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The Best Password Managers

In a previous article we talked a lot about passwords - how to create strong passwords, how to recover lost passwords, and why you should use a password manager. In today’s post, we’re going to elaborate on that last point a little bit by giving you a rundown of some of the best password management options out there.

Browsers

Before we get into popular third party password management options, it’s worth taking a moment to talk about some of the password management options that are built into software you’re already using. The major web browsers all have built-in password managers that work with both their desktop and mobile versions. If you have Google Chrome remember a password on your laptop, then it will also be available when you use the mobile version of Chrome on your phone or tablet. The same goes for Apple’s iCloud Keychain service (which also lets you auto-fill passwords on some iOS apps), for Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft’s Edge browser.

Unfortunately, there are a few drawbacks to relying on these built-in tools for password management. For one thing, they’re a little bare-bones, lacking some of the nicer features of the third party software we’ll be talking about in a moment. For another, they’re platform-limited. If you’re using Chrome or Firefox on your computer and want access to a password stored in your iCloud Keychain, you’re going to have to go through a multistep process to access it, whereas the options we’ll talk about next are cross-platform, giving you access to your passwords almost anywhere.

Dashlane

If you Google “best password manager,” you’ll see a whole bunch of lists with a whole bunch of different opinions about what the best password managers are. Surprisingly, there isn’t always as much overlap between one list and another as you might expect. There are a couple password managers, though, that will show up on pretty much every list you’ll find. Dashlane is one of them. Dashlane offers a remarkably full-featured free option that includes a password generator, security alerts, and unlimited password storage. It also stores all your passwords locally, meaning that you’ll always have your passwords on-hand. The main drawback of the free version is that you’re limited to one device, so if you want to have Dashlane on both your phone and your computer, you’ll have to spring for the premium upgrade. The good news is that at $40 per year, the premium version is pretty reasonably priced.

LastPass

Remember how we said that Dashlane was one of only a couple password managers that show up in pretty much every list? LastPass is the other one. Like Dashlane, it offers a full-featured free version and a more robust paid version. Like Dashlane, the free version of LastPass includes password generation, unlimited storage, the ability to import passwords from browsers, and more. Unlike Dashlane, the free version of LastPass allows access across multiple devices. The premium version of LastPass includes a few more bells and whistles, including an ad-free user experience, a gigabyte of file storage, and the ability to share your passwords with other users, and at $24 a year, it’s significantly cheaper than Dashlane.

The biggest difference between the two is that while Dashlane has a desktop app and stores all your passwords both locally and in cloud servers, LastPass is entirely cloud-based and browser-based. While there are standalone apps for iOS and Android, you’ll use LastPass on your computer by means of a browser extension. LastPass also only stores your passwords on its cloud servers, so if you like the security of having your passwords stored locally, LastPass might not be for you.

Keeper

Keeper is another of the best options out there. In terms of features, it bears a lot of resemblance to LastPass and Dashlane - it generates passwords, imports from browsers and other password managers, autofills websites, and more. One feature it lacks is automatic password changing. While both LastPass and Dashlane offer the ability to change website passwords from within their service (saving you the trouble of logging in to change a password), Keeper doesn’t. While that won’t be a deal-breaker for most users, it’s one of the main feature differences between Keeper and its competitors.

One interesting thing about Keeper is that depending on the kind of computer you’re using and how recently you got it, you might already have it installed. Certain models of HP and Dell computers ship with Keeper pre-installed, as do Microsoft’s Surface Pro devices. So if you’re looking to try out the programs on this list, take a look at your PC and see if you’ve already got Keeper, and maybe start there.

Like Dashlane, the free version of Keeper is limited to a single device, but at $25 per year the premium version is closer to LastPass’s price point.

Of course, there are a lot of password managers out there besides Dashlane, LastPass, and Keeper, and most are nearly as good - 1Password, RoboForm, EnPass, and Zoho, to name a few - but those three are among the best, and offer great free versions to get you started. A password manager is one of the easiest things you can do to increase the security of your online accounts.
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