Best password manager windows

After toggling a couple of settings, I was able to access my password vault with just my fingerprint — no master password needed! Professional Reviews. Affiliate Commissions. Reviews Guidelines. Katarina Glamoslija Updated on: January 1, This article contains. Keeper — Best for Additional Security Features 5. Short on time? Quick summary of the best password managers for Windows in 1.

Keeper — High-security extras 10 GB storage, encrypted chat. LastPass — Good free plan with advanced security on premium plan.

Comparison of the Best Password Managers for Windows. Get Deal. Try 1Password risk-free for 14 days! Sticky Password is a beginner-friendly password manager that handles all the basics well. However, Sticky Password comes with an outdated browser extension and lacks features like account recovery, dark web monitoring, or secure file storage.

Bitwarden is a good open-source password manager — with a good free plan and a low-cost premium version. Zoho Vault. Dashlane provides a simple and secure way to manage your passwords and keep other login information stored. Just for managing passwords, we like it as much as our picks, but the free Dashlane app limits you to one device and 50 passwords. A free version gives you unlimited password storage on one device. KeePass, another open-source software password manager, started on Windows and has been ported using the same code base to other platforms, including MacOS, Android and iOS.

On the plus side, it's totally free and endorsed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. On the other hand, it's really for advanced users only: Its user interface takes a bit of fiddling to get all the independently built versions of KeePass to work together.

There's been a shift in the market for VPN and antivirus software in recent months. Many of the companies behind these software packages are expanding them to become wider software suites.

We haven't specifically reviewed these password storage managers, if only because they don't yet appear to have a feature set or pricing option that beats any of our preferred options above. If and when that changes, we'll check them out in more detail. Still need more info on what password managers are, and why they're better than the alternatives?

Read on. To get started, a password manager will record the username and password you use when you first sign in to a website or service. Then the next time you visit the website, it will autofill forms with your saved password login information. For those websites and services that don't allow automatic filling, a password manager lets you copy the password to paste into the password field. If you're stuck picking a good password, a manager can generate a strong password for you and watch that you aren't reusing it across multiple services.

And if you use more than one device, you want a manager that is available across all your devices and browsers, so you can access your passwords and login information -- including credit-card and shipping information -- from anywhere through the manager app or its browser extension.

Some provide secure storage so you can store other items too, such as documents or an electronic copy of your passport or will. Take note: Many password managers keep the master password you use to unlock the manager locally and not on a remote server. Or if it's on a server, it's encrypted and not readable by the company. This ensures your account stays secure in case of a data breach.

It also means that if you forget your master password, there may not be a way to recover your account through the company. Because of that, a few password managers offer DIY kits to help you recover your account on your own. Worst-case scenario, you start over with a new password manager account and then reset and save passwords for all your accounts and apps.

Read more: This is how we might finally replace passwords. When trying to avoid a weak password, a good password should be a long string of capital and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation and other nonalphanumeric characters -- something that's difficult for others to guess, but a snap for a password manager to keep track of.

You can store an unlimited number of passwords, use your manager on an unlimited number of devices and sync across all of them. Two-factor authentication ensures your 1Password account stays safe too. If you prefer to access your account via a mini app, 1Password is a good choice for you.

Keep in mind that it will be costly compared to other password managers, though. Industry-standard practices include using AES encryption and zero-knowledge policies. This sort of end-to-end encryption means not even the developers of the password manager have access to your information. Most password managers let you use a browser extension, so any website you visit that requires a password will trigger your password manager to fill in information.

Some password managers require you to manually add passwords, but others offer a bulk password add for all your accounts, saving you time. Forbes Advisor looked at five primary factors and 14 secondary factors to create this list of the best password managers for Windows. We compared five of the most popular Windows password managers, and ranked them according to security features, cost or value and unique features.

In regard to security features, we considered industry-standard AES encryption, multifactor authentication and zero-knowledge policies. Although pricing is important, we looked at the overall value of a password manager because paying for an account may be worth the cost. Unique features are few among Windows password managers, but only because most password managers have cross-platform functionality.

Free versions of password managers got more consideration, especially those that are fully featured. In order of importance, these are the factors we weighed when ranking the top Windows password managers:. A third-party password manager offers more layers of security, including end-to-end encryption, which you may want to keep sensitive info secure, like your online banking info.

