The Best Password Managers for 2023

Editors’ Note: Because of the still-unfolding story of LastPass’ recent breach, we have decided to pull it from this roundup. After we have reexamined and rerated the service we’ll consider adding it back.

Nearly every website you visit, from dating apps to hyper-secure banking sites, insists you create a user account and think up a password. The problem? Human memory can’t keep up with dozens upon dozens of passwords. Some people get the bright idea of using the simplest possible password, like “123456789” or “password.” Others memorize one superbly random password and use it for everything. Either strategy is likely to make you the latest victim of identity theft.

Password managers keep you safe and they’re also highly convenient. With a password manager, you don’t have to remember strong, unique passwords for all your accounts. The password manager stores them for you, helps you generate new, random ones, and can even help you pass on your passwords to your loved ones after you die.

All the best password managers mentioned in this article cost money, though you can use some of them for free if you accept certain limitations. If you don’t want to spend money and don’t want limitations, don’t worry. We’ve rounded up the best free password managers in a separate article.

We’ve tested and analyzed dozens of password managers so you can pick the one that best fits your needs. Not happy with your initial choice? Don’t worry. Most services allow you to export your saved data or import it from other products, easing the process of switching password managers.

Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks

Keeper Password Manager & Digital Vault

Best for Secure Cross-Platform Password Management

Why We Picked It

Keeper Password Manager & Digital Vault delivers an excellent experience across a ton of platforms and browsers. It also offers top-notch features such as robust multi-factor authentication support, the Keeper One-Time Share feature, useful auditing tools, and full password histories.

Who It’s For

Everyone, especially users who have large families. The Keeper Family package is a great value, as it includes five Keeper Unlimited Vaults.

PROS

• Well-designed apps and browsers extensions with cross-platform syncing
• Multi-factor authentication
• Secure password sharing and inheritance
• Optional secure file storage and messaging
• Retains a full history of passwords and files
• Offers a wide variety of record type templates

Zoho Vault

Best for Sharing Features

Why We Picked It

Zoho Vault helps you at home and work as it includes collaboration features, syncs across all devices, has browser extensions, imports passwords from browsers, and handles multipage logins easily.

Who It’s For

Budget-conscious users. Zoho Vault offers a generous free plan with no limits on device-syncing or password storage. Most other password managers put tighter restrictions on their free accounts, limiting the number of passwords one can store in the vault or how many devices can sync at one time.

PROS

• Syncs across Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices
• Supports multi-factor authentication
• Accessible across all browsers on any platform
• Handles multipage logins
• Imports passwords from browsers
• Substantial free plan

CONS

• Lacks web form filling 
• Unintuitive mini password generator

Bitwarden

Best for Open-Source Password Management

Why We Picked It

Bitwarden’s free tier does not limit the number of passwords you can store or prevent you from syncing your vault across devices, which many other free password managers do. The Premium tier is also inexpensive and includes excellent features, such as an actionable password health report, emergency access options, the ability to generate TOTP codes, and support for enhanced multi-factor authentication methods. 

Who It’s For

First-time password manager users. Give password management a try by downloading Bitwarden’s free version of the password manager, and upgrade to the paid version after learning how to use it.

PROS

• Offers apps for all popular platforms and browsers
• Free tier and inexpensive paid plan
• Supports multi-factor authentication
• Send sharing feature is effective
• Open-source

CONS

• Some struggles with automatic capture and autofilling in testing
• Multi-factor authentication via hardware keys limited to paid users
• Premium users only get 1GB encrypted storage by default

1Password

Best for Password Organization

Why We Picked It

1Password offers apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. It also has one of the best password organization systems, and it supports multi-factor authentication. 

Who It’s For

Most people will like 1Password because it is easy to use and offers plenty of security, but it does have its downsides. 1Password lacks a true password inheritance feature and has lackluster import options.

