Best Password Managers of 2021

If you spend any time online, it can seem like every website wants you to set a password and open an account. While these accounts can be useful, remembering all those passwords is difficult or impossible. For that reason, many people either set easily remembered (and thus easily guessed) passwords, use the same few passwords across multiple websites, or both – dangerous practices that can result in your personal information being stolen. A password manager solves this problem by helping you to set secure passwords for all your accounts and remembering them for you; all you have to do is remember one master password. Read on for more about how password managers work and descriptions of our Best Password Managers of 2021.

The Best Password Managers of 2021

The best password managesr of 2021 include Bitwarden, Keeper, and LastPass. Although Password managers perform many of the same basic functions, there are important differences. Below, we list our Best Password Managers of 2021 and provide key information to help you choose.

#1 Bitwarden
#2 Keeper
#2 LastPass
#2 Dashlane
#5 1Password
#5 LogMeOnce
#7 NordPass
#8 KeePassXC
#8 RoboForm
#8 Sticky Password

Compare the Best Password Managers of 2021

Best Password Managers in Detail

Bitwarden: Bitwarden, our No. 1 password manager of 2021, costs significantly less than competitors. Bitwarden's free version will satisfy many people with all of the standard password management features like storing, generating, and synchronizing passwords between devices. Plus, its paid individual-user option is just $10 a year with additional features like warnings of weak or compromised passwords and 1 gigabyte (GB) of encrypted storage. Bitwarden's family plan offers the same paid features for $40 a year for up to six users. Read more in our Bitwarden review.

Keeper: Tying for second place, Keeper offers typical password management functionality, as well as encrypted file storage up to 100 GB, which is more than some of its competitors provide. Keeper further stands out with extras like data-breach monitoring, dark web monitoring, and encrypted messaging, which come at an extra fee. Keeper's plans range from free to $148.72 a year for a family plan with all the available additional features. Read more in our Keeper review.

LastPass: Also tying for No. 2 is LastPass, which offers a more generous free plan than many of its competitors, with unlimited password storage across unlimited devices for one user. The premium version for $36 a year adds monitoring for data breaches that implicate your email address, a security score rating your passwords, expanded two-factor authentication with USB security keys, dark web monitoring, enhanced customer support, emergency access to your information, and 1 GB of encrypted storage. The $48 a year family version offers the same features as Premium for up to six people. Read more in our LastPass review.

Dashlane: The last company in our three-way tie for No. 2 is Dashlane, which includes a virtual private network (VPN), dark web monitoring, credit monitoring, and identity theft alerts and insurance in higher tiers. The company's free tier doesn't include a VPN kand only supports up to 50 passwords, which is insufficient for many people. Other plans cost between $59.99 and $179.99 a year, which is well above most of the other companies in our comparison. Dashlane is best thought of as a unified security solution if you want the extra features it offers and don't want to pay for separate services. Read more in our Dashlane review.

1Password: Tying for fifth place is 1Password, which offers a single-user option for $35.88 or a family option, which covers up to five users for $59.88 a year. All of the basic features are here, like creating, saving, and auto-filling your logins in browser extensions and mobile apps. There are some extras as well, such as 1 gigabyte (GB) of encrypted storage and warnings about vulnerable passwords. 1Password doesn't offer a free plan. Read more in our 1Password review.

LogMeOnce: Also coming in at No. 5, LogMeOnce uniquely doesn't require a master password. As an alternative, you can use other authentication options like biometric authentication on a mobile device or even taking a selfie on one device and having the password manager send it to the second device where you can verify that they match. LogMeOnce's plans are relatively affordable and include an ad-supported free version, Premium ($2.50 a month or $30 a year), Ultimate ($3.25 a month or $39 a year), and Family ($4.99 a month or $59.88 a year). Read more in our LogMeOnce review.

NordPass: Like other password managers, NordPass has a cloud service that remembers your existing logins; generates new, complex ones; and synchronizes them across devices. The free version supports unlimited passwords, secure notes, and credit cards, but only one device at a time can be logged in. The Premium version ($35.88 a year) adds more features and support for up to six devices at a time. There's also a family plan for $47.88 a year. Read more in our NordPass review. Also see our NordVPN review.

KeePassXC: While this open-source password manager offers typical password management features, it differs from many of its competitors in that it doesn't have its own cloud storage or mobile apps. This means that users must store their encrypted password file on a third-party cloud service like DropBox and install separate cross-platform, open-source smartphone apps created by others. As a result, some might find it more difficult to use. The upside is that KeePassXC is free. Read more in our KeePassXC review.

RoboForm: RoboForm first launched in 2000 as a browser form-filling tool to complete forms on websites. Like most other password managers, it can save, encrypt, and synchronize your passwords across several devices. It also can store credit card numbers, encrypted notes, personal data like addresses and phone numbers, website bookmarks, and contacts. RoboForm comes in free and paid versions ($23.88 a year for one person and $47.75 a year for a family). Read more in our RoboForm review.

Sticky Password: Sticky Password stands out with the option to synchronize passwords over your own Wi-Fi network instead of on a cloud-based server, and a Windows app that can be installed on a USB flash drive to use on a particular computer. Otherwise, Sticky Password is similar to its competition with a limited free version; desktop and mobile apps; browser extensions; and the ability to synchronize saved passwords, secure notes, and credit cards. The program doesn't warn you about possibly stolen passwords or offer encrypted cloud storage. The paid version is $29.99 a year or $199.99 for a lifetime subscription. Read more in our Sticky Password review.

Other Password Managers to Consider

In addition to the password managers in our Best Password Managers of 2021 list, you might want to consider these as well:

McAfee True Key: Earning an honorable mention on our list, McAfee True Key offers some of the basic features of a password manager at a relatively low price ($19.99 a year), including the ability to save and synchronize your existing passwords and generate complex passwords for you. But it doesn't warn you if older passwords are too simple or used more than once, and it doesn't let you share your logins securely or transfer ownership of your account to someone else. It also doesn't offer a family plan. There's a free version, but it has a strict 15-password limit. Read more in our McAfee True Key review.

Zoho Vault: Also earning an honorable mention, Zoho focuses on business and enterprise users, and its password manager, Zoho Vault, is aimed primarily at those customers. However, individuals might want to try the free version of Zoho Vault, which doesn’t restrict the number of passwords you can save or the number of devices to which you sync them like the free versions of many other password managers do. Zoho Vault also gauges the strength of your saved passwords, which even some competitors' paid plans don't do. Read more in our Zoho Vault review.

How to Choose the Best Password Manager

To choose the best password manager:

Once you've answered these questions, read our reviews of the Best Password Managers of 2021 to find the one that best suits your needs. If you're looking for a free password manager, check out our table below.