There are plenty of free password managers for Windows that are worth using, and even paid options are affordable. When you pay for a password manager, you get useful features not typically included in free plans, such as encrypted file storage, sharing options, password generation and you can even get a VPN from some of the top password managers to keep your online activity private.

You might forget your master password, and if a password manager uses a zero-knowledge policy the best ones do , you may not be able to access your account without emergency access. With all that said, a password manager is one step to preventing common cyberthreats for individuals and small businesses. Amy Nichol Smith has more than 20 years experience as a journalist and editor, writing on a range of topics, including tech products and services, the gaming industry, and small business.

She has been featured in Tom's Guide, L. Times, Business. Her favorite tech product is a tie between her Roomba and gaming PC. In that role, he was responsible for writing, editing, and strategizing content geared toward small business owners. Before that, he worked at PCMag as a business analyst.

Good password managers also include mechanisms for easily sharing passwords with family members and friends when many people need to log into a single site. Bitwarden does security audits every other year, and completed its most recent audit in Both 1Password and Bitwarden also interact with security researchers through public bug-bounty programs.

While they do provide some convenience by autofilling the code for you, they make it so that if someone does access your password manager, they can also get into all your accounts.

You should enable two-factor authentication on the password manager itself, so you might as well use that same app or security key for the rest of your authentication needs. Your alternatives are to use a password manager that stores data only locally on your computer or one that syncs to a server you control; the first option makes a password manager a lot less convenient, and the second is more trouble than most people prefer to go to and potentially less secure, if set up improperly.

If that is what you want, we like KeePassXC. KeePassXC operates like a traditional password manager, but only stores data locally. This means you cannot easily access your passwords on a phone or second computer unless you manually move files between devices. The browser extensions will be a bit more powerful and easier to use, especially when creating new accounts. The Watchtower is also improved, with an easier to understand view. Some upcoming changes in 1Password 8 have longtime customers upset.

It also no longer uses a Mac-native programming language for its macOS desktop app, but in our week with the beta 1Password 8 hummed along in the background as quietly as 1Password 7 does. LastPass Free was once an easy recommendation, but most of its standout free features, like password syncing between devices and its security dashboard , have been relegated to the premium plan.

The company that owns LastPass, LogMeIn, was acquired in by two private-equity firms , which makes us concerned about the future of LastPass. Dashlane Premium is as polished as 1Password, and its first-time setup process is even better than 1Password at onboarding password-manager newcomers.

Keeper and NordPass have many of the same paid features as 1Password, but we found both apps less intuitive to use than 1Password. We dismissed most password managers for lacking one or more features, including not participating in third-party security audits or not supporting one or more of our desired operating systems.

Others—including LogMeOnce , RememBear , Password Boss , SaferPass Premium , and Splikity —had few or poor reviews in various app stores or were missing too many of the extra features that other contenders offer.

Myki stores passwords directly on your phone, and your phone talks directly to other devices to sync data rather than relying on a cloud service. If someone does somehow access your password manager, they would then also get into all the accounts with two-factor authentication enabled.

You should enable two-factor authentication on your password manager account, so you might as well use that same app or key for the rest of your authentication needs. Our picks also go through regular third-party security audits. For most people, the tradeoff is worth it. Only if you unlock your password manager and then walk away from your computer. You can also avoid this by locking your computer whenever you walk away from it.

Yes, and yes. Most password managers with iOS and Android apps can autofill usernames and passwords on both websites and in apps, replacing or augmenting the built-in autofill features in those operating systems. Make sure you write down your master password actually write it down, with pen and paper and store it somewhere safe to prevent this from happening. In Bitwarden, you need to delete your entire account and start again from scratch.

To protect your data, you should never share passwords via email, text message, or any other app on your phone or computer; most password managers include some kind of secure sharing capability that you should use instead. A 1Password family plan allows family members to share different vaults, so you can share some logins for paying bills or managing finances, for example but not others for personal email or sites you use for work. Sarah Brown, What if 1Password gets hacked?

Bitwarden and security audits are complete , July 22, Andrew Cunningham is a senior staff writer on Wirecutter's tech team. He has been writing about laptops, phones, routers, and other tech since Before that he spent five years in IT fixing computers and helping people buy the best tech for their needs. Thorin Klosowski is the editor of privacy and security topics at Wirecutter.