1Password and SplashID Safe combine the security benefits of offline vault storage with the convenience of full synchronization through an online service. Two products offer a middle path that may appeal to some users. In a nutshell, go with LastPass for maximum ease and features at the lowest price go with Dashlane for maximum password security. But Dashlane takes password security a few steps further, most notably by limiting its web app to a read-only version of your password vault, and only decrypting your data within your local browser session, not on the server. Plus, a LastPass Premium account costs all of $1 per month, making it an extremely compelling option. Among the cloud options, I’m split: I like LastPass for its low cost and its consistent implementation of features across all of the clients, but I prefer Dashlane’s approach to securing passwords.Įach LastPass client I tested was easy to work with, stable, and remarkably uniform from a usability perspective. KeePass is free open source, and with the right combination of plug-ins, it can be made to do almost anything you could require of a password manager. In my judgment, KeePass is the best of the options using local storage. If you trust cloud-based services with your passwords and you believe they will protect your data using good security practices and encryption, then Dashlane and LastPass are the top choices. If having your critical data stored in a cloud service worries you, then KeePass, 1Password, and SplashID Safe (sans SplashID’s cloud service) are the best options. Deciding which password manager is best for you will come down to features and ease of use, as well as to whether you’re comfortable using a cloud-based password manager that stores your passwords on the Internet. Some of the options using local storage (such as KeePass and 1Password) still support synchronization through Dropbox or other storage services. Some password managers store your credentials locally, while others rely on cloud services for storage and synchronization, and still others take a hybrid approach. In some cases, usernames and passwords must be copied from the password manager into the browser, reducing the ease of use but increasing the level of security by requiring entry of the master password before accessing stored login information. Further, using these stored credentials is typically automated using a browser plug-in, which recognizes the website’s username and password fields, then populates these fields with the appropriate login information.Īlthough several browsers offer similar functionality out of the box, password managers typically offer several benefits over the built-in browser functionality-including encryption, cross-platform and cross-browser synchronization, mobile device support, secure sharing of credentials, and support for multifactor authentication. Other options for populating your password database include importing an Excel spreadsheet or manually entering your login information.
Many password managers allow you to automatically populate your password vault by capturing your web logins using a browser plug-in and allowing you to store these credentials. These strong passwords help shield against traditional password attacks such as dictionary, rainbow tables, or brute-force attacks.
A password manager will generate a unique strong password for every account and application, without requiring you to memorize or write down these random strings of characters. It’s one of the easiest too.Ī password manager is an excellent first step in securing your online identity, helping you increase the strength of the passwords that protect your online accounts because it will remember those passwords for you.
One of the smarter moves we can make to protect ourselves is to use a password manager. Thanks to the continuous barrage of high-profile computer security scares and reports of cloud-scale government snooping, more of us Internet users are wising up about the security of our information.
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