7 ms·

We use BitWarden and it is free. $620M for a password manager is nuts.

aweiland 5y ago
Same. Works great for my wife and I.
fredley 5y ago
Yup. In fact just today my partner was struggling witha problem with 1Password that she uses at work, asking why it wasn't as simple as BitWarden.
- skinnymuch 5y ago
  That’s likely because they are used to BW first and was learned at home. This sort of ”phenom” happens all the time and is not only about the actual product. There will be exact examples of the opposite happening.
dahart 5y ago
BitWarden is not free if you compare apples to apples, and sign up for the same features including cloud hosting, 2FA, and family or enterprise accounts. $620M isn’t for a password manager, it’s financing for a business with an enormous and growing user base.
- TaXaZ 5y ago
  Bitwarden is free for individuals and couples. So, it's free user-friendly (WAF!!) wise [0] in comparison to 1pass [1]. But much more important thing is the fact that bitwarden is open source and 1pass not. Closed source is deal-breaker for me. [0] https://bitwarden.com/pricing/ https://bitwarden.com/pricing/ [1] https://1password.com/teams/pricing/ https://1password.com/teams/pricing/
  - wutwutwutwut 5y ago
    Bitwarden free edition is free. The free edition is crippled and doesn't support Yubikey among other things.
    - toyg 5y ago
      "Crippled" is a big word. It does everything that KeePass would do, for example; it only falls short when it comes to sharing passwords among a group or family (you can send a secret via BW Send, but you cannot have a shared store unless you pay for Premium). Yubikey and its likes are advanced features that the overwhelming majority of regular users will never need.
      - wutwutwutwut 5y ago
        It is? I thouht it was the proper word to use to describe software which has limited features in free version so they can sell commercial licenses.
        borski 5y ago
        “Limited” is better. “Crippled” has a negative connotation when it comes to software.
        wutwutwutwut 5y ago
        Then crippled seems like the perfect word.
        toyg 5y ago
        "Crippled" implies a degree of everyday suffering in the "cripple", or a downgrade from a previous state of health. The advanced features in Bitwarden were never free, in fact I think some of them were eventually added to free plans too. I honestly don't even want stuff like yubikey support, and could see that as feature bloat! I don't expect everything to be free, I'm perfectly fine with the freemium model when the set of free features is reasonable - as, in my humble opinion, is the case with Bitwarden. So I wouldn't use a word like "crippled" when it's more like "normal for regular users vs enhanced for advanced needs".
  - mbesto 5y ago
    For something as important as protecting passwords, why on earth would you want something that is free?
    - sebastien_b 5y ago
      Because much like privacy, password security shouldn't always be only a premium option. Plus like the parent said, proprietary code is a deal break for lots of people.
      - mbesto 5y ago
        > Because much like privacy, password security shouldn't always be only a premium option. So then who foots the bill? Password managers are the duct tape used to protect a user because we don't inherently trust application providers. > proprietary code is a deal break for lots of people Sort of. First, "lots of people" seems like "lots of people" because we're on HN. The wider population doesn't care whether your application is proprietary or not - they just want something that works. Apple's wall garden is proof of this. Second, you can still charge for a product and it be open source. An application being open source simply provides an audit log of the code and allows for "wisdom of the crowd" when it comes to bug and security issues. So yes I agree that having a password manager be openly auditable is a great feature, but I (and many others) likely would rather have the features of strong UX and known tenure (OSS tools get abandoned all of the time) then we would having an auditable source code.
