There are excellent password managers that keep all of your passwords used on the Internet in one place, so you don’t have to memorize them anymore. Here is our selection of the best free or paid applications.
The 4 Best Free and Paid Password Managers
The first security tip you can give on the Internet is to have a strong password for each of your online accounts, different from the others. The second is obviously to avoid keeping this list of passwords on a post-it on your screen or in a document stored in the cloud . The most effective and secure solution is therefore to go through a password manager that will create long and complex passwords and make them accessible from all your devices.
Here is our selection of the best password managers, whether free or paid.
FREE PASSWORD MANAGERS
Good password manager does not necessarily rhyme with paid application, far from it.
The service offers an app on most platforms and browsers and easily syncs anywhere. Bitwarden offers end-to-end data encryption, which means only you will know the content of the stored data. Better still, it is even possible to host the Bitwarden safe yourself on your own server, to be able to guarantee data security yourself. Do not hesitate to consult our article dedicated to this manager .
Here, no synchronization offered, it is purely a software creating a secure vault file on the PC. To synchronize it with mobile devices, it will be necessary to place this file on a storage service in the cloud (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.).
It is also necessary to find compatible software or applications for each platform, such as KeePass2Android for Android or KeePass Touch on iOS . On PC it is better to use KeePassXC , with extensions for Chrome and Firefox .
PAID PASSWORD MANAGERS
This is the case with 1Password and Dashlane , which are often recommended for their ease of use and the clarity of their interface. The difference with free services is also in the services provided .
1 PASSWORD
Previously exclusive to Apple products, 1Password has therefore inherited the ease of use of the Apple ecosystem to integrate it into its Android application. The app addresses some issues in a way that others can’t quite beat. If an app doesn’t support Android’s password manager, 1Password has a keyboard that automatically fills in the password.
The app and service are available for $36 per year, for compatibility between your macOS, iOS, Windows, Android, Linux, and Chrome OS devices.
“Killing passwords” was Dashlane’s declared ambition in 2018 when it announced its Project Mirror. The application is very complete and wants to position itself as the market leader. Many features are available such as a web browser dedicated to the application or a VPN service .
The application is available for free on an Android device for up to 50 passwords and at 39.99 euros per year for unlimited passwords and compatibility between your Android, Windows, macOS, Linux and iOS devices. Warning: if you stop your subscription, you will have to get your hands on the wallet again to access the list of your passwords.
WHY USE A PASSWORD MANAGER
When we talk about security on the Internet, the most recurrent subject is undoubtedly that of passwords.
To guarantee the best possible security, you have to choose different passwords from service to service, but also complex passwords. Following these two recommendations can be a headache, which is where the password manager comes in.
To go further
The latter saves all your identifiers and passwords in a secure safe, so there is only one password to remember: that of the safe (you must therefore create a good locking). This type of solution is increasingly popular, for its ease of use on a daily basis.
Managers most often allow you to automatically complete the connection fields, which saves time and is not insignificant in convenience. On smartphones, they now make it possible to replace entering the safe password with biometric identification (fingerprint reader or facial recognition). Security requires, care must be taken to select the right password manager.
You may have noticed that one of the most popular names on the market is not mentioned here. LastPass lost some of its features in March 2021 , which makes it less attractive than the password managers featured here. That’s why we’ve opted for a selection of alternatives to LastPass. The service nevertheless remains effective for the need it meets.
