Bitwarden Evaluation (2024): Is It a Secure Password Supervisor?

Bitwarden is an open supply password supervisor that provides a beneficiant free model, a powerful privateness and safety structure, and reasonably priced pricing throughout the board.

Its free model is likely one of the most full supplied by password managers, making it an attractive possibility for these on a tighter funds. Whereas its desktop utility isn’t essentially the most intuitive, its total package deal nonetheless makes it one of many high password administration apps at the moment.

Is Bitwarden free?

Sure, Bitwarden has a devoted free eternally model. Bitwarden’s Free Plan is likely one of the finest free password managers obtainable, because it presents limitless passwords and entry for an infinite variety of gadgets. That is in distinction to some password managers, resembling Dashlane, whose free model solely permits entry on one system at a time and solely shops 25 passwords.

Bitwarden’s Free Plan comes with all of Bitwarden’s core password administration options, resembling zero-knowledge encryption, username and password generator, and two-step logins. Nonetheless, it doesn’t include Bitwarden’s 24/7 e-mail assist, emergency entry, and encrypted file attachments just like the paid subscriptions.

Bitwarden’s free tier is likely one of the most full free variations obtainable. It’s good for customers on a decent funds wanting a fully-functioning password administration system.

SEE: Bitwarden Free vs Premium: Which Plan Is Finest for You? (TechRepublic)

Bitwarden pricing

Bitwarden presents pricing plans for each private and enterprise use.

Private plan pricing

Apart from having a robust free model, Bitwarden continues to be an amazing worth possibility with its reasonably priced pricing for its private plans. As premium subscriptions vary from $1.66 (RoboForm) to $4.99 (Dashlane) per thirty days, Bitwarden Premium presents a yearly price of simply $10 per 12 months, or round $0.83 per thirty days, to be actual. This makes Bitwarden one of the vital reasonably priced password managers obtainable.

Given the cheaper price, I’d say Bitwarden Premium isn’t essentially the most feature-packed password supervisor. It lacks further options like Dashlane’s built-in VPN or 1Password’s extra polished person interface. Nonetheless, you’re getting the elemental options you want at a really reasonably priced worth.

For first time customers, I like to recommend attempting out Bitwarden’s free model. It’s straightforward to arrange and offers you an honest really feel for his or her service. It additionally helps that upgrading to a premium model isn’t that costly both.

Marketing strategy pricing

Bitwarden’s business-tailored Groups plan falls inside the regular pricing in comparison with the competitors. You get 10 customers, all of Bitwarden’s core and premium options, occasion and audit logs, person teams, and a listing connector.

In 2023, Bitwarden’s Groups plan was truly known as Groups Starter and was priced at $20 per thirty days for as much as 10 customers. In 2024, it’s now simply known as Groups and is priced per person at $4 per thirty days. It maintains the identical characteristic set, resembling all Bitwarden premium options, occasion and audit logs, and person teams. 

Whereas I personally like how Groups is now priced at a per person foundation, which may be nice for companies that don’t essentially want all 10 seats crammed, it’s unlucky that it’s now additionally double the value. Because of this the identical 10 customers could be priced at $40 per thirty days. In the event you’re searching for a extra reasonably priced subscription in your small staff, 1Password’s Crew Starter Pack is priced at $19.95 per thirty days for as much as 10 customers.

Fortunately, Bitwarden’s cost-effective Enterprise subscription at $6 per thirty days, per person was retained from final 12 months. When put next with different business-to-enterprise stage plans, it nonetheless sits as one of many extra reasonably priced choices. LastPass’ Marketing strategy is priced at $7 per thirty days; whereas 1Password’s Enterprise subscription is at $8 per person, per thirty days.

For options, self-hosting and passwordless SSO integration are solely obtainable on Bitwarden’s Enterprise subscription. You get limitless customers, insurance policies, account restoration administration, and free Households Plan for customers.

Total, Bitwarden’s reasonably priced pricing on most of its subscriptions is one in every of its strongest options. If you would like an reasonably priced password supervisor that doesn’t skimp out on key options, Bitwarden is a good choose.

Is Bitwarden actually safe?

Sure, Bitwarden is a secure password supervisor. It operates on a zero-knowledge structure, which implies that the end-user is the one one with actual entry to their knowledge. It’s additionally distinctive in that it’s open supply software program, permitting the general public to assessment their code and monitor it for any vulnerabilities. That is an incredible little bit of transparency that I do know privateness fanatics will discover priceless.

As well as, Bitwarden makes use of trade main AES 256 encryption and undergoes common safety audits that validate its safety claims. I additionally admire how Bitwarden makes it clear that person grasp passwords are by no means saved both domestically or in reminiscence. That is large, on condition that your grasp password is your foremost key to unlocking all of your different passwords.

At time of publication, Bitwarden had no reported hacks or knowledge breaches. Altogether, Bitwarden is likely one of the most secure password managers to make use of in 2024.

Key options of Bitwarden

On high of the elemental password supervisor options like password technology and encrypted vaults, Bitwarden presents a number of options that assist it stand out from the competitors.