        commoner 5y ago
        Bitwarden does charge for certain features like TOTP support, organizations, and enterprise features. They manage to have subscription income while remaining open source, whereas 1Password chooses to keep its code closed source. If you are saying that Bitwarden is worse because it offers a free plan, I disagree. It's nice that Bitwarden offers a security-audited* password manager to those who can't afford a subscription, who aren't ready to pay for one, or who don't have the means to make payments online. Unlike 1Password, Bitwarden is not pressured to deliver high returns to venture capital firms, and Bitwarden can focus on providing its product to its users at superior price points. * https://bitwarden.com/help/article/is-bitwarden-audited/#third-party-security-audits https://bitwarden.com/help/article/is-bitwarden-audited/#thi...
decrypt 5y ago
I like Bitwarden too, but can't dismiss the fact that 1Password is superior to Bitwarden in many ways: - Mobile UI is beautiful on 1Password. - The UX from creating a password entry to auto-filling is easily better on 1Password. Bitwarden doesn't show autofill entries on login forms yet. That's a deal breaker, at least for me. - Account recovery via a trusted family member. - Additional security measure: private key in addition to master password. Personally, the 35 USD fee is justified.
- arrosenberg 5y ago
  > Bitwarden doesn't show autofill entries on login forms yet. That's a deal breaker, at least for me. I was able to enable that in the settings, but I've found it very hit or miss compared to when I used LastPass.
  - decrypt 5y ago
    I meant the overlay popup interface which is still in the works: https://community.bitwarden.com/t/overlay-popup-interface/14 https://community.bitwarden.com/t/overlay-popup-interface/14
- josephd79 5y ago
  Bitwarden has all those features you listed. I use it every day. You can setup a trusted family member. You get a master password and private key incase you can't access 2fa. You can setup autofill entries. UI/UX are opinions. You pay $40 dollars a year for Family, $10 a year for an individual. Cheaper than 1password.
  - peterangular 5y ago
    Hopping aboard to add that Bitwarden does in fact have all of those features. It's disingenuous of parent comment to imply/claim otherwise. Sure the UI/UX is a bit basic... but honestly most of us should prefer that.
  - decrypt 5y ago
    I meant the overlay popup interface by autofill on login forms: https://community.bitwarden.com/t/overlay-popup-interface/14 https://community.bitwarden.com/t/overlay-popup-interface/14 Noted about trusted family members on Bitwarden. I don't understand the private key part for Bitwarden. I am referring to the one here: https://support.1password.com/secret-key-security/ https://support.1password.com/secret-key-security/ Is there an equivalent for Bitwarden?
amir734jj 5y ago
Agreed. It's beyond nuts evaluation at this point.
qwertyuiop_ 5y ago
All that Fed money supply has to go somewhere. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL
ValentineC 5y ago
I'm looking forward to Bitwarden implementing multiple account logins ("client profiles") [1] on their roadmap [2], before doing a gradual switch away from 1Password. Any time now! [1] https://community.bitwarden.com/t/account-switching-log-in-with-multiple-bitwarden-user-accounts-client-profiles/716/1 https://community.bitwarden.com/t/account-switching-log-in-w... [2] https://community.bitwarden.com/t/bitwarden-roadmap/12865 https://community.bitwarden.com/t/bitwarden-roadmap/12865