PROS

• Watchtower, a password monitoring feature, is now available for mobile users
• Slick and attractive mobile apps
• Intuitive password organization
• Supports multi-factor authentication

CONS

• Form filling is clunky and unreliable
• Limited import options
• Lacks password inheritance feature

LogMeOnce Password Management Suite Ultimate

Best for Abundant Features

Why We Picked It

LogMeOnce has a totally free version, with no limit on the number of saved passwords or on the number of devices you use. The paid version is feature-rich, and there are many options for authentication.

Who It’s For

People who hate passwords. LogMeOnce began offering a passwordless login feature years ago, long before many competitors began added the security feature to their products.

PROS

• Syncs across Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.
• New, streamlined interface.
• Vast number of features, many of them unique and patented.

CONS

• Some features cost extra.
• All-features installation quite expensive.
• Vast number of features may overwhelm users.

NordPass

Best for Business Account Administrators

Why We Picked It

NordPass, from the team behind NordVPN, is a streamlined, easy-to-use service for securely accessing your passwords via desktop and mobile apps or on the web. It has added some notable features over time, including a Data Breach Scanner, password health report, web vault, and a password inheritance option.

Who It’s For

Business account users. NordPass for Business focuses on password hygiene with various tools to help administrators see which employees have weak, reused, or old passwords in their vaults.

PROS

• Supports secure credential sharing
• Supports multi-factor authentication via app and security key
• Mandatory multi-factor authentication option for business accounts
• Data breach scanner and actionable password health report
• Audited

CONS

• Pricier than competition
• Free version cannot be used on multiple devices simultaneously

RoboForm Everywhere

Best for Form-Filling Capabilities

Why We Picked It

RoboForm Everywhere has strong form-filling abilities and capable password management. In an age when many competing products are updating user interfaces and working on ease of use, RoboForm’s new web vault is a welcome addition to an already-excellent product. 

Who It’s For

Current RoboForm users. If you are already familiar with the password manager’s file system, using the current version will be easy. RoboForm is a highly capable password manager, though its menu system is not as slick or intuitive as the competition.

PROS

• Comprehensive web form filling
• Manages application passwords
• Updated and modern web vault appearance
• Syncs across many device types and browsers
• Generates strong and unique passwords by default

CONS

• Limited importing from competing products
• Desktop user interface can be confusing
• Does not support hardware security keys

Buying Guide: The Best Password Managers for 2023

The Best Password Protection

When you sign up for a password manager, one of the first things you need to do is create a master password for your account. Your master password is used to encrypt the contents of your password vault, so you should make it difficult for anyone else to guess it. However, it can’t be so random you can’t remember it. Your master password is likely unrecoverable if you do. Read our tips on creating secure, complicated passwords for guidance.

What Is a Password Manager, and Why Do I Need One?

Some password managers, such as LastPass, eliminate the need for a master password by offering a passwordless entry to your desktop vault. This technology is still being developed. A LastPass representative tells us the company will support next-gen FIDO2 passwordless biometric face and fingerprint authentication on the desktop later this year. Biometric logins are already supported on the LastPass app.

As an additional precaution, you should set up multi-factor authentication to secure your password manager account, be it biometric, SMS-based, or via time-based one-time passwords (TOTPs) stored in an authenticator app. The best password managers support authentication via U2F or OTP-based hardware security keys, most of which are about the size of an actual key and made to go on your key ring.

Before you commit to any password manager, you need to make sure it works on each device you use and doesn’t prevent you from syncing your passwords across all your devices. Although support for Windows and macOS platforms is a given, several password managers now offer native Linux apps, too. The best password managers have browser extensions for every popular browser that can operate independently of a desktop app.

How Do Password Managers Work?

Most people use a password manager primarily to manage website credentials. In practice, when you log in to a secure site, the password manager offers to save your credentials. When you return to that site, it offers to fill in those credentials. If you’ve saved multiple logins for the same site, the password manager lists all those options. Most password managers also offer a browser toolbar menu of saved logins, so you can go straight to a saved site and log in automatically.