Limitless passwords and gadgets totally free

Bitwarden is finest identified for its beneficiant free model. Specifically, the truth that Bitwarden permits for an infinite variety of passwords and gadgets to apply it to totally free makes it an amazing starter password supervisor, particularly for these on a funds.

In principle, particular person customers don’t must spend for a premium subscription to get a practical and safe password supervisor. Different password managers, like Dashlane, solely permit for 25 saved passwords, whereas 1Password doesn’t even provide a free tier of their service altogether.

Bitwarden Ship

Bitwarden Ship permits customers to ship out encrypted recordsdata and textual content for safe file-sharing. It could transmit textual content of as much as 1000 encrypted characters or recordsdata of as much as 500 MB. The cool factor about Bitwarden Ship is the configurable lifespan, permitting customers to set how lengthy a textual content or file may be accessed or considered earlier than being deleted from the system.

This characteristic will likely be particularly helpful to customers who repeatedly ship out delicate or confidential paperwork like contracts, agreements, and the like.

Emergency entry

Whereas many password managers provide emergency entry, Bitwarden’s implementation stands out for its comfort. In Bitwarden, customers can grant emergency entry to trusted contacts by e-mail — permitting them to request vault entry when wanted. This course of is much more streamlined in comparison with 1Password’s Emergency Package system, which makes use of a stowed PDF or Dashlane’s use of a proprietary DASH file for emergency entry.

I like how one can set a Wait Time for vault entry, which provides the account proprietor time to just accept or deny emergency entry requests if essential. Do notice that emergency entry is just obtainable for premium Bitwarden customers and isn’t obtainable on their free tier.

Bitwarden authentication and safety choices

Bitwarden consists of two-factor authentication for customers to entry their Bitwarden vaults. It presents quite a few 2FA strategies, resembling an authenticator app, e-mail, by way of FIDO2 WebAuthn credentials, YubiKey, by way of Duo Safety, and extra. Take notice, nonetheless, that solely the primary three 2FA strategies talked about are supplied in Bitwarden’s free model.

When it comes to safety choices, Bitwarden permits customers to unblock vaults by way of biometric expertise resembling fingerprint or face authentication. Throughout my testing, I used to be in a position to manually set a vault timeout motion to both require re-authentication or a grasp password to unlock my vault after a given period of time.

For password technology, Bitwarden allowed me to create a random password with as much as 128 characters. I used to be additionally in a position to create a username utilizing Bitwarden’s password generator — a helpful characteristic to make sure I didn’t reuse the identical username for various accounts.

Bitwarden interface and efficiency

Bitwarden’s desktop person interface follows a quite simple and minimalistic design. Whereas it seems clear, I do really feel that it may be extra intuitive by way of menu placement.

I would like that essential menus such because the Password Generator and Settings not be hidden in dropdown menus on the high of the applying.

Bitwarden’s browser extension is extra intuitive to make use of, as essential menus just like the vault and settings are extra simply accessible.

In 2023, I had a little bit of bother with Bitwarden’s auto-fill performance. Not like different password managers that routinely had pop-up icons in username or password fields for simple auto filling, Bitwarden required me to open their browser extension first, then click on on the recommended credential, for the login particulars to get crammed in. You’ll be able to see a pattern of this within the picture under.

In the event you check out the Amazon e-mail deal with subject, there’s no Bitwarden emblem or icon in sight to click on on for simple password filling. Whereas this wasn’t the top of the world, it did add a further step to the log-in course of and was barely inconvenient — particularly contemplating how that is the standard follow with different password managers.

Now that we’re in 2024, I’m very pleased to report that Bitwarden has addressed this concern and now has its autofill menu showing on kind fields if you click on on them by default.

In my opinion, this modification supplies a major enchancment to the day-to-day person expertise, because it not solely makes kind filling a lot simpler nevertheless it additionally helps make utilizing Bitwarden really feel like a seamless expertise. Under is a screenshot of the Bitwarden emblem for autofill in a username subject, as per the brand new adjustments carried out.

Like final 12 months, Bitwarden’s auto-fill on web page load characteristic continues to be off by default. For context, what auto-fill on web page load does is that when a webpage hundreds and Bitwarden detects a login kind inside the web page, your login credentials will routinely get fed to the shape subject with none motion from the person. Per Bitwarden, this characteristic is turned off as a result of some untrusted or malicious web sites might use this to steal person credentials.

To me, I admire Bitwarden going the additional mile in ensuring that its options are literally safe and don’t depart person credentials liable to being stolen. For customers keen to tackle that threat, it’s nice that Bitwarden provides you the choice to take action.

For password seize and replay, I had zero points with Bitwarden. It was in a position to reliably seize new logins and passwords and replay them as soon as I revisited the corresponding websites.

One small nitpick I’ve, nonetheless, is that Bitwarden doesn’t allow you to generate new passwords from inside the kind subject itself. If you click on on a password subject, you get an possibility so as to add a brand new login as an alternative of getting a pop up of Bitwarden’s password generator.

