plans are similar in pricing to the other password managers. This means NordPass is cheaper on its cheapest business plan right now, thanks to a sale offer.

In the case of NordPass, RoboForm and Keeper, the lowestpriced plan removes the limitation of access from more than one device. In the case of NordPass, it adds a few things such as features aimed at testing the quality of your password choices and the ability to store files as well as credentials. The NordPass Family plan is good value because it’s just under twice the cost of single-user but offers six user accounts. Bitwarden’s family plan is similar but slightly cheaper, though.

RoboForm’s shared folders allow the sharing of folders of credentials, but it’s a feature of the paid plans. You have to decide if you require features like this.

We wouldn’t call the Keeper single-user plan expensive at £2.50 a month, but at £6.00 per month for the family plan, it’s beginning to rack up the costs. Put in the context of overall business costs, none of the Keeper business plans are that expensive, starting at £22 per user per year. With services of this sort, be careful when evaluating the different business plans, because they may list the price as per user rather than for the total cost of the plan.

KeePass 2 doesn’t offer any paid-for premium subscriptions at all. You get everything for free, but some high-end features and many online features aren’t available.

VERDICT

ROBOFORM 7/10

KEEPER 7/10

NORDPASS 7/10

KEEPASS 2 N/A

BITWARDEN 9/10