NordPass Evaluate (2024): Is it a Protected Password Supervisor?

From the creators of the favored NordVPN, NordPass has massive footwear to fill as Nord Safety’s password supervisor resolution. Fortuitously, NordPass greater than exceeds these expectations with its zero-knowledge password vault, robust encryption, and user-friendly interface.

Whereas its free model is a bit restricted, NordPass’ premium providing is among the finest password managers to check out this yr.

Is NordPass free?

Sure, NordPass has a free model. It gives limitless password storage, a password generator, and autosave and autofill capabilities. Personally, I commend NordPass for taking this method as different password managers restrict the variety of passwords you possibly can retailer with their free variations. For instance, Dashlane solely permits a most of 25 saved passwords for its free plan.

SEE: NordPass Free vs Premium: Is it Definitely worth the Improve? (TechRepublic)

To be clear, you lose key performance with the free model. The primary distinction is that it helps just one gadget login. This implies if you happen to’re logged in in your pc, you gained’t have the ability to use NordPass’ free model in your cellphone — which I perceive generally is a dealbreaker for some. For those who fall into this camp, I counsel trying out Bitwarden as its free plan helps each limitless units and limitless password storage.

The free model additionally doesn’t include NordPass Premium options similar to a knowledge leak scanner, a password well being instrument, and the flexibility to connect recordsdata to vault gadgets.

Whereas the free model is an effective solution to check out the password supervisor, Nord gives a 30-day Premium trial of NordPass that doesn’t require bank card or fee info. Even with NordPass’ free model, I counsel going for this free trial first so you possibly can attempt the complete NordPass characteristic with none of the free model’s limitations.

NordPass pricing

NordPass splits its subscriptions into two tiers: Private & Household and Enterprise. Whereas most password managers provide a single set value per plan, I like how NordPass provides customers the flexibility to choose into both a one- or two-year plan for every tier. Having an extended subscription is useful because it offers extra financial savings to those that don’t thoughts a longer-term contract.

SEE: 5 Greatest Password Managers for Android in 2024 (TechRepublic)

NordPass’ Private subscriptions present inexpensive costs. Whereas Bitwarden’s beginning Premium subscription at lower than $1 remains to be extra inexpensive, NordPass’ comparable Premium plan at $1.89 remains to be on the decrease finish of costs amongst the competitors.

For instance, each LastPass and Dashlane’s beginning plans are pegged at $3 and $4.99 per thirty days, respectively. You additionally get the choice of NordPass’ two-year plan for a fair lower cost.

NordPass Household offers even stronger worth. At $2.79 per thirty days for six customers, it covers extra relations at a decrease value than 1Password’s Households plan at $4.99 for 5 customers and Keeper’s Household subscription at $6.25 per thirty days for 5 customers. For those who’re particularly all in favour of a password supervisor for your loved ones, I really feel NordPass Household subscription gives actually good worth.

For its Enterprise tier, NordPass gives Groups, Enterprise, and Enterprise plans. Among the many three, its Marketing strategy is the very best choose. At $3.99 per consumer per thirty days, getting a plan for 20 customers solely prices round $80. Dashlane’s comparable Enterprise subscription prices twice as a lot at $8 per seat, totaling $160 for a similar 20 customers.

NordPass’ Groups subscription is extra on par with the competitors. At $1.99 per consumer per thirty days, it prices round $20 for 10 customers — about the identical as Dashlane and 1Password. Once more, you possibly can select their two-year subscription, which helps carry the month-to-month price right down to $18 for 10 customers.

NordPass’ Enterprise annual plan is available in at $5.99 per consumer per thirty days and permits for limitless customers.

SEE: 5 Greatest Free Password Managers for 2024 (TechRepublic)

Provided that different password managers often provide curated pricing after asking for a citation, I can’t provide a good apples-to-apples comparability on this finish. Nonetheless, I do recognize NordPass offering set costs for its Enterprise plan, as this removes that further step of contacting its workforce for pricing.

NordPass additionally gives a 30-day money-back assure that permits you to refund your preliminary fee if you happen to really feel it doesn’t suit your wants.

