1Password vs Bitwarden vs LastPass: Which Password Manager to Trust in 2026

A password manager is the cheapest security upgrade a person or a small business can make, and the one that fails most quietly when it is chosen badly. 1Password, Bitwarden and LastPass are the three names people compare most, and they now differ more on trust, transparency and team features than on the basics of saving and filling passwords. This guide compares them on published prices, plans, security model and track record, with every figure checked on the official pages on November 13, 2026.

What a Good Password Manager Has to Do

All three save and fill passwords on every device. The differences that matter sit around that core.

• Protect the vault even if the company is breached. End-to-end encryption, where only you hold the key, decides what an attacker can read if servers are compromised.
• Support passkeys. Passkeys replace passwords on more sites every month, and your manager should store and use them across devices.
• Share safely. Families and teams need shared vaults or folders, with access that can be removed in one click.
• Warn you about risks. Weak, reused and breached passwords should be flagged so you can fix them.
• Give businesses control. SSO, automatic provisioning, admin policies and activity logs matter as soon as more than a few people share credentials.
• Prove it. Independent audits, certifications and an honest history of incidents are the only evidence a buyer can check.

The PURIST Fit Score: How We Compare Them

Scores are PURIST's editorial judgment based on the official pages listed at the end. No vendor paid for its position.

The Comparison Table

Bitwarden and 1Password are close. Choose Bitwarden for price, open-source code and self-hosting; choose 1Password for the most refined apps, its Secret Key design and its business extras. LastPass ranks third mainly on track record, explained below.

Pricing Side by Side

All prices are in US dollars as published on November 13, 2026.

Personal and family plans

1Password's FAQ states the regular prices plainly: "$3.99 per month for Individual and $5.99 per month for Families." LastPass's pricing page loaded without its figures on the day we checked, so we do not quote Premium or Families prices rather than guess. Check lastpass.com/pricing for the current numbers.

Business plans

What a 10-person company pays a year

1Password's Teams Starter Pack is the cheapest option for exactly 10 people, at $299.40 a year. Past 20 users you move to Business at $8.99 a user. Bitwarden stays the cheapest per user at every size, especially for companies that do not need SSO.

Security Model and Track Record

Encryption claims sound the same on every vendor site. The design details and the history are where they differ.

1Password: password plus Secret Key

1Password combines your account password with "a 128-bit encrypted Secret Key" created on your device. Its security page explains: "Our dual-key model ensures that even we can't see exactly what you've saved in 1Password." Because the Secret Key never leaves your devices, a copy of 1Password's servers would not be enough to attack your vault with password guessing alone. 1Password states that it is "SOC 2 type 2 certified" and publishes the results of independent audits.

Bitwarden: open source and audited every year

Bitwarden uses zero-knowledge, end-to-end encryption and publishes its code, so anyone can inspect how the vault is protected. Its audit page lists a long record of third-party reviews, including 2025 audits by Cure53 of the browser extension, core application and web vault, a 2025 review of Bitwarden's core cryptography by the Applied Cryptography Group at ETH Zurich, and further 2025 audits of the mobile apps and network. Bitwarden states that it is "ISO 27001 certified" and "HIPAA compliant," with a third-party audit every year.

LastPass: the 2022 incident

LastPass describes its security as "zero-knowledge, end-to-end encryption," using "device-only AES-256 bit encryption, plus PBKDF2-SHA256 hashing with salting," and lists ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, BSI C5 and TRUSTe among its certifications.

Its own incident notices tell the rest of the story:

• August 2022: an attacker took "portions of source code and some proprietary LastPass technical information" through a compromised developer account.
• December 22, 2022: LastPass reported that the attacker used that information to reach cloud storage and copied "basic customer account information and related metadata," including billing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and IP addresses, as well as a backup of customer vault data. Encrypted fields stayed protected by 256-bit AES encryption, but website URLs in the vaults were not encrypted.
• March 1, 2023: LastPass's update stated that data taken from cloud backups included "configuration data, API secrets, third-party integration secrets, customer metadata, and backups of all customer vault data," and that it had seen no threat-actor activity since October 26, 2022.

Encrypted passwords in those backups are protected by each user's master password, so the real risk depends on how strong that password was. The unencrypted website URLs and the scale of the copy are the reasons many security teams moved away from LastPass. If you still use it, follow the recommended actions LastPass published with its March 2023 update, and at a minimum use a long, unique master password and change the passwords stored for your most important accounts.

Features Compared

Business Controls Compared

For a company under 20 people that does not use SSO, Bitwarden Teams or 1Password's Teams Starter Pack covers everything. For companies on Okta, Entra ID or Google Workspace that want automatic onboarding and offboarding, compare 1Password Business with Bitwarden Enterprise.

Password Manager by Password Manager

Bitwarden

Bitwarden gives the most for the least money. Its free plan has no device limit and lets you share with one other person, which already beats most competitors' paid tiers on basics. Premium adds vault health reports for $19.80 a year, and Families covers six people for $47.88 a year. Teams at $4 a user is the cheapest business plan among the three, and Enterprise adds SSO and self-hosting for $6 a user.

Strengths:

• Open-source code and a long, detailed record of independent audits.
• The best free plan and the lowest paid prices.
• Self-hosting on Enterprise for organizations that must keep data on their own servers.