Same. Works great for my wife and I.

Yup. In fact just today my partner was struggling witha problem with 1Password that she uses at work, asking why it wasn't as simple as BitWarden.

skinnymuch 5y ago
That’s likely because they are used to BW first and was learned at home. This sort of ”phenom” happens all the time and is not only about the actual product. There will be exact examples of the opposite happening.

dahart 5y ago

BitWarden is not free if you compare apples to apples, and sign up for the same features including cloud hosting, 2FA, and family or enterprise accounts. $620M isn’t for a password manager, it’s financing for a business with an enormous and growing user base.

TaXaZ 5y ago
Bitwarden is free for individuals and couples. So, it's free user-friendly (WAF!!) wise [0] in comparison to 1pass [1]. But much more important thing is the fact that bitwarden is open source and 1pass not. Closed source is deal-breaker for me. [0] https://bitwarden.com/pricing/ https://bitwarden.com/pricing/ [1] https://1password.com/teams/pricing/ https://1password.com/teams/pricing/
- wutwutwutwut 5y ago
  Bitwarden free edition is free. The free edition is crippled and doesn't support Yubikey among other things.
  - toyg 5y ago
    "Crippled" is a big word. It does everything that KeePass would do, for example; it only falls short when it comes to sharing passwords among a group or family (you can send a secret via BW Send, but you cannot have a shared store unless you pay for Premium). Yubikey and its likes are advanced features that the overwhelming majority of regular users will never need.
    - wutwutwutwut 5y ago
      It is? I thouht it was the proper word to use to describe software which has limited features in free version so they can sell commercial licenses.
      - borski 5y ago
        “Limited” is better. “Crippled” has a negative connotation when it comes to software.
        wutwutwutwut 5y ago
        Then crippled seems like the perfect word.
        toyg 5y ago
        "Crippled" implies a degree of everyday suffering in the "cripple", or a downgrade from a previous state of health. The advanced features in Bitwarden were never free, in fact I think some of them were eventually added to free plans too. I honestly don't even want stuff like yubikey support, and could see that as feature bloat! I don't expect everything to be free, I'm perfectly fine with the freemium model when the set of free features is reasonable - as, in my humble opinion, is the case with Bitwarden. So I wouldn't use a word like "crippled" when it's more like "normal for regular users vs enhanced for advanced needs".
- mbesto 5y ago
  For something as important as protecting passwords, why on earth would you want something that is free?
  - sebastien_b 5y ago
    Because much like privacy, password security shouldn't always be only a premium option. Plus like the parent said, proprietary code is a deal break for lots of people.
    - mbesto 5y ago
      > Because much like privacy, password security shouldn't always be only a premium option. So then who foots the bill? Password managers are the duct tape used to protect a user because we don't inherently trust application providers. > proprietary code is a deal break for lots of people Sort of. First, "lots of people" seems like "lots of people" because we're on HN. The wider population doesn't care whether your application is proprietary or not - they just want something that works. Apple's wall garden is proof of this. Second, you can still charge for a product and it be open source. An application being open source simply provides an audit log of the code and allows for "wisdom of the crowd" when it comes to bug and security issues. So yes I agree that having a password manager be openly auditable is a great feature, but I (and many others) likely would rather have the features of strong UX and known tenure (OSS tools get abandoned all of the time) then we would having an auditable source code.
      - commoner 5y ago
        Bitwarden does charge for certain features like TOTP support, organizations, and enterprise features. They manage to have subscription income while remaining open source, whereas 1Password chooses to keep its code closed source. If you are saying that Bitwarden is worse because it offers a free plan, I disagree. It's nice that Bitwarden offers a security-audited* password manager to those who can't afford a subscription, who aren't ready to pay for one, or who don't have the means to make payments online. Unlike 1Password, Bitwarden is not pressured to deliver high returns to venture capital firms, and Bitwarden can focus on providing its product to its users at superior price points. * https://bitwarden.com/help/article/is-bitwarden-audited/#third-party-security-audits https://bitwarden.com/help/article/is-bitwarden-audited/#thi...

decrypt 5y ago

I like Bitwarden too, but can't dismiss the fact that 1Password is superior to Bitwarden in many ways: - Mobile UI is beautiful on 1Password. - The UX from creating a password entry to auto-filling is easily better on 1Password. Bitwarden doesn't show autofill entries on login forms yet. That's a deal breaker, at least for me. - Account recovery via a trusted family member. - Additional security measure: private key in addition to master password. Personally, the 35 USD fee is justified.

arrosenberg 5y ago
> Bitwarden doesn't show autofill entries on login forms yet. That's a deal breaker, at least for me. I was able to enable that in the settings, but I've found it very hit or miss compared to when I used LastPass.
- decrypt 5y ago
  I meant the overlay popup interface which is still in the works: https://community.bitwarden.com/t/overlay-popup-interface/14 https://community.bitwarden.com/t/overlay-popup-interface/14
josephd79 5y ago
Bitwarden has all those features you listed. I use it every day. You can setup a trusted family member. You get a master password and private key incase you can't access 2fa. You can setup autofill entries. UI/UX are opinions. You pay $40 dollars a year for Family, $10 a year for an individual. Cheaper than 1password.
- peterangular 5y ago
  Hopping aboard to add that Bitwarden does in fact have all of those features. It's disingenuous of parent comment to imply/claim otherwise. Sure the UI/UX is a bit basic... but honestly most of us should prefer that.
- decrypt 5y ago
  I meant the overlay popup interface by autofill on login forms: https://community.bitwarden.com/t/overlay-popup-interface/14 https://community.bitwarden.com/t/overlay-popup-interface/14 Noted about trusted family members on Bitwarden. I don't understand the private key part for Bitwarden. I am referring to the one here: https://support.1password.com/secret-key-security/ https://support.1password.com/secret-key-security/ Is there an equivalent for Bitwarden?

amir734jj 5y ago

Agreed. It's beyond nuts evaluation at this point.

qwertyuiop_ 5y ago

All that Fed money supply has to go somewhere. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M1SL

ValentineC 5y ago

I'm looking forward to Bitwarden implementing multiple account logins ("client profiles") [1] on their roadmap [2], before doing a gradual switch away from 1Password. Any time now! [1] https://community.bitwarden.com/t/account-switching-log-in-with-multiple-bitwarden-user-accounts-client-profiles/716/1 https://community.bitwarden.com/t/account-switching-log-in-w... [2] https://community.bitwarden.com/t/bitwarden-roadmap/12865 https://community.bitwarden.com/t/bitwarden-roadmap/12865