Is NordPass secure?

Sure, NordPass is secure. NordPass makes use of XChaCha20 encryption — a more recent algorithm that ensures consumer information is unreadable to 3rd events. NordPass says it selected XChaCha20 over the gold customary AES-256 encryption because it considers XChaCha20 a extra future-proof choice on condition that AES-256 has proven indicators of doubtless changing into crackable.

I commend NordPass for being proactive in providing customers a distinct encryption choice within the password administration area, particularly since most different password managers at present use AES-256.

NordPass additionally operates on a zero-knowledge structure. Because of this solely the end-user has entry to their information, and never even NordPass has any solution to entry it.

Thus far, NordPass has not been concerned in any kind of information breach or hacking — which for me is a giant win contemplating different password managers haven’t been so fortunate. Each NordPass and NordPass Enterprise have additionally been independently audited by Cure53, which reveals the corporate’s dedication to full transparency with its clients.

NordPass Enterprise can also be SOC 2 Kind 2-compliant, which certifies that the service comprises the correct safety controls wanted to guard consumer information and privateness.

All in all, I’m glad with NordPass’ safety measures and might confidently say it’s a secure password supervisor to make use of in 2024.

Key options of NordPass

Outdoors of the standard password supervisor options, similar to a password generator and an encrypted vault, NordPass features a few options that set it aside from different providers.

Knowledge Breach Scanner

NordPass comes with a Knowledge Breach Scanner that checks whether or not any consumer e mail addresses have been compromised or leaked. This is a crucial password supervisor characteristic that I’m glad to see NordPass included, particularly with how widespread information breaches have been lately.

Outdoors of breach scanning, I like how one can set NordPass’ scanner to proactively monitor chosen e mail addresses in real-time. It is a handy set-and-forget characteristic that lets customers do their work whereas having the peace of thoughts that their emails are constantly monitored for any leaks.

Exercise Log

For NordPass Enterprise customers, they’ve entry to a really helpful Exercise Log menu from their admin panel. This offers a rundown of all exercise inside a company or a enterprise’ NordPass database, giving supervisors a solution to monitor any suspicious exercise from sure accounts.

I can envision this being excellent for IT managers who need a straightforward solution to verify questionable logins, password sharing, or different exercise that would compromise firm sources.

Password insurance policies

One other sensible safety characteristic of NordPass Enterprise is the flexibility to set password insurance policies inside your group. This permits supervisors to set guidelines on password size, complexity, and different password requirements.

Supervisors can require customers to have each uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, particular characters, or a mixture of these three for all passwords created inside the firm.

I see password insurance policies as a vital instrument for organizations that need every credential or password used of their firm to have good password hygiene. It additionally helps take away human error as managers gained’t should remind staff about password finest practices since a given coverage may be set from the beginning.

NordPass authentication and safety choices

NordPass gives an affordable variety of multifactor authentication choices. Proper now, you possibly can select between utilizing authenticator apps, safety keys, and backup codes as second elements. NordPass can also be suitable with well-liked authenticator apps similar to Google Authenticator, Authy, and Microsoft Authenticator. With this, I feel NordPass offers many of the MFA choices a mean consumer will ever want.

By way of safety features, I actually like NordPass’ Autolock toggle that mechanically locks the app after a interval of inactivity. This may show helpful in cases the place you by accident go away your pc unattended, ensuring your password vault isn’t at risk of being accessed by malicious actors. You can too set NordPass to mechanically clear gadgets in your clipboard after a given period of time.

For password technology, NordPass defaults to making a 20-character password with a most of 60 characters and allows you to generate passphrases as nicely, which have not too long ago been acknowledged as safer than one-word passwords. Try our deep dive on passphrases to study extra.

There’s additionally help for biometric login and a restoration code system that permits you to regain account entry if you happen to neglect your grasp password.

NordPass interface and efficiency

NordPass comes with an intuitive desktop interface with a contemporary design. Throughout my testing, I discovered that every little thing was the place I anticipated it to be, with not one of the options being intrusive or laborious to search out or check out.

I particularly like how NordPass neatly organizes consumer gadgets, folders, and instruments in its facet panel.

