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In any organization, employees must keep their business-related passwords and sensitive information secure. That means not reusing passwords, creating unique and strong credentials, and keeping all that information somewhere safe. And “safe” means somewhere more secure than a Post-It note. Thankfully, a lot of well-known security companies offer business-focused password managers.
A business-grade password manager allows everyone in an organization to spend less time trying to remember strong, unique passwords for all their accounts. The password manager stores credentials for each person and helps them generate new, random passwords. The best password managers for businesses also let administrators keep an eye on employees’ password hygiene. That is to say, you can see which employees have weak or reused passwords, and who’s not using multi-factor authentication to secure their accounts, which allows you to prompt them to improve their security.
All the password managers mentioned in this article cost money, which is expected of a product made with businesses in mind. If you have a very small business and don’t want to spend any money, we’ve rounded up the best free password managers in a different article. In that same vein, if you’re looking for an all-around good value password manager for yourself or your family, check out our roundup of the best password managers.
PCMag has tested and analyzed plenty of password managers so you can pick the one that’s right for your business, starting with our top choices below, followed by everything you should keep in mind while picking the one that’s right for your needs. If you try one and later realize it doesn’t work for your organization, don’t worry, as most services make switching password managers easy.
Keeper Password Manager & Digital Vault
Best for Business Security Auditing
Why We Picked It
Keeper makes tedious record keeping easy. Business accounts can create detailed compliance reports by clicking the Compliance button on the dashboard. These records show which employees are using the password manager, and how well they are maintaining safe password hygiene.
Who It’s For
Keeper is ideal for business owners who want to keep tabs on their workers’ password hygiene habits. Keeper for Business generates custom reports that show logins, usage statistics, password resets, BreachWatch activities, and other security-related data.
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
Bitwarden
Best for Budget-Conscious Businesses
Why We Picked It
The open-source Bitwarden’s business tier offers security and storage tools at an extremely low price for the category.
Who It’s For
Administrators looking for a low-cost but secure option for keeping employee credentials private should consider Bitwarden. The service also supports SSO and multi-factor authentication methods.
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
LastPass
Best for Real-Time Reports
Why We Picked It
LastPass’ reporting dashboard is the most comprehensive real-time breakdown of employee interaction with the password software we’ve seen from a password management company. Only Dashlane comes close with its reporting dashboard for administrators, but it doesn’t hold the wealth of information about the company LastPass offers.
Who It’s For
LastPass’ intuitive apps, secure sharing, dark web monitoring, support for multi-factor authentication, and a strong commitment to security should appeal to both new and veteran password manager users.
PROS
- Supports passwordless vault login
- Comprehensive password strength report
- Offers dark web monitoring tools
- Secure password inheritance
CONS
- Limited free plan
- Few import options
- Does not support U2F
NordPass
Best for Multi-Factor Authentication
Why We Picked It
A new feature for business accounts is a mandatory multi-factor authentication (MFA) option for business account administrators. If the head of an organization chooses this option for their employees and team members, it requires everyone to verify their identity via an authenticator app. Organizations can opt out of the MFA requirement.
Who It’s For
This service is for companies that are serious about password security. With a NordPass business account, administrators can set a password policy for employees to ensure that all passwords are long, strong, and unique.
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
1Password
Best for Password Sharing
Why We Picked It
1Password’s business tools make sharing credentials securely between team members a priority. Each employee has access to a vault, and they can share individual passwords with other employees or outsiders using a private link.
Who It’s For
Companies that require their employees to share their credentials with each other on a regular basis will appreciate that users can control access to the shared login information by setting the expiration to one view, one hour, one day, seven days, 14 days, or 30 days.
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
RoboForm Everywhere
Best for Generating Employee Reports
Why We Picked It
The password report for RoboForm is easy to read, devoid of the graphs and images found in LastPass’ administrator panel. An admin can quickly note which employees have a high security score, and which employees need some help with their password security.
Who It’s For
Employers who want to keep an eye on their employees’ password hygiene while also providing the company with an option for low-cost password management may want to consider RoboForm.
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 Businesses in 2022
What Is the Best Password Manager for Business?
Signing up for a business password manager is similar to signing up for a personal or family account. You need to create a master password for your account, which is used to encrypt the contents of your business’ password vault. LastPass allows users to access their desktop vaults with passwordless methods such as a code from an authenticator app or biometric data, which is more secure than using a password.
After creating the vault, you send out invitations to your employees, asking them to make their accounts. Some business password managers include free family plans for employees to encourage proper password hygiene at home. After your employees are in the system, ask them to enable multi-factor authentication for their accounts.
Multi-factor authentication can be biometric, SMS-based, or with time-based one-time passwords generated by an authenticator app. Many business password managers support authentication via hardware security keys, too.
Simple Tricks to Remember Insanely Secure Passwords
How to Manage Credentials
Once you or an employee has a password manager installed and set up, the password manager does much of its job automatically. When you log into a secure site, your password manager offers to save your credentials, so it can fill in the information when you return to the site later. Many password managers offer a browser extension that saves a list of your logins so you can click on a web address and log in automatically.
Most password managers can also fill in personal or company data on web forms, which is more secure and less prone to errors than typing in information manually. You can edit and store sensitive company information in the password manager’s encrypted vault. Storing payment and identity details in your company’s vault is more secure than saving them to your browser.
People come and go from workplaces, and sometimes the partings are less than amicable. What happens when an employee refuses to relinquish logins when they leave? Having one person holding all the keys to the castle is a recipe for disaster.
Some password managers for business clients have a feature allowing managers to take control of employees’ credentials located in their work vaults. This makes it easier for administrators to transfer logins to new hires and maintain a secure digital workplace. Dashlane and Zoho Vault both have this feature.
Password Managers: Enterprise-Focused Features
Sharing is an important function for business-related password managers. We don’t recommend sharing passwords, but if you must do it, a password manager is your safest option. Employees often need to share company information and notes with other employees and administrators. Some password managers let you share a login without making the password visible and let you revoke the shared details once the other person has used them or make the recipient the owner of the credential.
What Is Two-Factor Authentication?
Many password managers offer single sign-on or integrations with business software such as Zoom or Google Workspace. These integrations add another layer of convenience and security for your business as employees don’t have to enter passwords whenever they need to use various work-related applications.
What’s Missing From Your Company’s Security Setup?
A password manager isn’t the only thing you need to use to secure your company’s secrets. We already mentioned the importance of multi-factor authentication. A virtual private network can protect your employees’ privacy while they work from home or the office. You should also consider installing a security suite, many of which also include password managers. It’s also important to make sure that all your security software works.
Finally, note that above all else, a password manager should be easy to use. Employees baffled by a password manager may stop using it and return to less secure ways of storing and sharing passwords, or worse, using the same passwords everywhere.
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