Some products detect when you change your password to an account and offer to update the existing password on file to the new one. Some record your credentials when you create a new account for a secure website. For maximum convenience, you should avoid password managers that don’t automatically capture passwords.

Entering all your existing passwords into a password manager is a good first step. Next, you must identify weak and duplicate passwords and replace them with tough ones. Password managers can flag these bad passwords and help you improve them. A PCMag survey found that 70% of respondents reuse passwords for their accounts. Clearly, then, removing reused passwords is one of the biggest ways a password manager can improve your security. Some password managers even check whether you have set up multi-factor authentication for those services in your vault that support it and whether your personal information appears in any data breaches.

When you create a new secure account or update a weak password, don’t strain your brain trying to develop something strong and unique. Let your password manager take care of it. You don’t have to remember it, after all. Ensure your generated passwords are at least 20 characters long and include all the major character types: uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols.

It’s Surprisingly Easy to Be More Secure Online

What Are Important Password Manager Features?

Most password managers can fill in personal data on web forms, such as first and last name, email address, phone number, bank cards, passport numbers, etc. Some password managers also show you realistic images of credit cards with the correct color and bank logo of your physical card to make it easy to pick the payment option you want when shopping online. Many password managers also can capture and fill in credentials for desktop applications.

Most password managers include a built-in mechanism for securely sharing passwords with other users, but some go further with advanced permissions. For instance, a few password managers allow you to share a login without making the password visible, revoke sharing, or make the recipient an owner of the item.

On a grimmer note, what happens to your secure accounts after you die? Many products include some provision for a digital legacy, a method to transfer your logins to a trusted individual in the event of your death or incapacity.

Some password management companies also offer versions of their products for businesses and teams. These products usually emphasize multi-factor authentication and offer single sign-on, as well as advanced credential-sharing capabilities between team members. The best password managers let administrators see which employees use weak, reused, or compromised passwords for their work accounts.

What Are the Most Secure Password Managers?

Logging in with your secure username and password to a website that doesn’t use a secure HTTPS connection is a big no-no. Some password managers warn you about insecure login pages. Even when you use HTTPS, sniffers and snoops can still learn some things about your activity, such as the simple fact you’re logging in to the secure site and the IP address from which you’re connecting. Running your secure connections through a virtual private network, or VPN, adds a layer of protection. Dashlane includes a simple built-in VPN. RememBear and NordPass, respectively, come from the same companies behind Editors’ Choice VPNs, TunnelBear VPN, and NordVPN. 

Simple Tricks to Remember Insanely Secure Passwords

Secure storage is an increasingly common feature among password managers, too. The storage allocation won’t replace the need for dedicated cloud storage and syncing service, but in many cases, it’s enough for storing important documents in an encrypted state.

Although a password manager needs to offer advanced features, it should remain easy to use and avoid needless complexity. Users who get annoyed or baffled by a password manager may abandon it and go back to using sticky notes to store and share passwords or, worse, apply the same password everywhere. Note: If you get fed up with your current tool, we have a guide for switching to a new password manager.

What’s Not Here

As mentioned earlier, you also won’t find any only-free password managers here. Those products are in a separate roundup. The password managers that offer excellent paid and free tiers appear in both roundups.

A password manager isn’t the only thing you need to secure your digital life. We already mentioned the importance of VPN and multi-factor authentication, but you should also use a security suite. It never hurts to verify all your security software works, either.

What Is the Best Password Manager for 2022?

Our Editors’ Choice winners for the category are Dashlane, Keeper Password Manager & Digital Vault, and Zoho Vault. Slick and polished Dashlane boasts a ton of features. Keeper offers advanced capabilities, a sleek and elegant user interface, and support for every popular platform and browser. Zoho Vault has a robust free tier that syncs across all platforms and a litany of enterprise features for teams and businesses. You won’t go wrong choosing any one of these services. Products here that do not earn an Editors’ Choice award still have their merits, however, and you may even prefer one of them.