NordPass carried out nicely by way of password seize and replay. I encountered zero points with saving passwords to my vault, and NordPass was in a position to reliably replay them with my accounts.

Its autofill performance additionally works nicely, and it had no hassle recognizing web sites and filling within the corresponding login.

NordPass cellular app

I’m completely satisfied to report that NordPass’ cellular app mirrors its intuitive and well-designed desktop interface. It implements the identical categorization we see on the complete app and performs simply as nicely by way of password storage.

I’ve one level for enchancment for NordPass’ cellular app. For context, I used NordPass on my Google Pixel 6 Android smartphone for this assessment. I had set the app to unlock with my cellphone’s fingerprint sensor as an alternative of the grasp password for simpler entry. Weirdly sufficient, even once I closed the app, NordPass would let me into my vault with out asking for my fingerprint.

It seems, it’s important to manually lock the NordPass vault to have that grasp password-fingerprint login seem once more. You possibly can set the app to mechanically lock on app shut, however I’d have most popular if this was turned on out of the field. For those who don’t set the app to mechanically lock, it could be some extent of weak point that dangerous actors can exploit.

NordPass execs

• Reasonably priced particular person and enterprise plans.
• Simple-to-use and well-designed interface.
• Fashionable XChaCha20 encryption.
• Independently audited.
• Password insurance policies for organizations.

NordPass cons

• Free model is locked to at least one gadget.
• Cell app doesn’t lock by default.

NordPass options

For those who discover NorPass doesn’t suit your wants after the assessment, I’ve listed three different password managers that it is best to take into account.

Bitwarden

If you’d like a free password supervisor with limitless gadget help, take into account Bitwarden. Its beneficiant free model and zero-knowledge encryption strike an excellent stability between worth and safety. Bitwarden can also be open supply, making it a main choice for customers who worth transparency.

We rated Bitwarden 4.3 out of 5 stars in our full assessment. To study extra, learn right here.

Dashlane

For customers who need a feature-packed password supervisor, Dashlane ought to be on their checklist. Outdoors of password encryption and a password generator, it comes with a darkish net monitor, a password historical past log, and a password well being dashboard. It even comes with an included VPN service — one thing you gained’t discover in most different password managers available on the market.

We rated Dashlane 4.6 stars out of 5 in our full assessment. To study extra, learn right here.

Keeper

Keeper is one other high quality choose that gives an intuitive software and high-end safety. For those who’re a pupil, navy, or medical personnel, Keeper is a good choice because it gives intensive reductions for these teams. It additionally has user-friendly free trials for its subscriptions that don’t require bank card info to entry.

We rated Keeper 4.4 out of 5 stars in our full assessment. To study extra, learn right here.

Is NordPass value it?

With its inexpensive pricing, strong vault encryption, and intuitive software, I strongly really feel NordPass is among the finest password managers obtainable right now.

I discover NordPass to be finest for customers on the lookout for an all-around password supervisor, regardless in the event that they’re particular person customers, small companies, or giant organizations.

SEE: Methods to Run a Cybersecurity Threat Evaluation in 5 Steps (TechRepublic Premium)

Particular person customers will recognize NordPass’ accessible subscriptions that enable for each one- and two-year contracts. In the meantime, companies and organizations will profit from NordPass Enterprise options similar to Exercise Log, Password Insurance policies, and Shared Folders.

Whereas its free model is proscribed, I discover the general package deal you get with NordPass to be well worth the spend. Finally, I discovered that NordPass merely doesn’t have many obtrusive points for me to not suggest it to most customers.

Evaluate methodology

My assessment of NordPass concerned an in depth evaluation of its safety features, value, and real-world efficiency. I had hands-on expertise with a NordPass Premium Enterprise trial.

To check NordPass, I used its net and desktop purposes on my Home windows laptop computer and its cellular app on my Google Pixel 6.

I rated NordPass on every little thing from its password administration options to its pricing based mostly on an inner algorithm to get a ranking of 4.6 out of 5 stars. The scoring was based mostly each on NordPass by itself and in relation to different password managers available in the market.