If you click on “+ New login,” you’re greeted with Bitwarden’s Add merchandise web page that allows you to fill out all of the login info in a single single pane, resembling the location title, username, and password. From right here, you’ll be capable to use Bitwarden’s password generator and tweak it to your liking.

Whereas some might like this extra organized method, I personally want for the password generator to seem as a pop up within the kind subject itself. To me, this may make for a faster and extra seamless expertise in saving a brand new login. Once more, that is extra of a private alternative, as Bitwarden’s password seize labored with no bother in any respect.

Bitwarden cellular app

To Bitwarden’s credit score, their cellular utility mimics that of their intuitive browser extension. I examined the Bitwarden cellular utility on my Android telephone.

It adopts an easy-to-use interface and is pretty easy. I observed that the applying’s animations did really feel a bit clunky, nevertheless it was nonetheless a secure expertise total.

I additionally appreciated how the Bitwarden cellular app doesn’t permit for any screenshots or screen-grabs by default. It is a refined however essential safety characteristic that may assist forestall your credentials from being stolen by dangerous actors.

SEE: Methods to Create an Efficient Cybersecurity Consciousness Program (TechRepublic Premium)

Bitwarden professionals

• Free model with limitless password storage.
• Very reasonably priced pricing throughout plans.
• Simple-to-use emergency entry characteristic.
• Encrypted file-sharing system.
• Open-source.
• Clear safety repute.
• Improved auto fill capabilities.

Bitwarden cons

• Desktop UI may be extra intuitive.
• Doesn’t have a ton of additional options.

Is Bitwarden price it?

Bitwarden’s beneficiant free model, zero-knowledge encryption, and reasonably priced pricing make it an amazing alternative for customers searching for a bang-for-your-buck password supervisor. The truth that you get limitless passwords and may entry them on limitless gadgets, on high of its open supply platform, makes Bitwarden a robust contender within the password supervisor house.

Whereas its desktop utility may be extra intuitive, Bitwarden packs a whole lot of worth for cash throughout all its plans to make it maybe the very best funds password supervisor obtainable.

Bitwarden options

In the event you discover that Bitwarden lacks in performance, I’ve listed a number of options that could possibly be a greater match in your wants and workflow.

Dashlane

Dashlane is a widely known password supervisor answer that provides top-tier safety, tons of options, and a smooth person interface. It comes with a powerful darkish net monitor characteristic that sends customers alerts in case a saved password or credential is concerned in a knowledge breach. It additionally permits for limitless safe password-sharing to share credentials with a number of customers.

To study extra, learn our full Dashlane assessment.

1Password

For many who prioritize safety above all, 1Password is an effective alternative. On high of the common password administration options, it comes with vulnerability alerts and phishing safety to safeguard in opposition to malicious people. It additionally routinely locks the password vault during times of inactivity, including a further stage of safety to defending your logins.

To study extra, learn our full 1Password assessment.

Keeper

For big organizations, Keeper generally is a nice match. It supplies a extra organizational method to password administration with folders, subfolders, and shared staff folders. For safety, Keeper additionally implements darkish net monitoring that scans worker information and informs them of any points with their credentials.

To study extra, learn our full Keeper assessment.

Often requested questions on Bitwarden

Has Bitwarden been breached earlier than?

No, Bitwarden has by no means been breached. As of October 2024, there have been no experiences of incidents the place Bitwarden’s service or infrastructure has been compromised in any approach.

The place are you able to discover a tutorial on the right way to use Bitwarden?

You’ll be able to take a look at our Methods to Use Bitwarden information that takes you thru the step-by-step course of of selecting a Bitwarden subscription, establishing the Bitwarden browser extension, and saving your first password, amongst different issues.

We additionally present some ideas and tips on the right way to finest use Bitwarden for your corporation and the right way to maximize its characteristic set.

Can Bitwarden be used on a number of gadgets?

Sure, Bitwarden can be utilized on an infinite variety of gadgets regardless you probably have an energetic Bitwarden Premium subscription or are a Bitwarden Free Plan person.

What platforms does Bitwarden assist?

For desktop, Bitwarden has purposes for Home windows, macOS, and Linux. It additionally has cellular apps for each iOS, Android, and F-Droid

When it comes to net browser extensions, Bitwarden helps Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Courageous, Vivaldi, Tor, and DuckDuckGo.

Evaluation methodology

My assessment of Bitwarden concerned an in depth evaluation of its security measures, worth, and real-world efficiency. I had hands-on expertise with Bitwarden by its free model and supplemented my findings with person testimonials and respected evaluations.

To check Bitwarden, I put in its desktop utility on my Home windows laptop computer and its cellular app on my Google Pixel 6. I additionally examined Bitwarden’s Chrome extension on my browser.

I rated Bitwarden on all the pieces from its password administration options to its pricing based mostly on an inside algorithm to get a score of 4.6 out of 5 stars. The scoring was based mostly each on Bitwarden by itself and in relation to different obtainable password managers.