Limits:

• The apps are functional rather than polished, and some settings take more clicks.
• SSO requires the Enterprise plan.

Best for: individuals and families who want strong security for little or nothing, technical teams, and businesses that value open source or need self-hosting.

1Password

1Password has the most refined apps and the most thoughtful extras. The Secret Key adds protection that a server breach cannot remove, Watchtower flags risky passwords, and sharing items with expiry and history makes it easy to hand a login to a contractor. Businesses get SSO unlock, provisioning from the main identity providers, guest accounts, SIEM streaming and a free Families plan for every user, which helps employees keep personal and work passwords separate.

Strengths:

• Secret Key design and SOC 2 Type 2 certification.
• The smoothest everyday experience on desktop and mobile.
• Strong business features, including free family accounts for employees.

Limits:

• No free plan.
• Business costs more per user than Bitwarden or LastPass Business.

Best for: families who want the easiest experience, and small and mid-size businesses ready to pay for polish and admin features.

LastPass

LastPass covers the expected features: passkeys on personal plans, dark web monitoring even on the free plan, shared folders, directory integrations and SSO on business plans, and a wide list of certifications. Business costs $7 a user a month and Business Max $11. The issue is trust. The 2022 incident exposed backups of all customer vault data together with unencrypted metadata, and the free plan is limited to one device type, which pushes most users to pay.

Strengths:

• Familiar to many teams, with directory integrations and SSO on Business.
• Dark web monitoring included even on the free plan.
• Broad certifications, including ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II and BSI C5.

Limits:

• The 2022 breach and the scale of the data copied.
• The free plan works on only one device type.
• Personal and Teams prices were not visible on the official page when we checked.

Best for: organizations already deployed on LastPass that have rotated critical passwords and enforce long master passwords. For new buyers, Bitwarden or 1Password are safer starting points.

Which Password Manager Fits You

• Just you, no budget: Bitwarden Free.
• Just you, best experience: 1Password Individual, or Bitwarden Premium at $19.80 a year if price matters most.
• A family: Bitwarden Families at $47.88 a year for six people, or 1Password Families for the smoothest apps.
• A team of 2 to 20: 1Password Teams Starter Pack at $299.40 a year for 10 users, or Bitwarden Teams at $4 a user.
• A company on Okta, Entra ID or Google Workspace: 1Password Business or Bitwarden Enterprise.
• A company that must self-host: Bitwarden Enterprise.
• Already on LastPass: check that every user has a long, unique master password, rotate your most critical passwords, and plan a move at your next renewal.

How to Switch Password Managers Safely

1. 1 Export from the old manager using its built-in export, on a trusted computer.
2. 2 Import into the new one right away with its import tool, and check a few entries by hand.
3. 3 Delete the export file as soon as the import is checked, and empty the trash. It contains every password in plain text.
4. 4 Turn on two-factor authentication for the new account and store recovery codes offline.
5. 5 Rotate the passwords that matter most: email, banking, domain registrar, cloud and admin accounts.
6. 6 Remove the old browser extension so it does not keep offering to save passwords.

Automations That Make Password Security Stick

Tools help only if people use them. These are the workflows we build with n8n around password managers for small businesses:

1. 1 Onboarding: a new hire in your HR tool triggers account creation, group membership and access to the right shared vaults.
2. 2 Offboarding: when someone leaves, their access is removed and every shared credential they could see is listed for rotation.
3. 3 Shared credential rotation reminders: service accounts and shared logins get a rotation reminder every quarter.
4. 4 Breach alerts to the right person: weak or breached password reports are routed to the owner of each account instead of a shared inbox.

See our guides to joiner, mover and leaver policies and automation and HR workflow automation for the full workflow.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Bitwarden better than 1Password?

Bitwarden is better value and is open source, with a free plan, Premium at $19.80 a year and Teams at $4 a user a month. 1Password has more polished apps, a Secret Key that adds protection against server breaches, and stronger business extras such as a free family plan for every user. Both have strong security records and independent audits.

Is LastPass safe to use in 2026?

LastPass uses AES-256 encryption and holds certifications such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II. However, its own notices confirm that in 2022 an attacker copied backups of all customer vault data along with unencrypted metadata such as website URLs. Vaults protected by long, unique master passwords are much harder to attack, but many security teams now prefer Bitwarden or 1Password for new deployments.

How much does 1Password cost?

1Password Individual has a regular price of $3.99 a month and Families $5.99 a month for five people, both billed yearly. For businesses, the Teams Starter Pack costs $24.95 a month billed yearly for 10 users, and Business costs $8.99 a user a month billed yearly. Every plan has a 14-day free trial.

How much does Bitwarden cost?

Bitwarden Free costs nothing. Premium costs $1.65 a month, billed $19.80 a year, and Families $3.99 a month, billed $47.88 a year for up to six users. Teams costs $4 and Enterprise $6 a user a month, billed yearly.

What is the best free password manager?

Bitwarden Free, because it has no limit on passwords or devices and lets you share with one other user. LastPass Free works on only one device type, and 1Password has no free plan.

Do 1Password, Bitwarden and LastPass support passkeys?

Yes. 1Password lists passkeys alongside two-factor authentication and biometrics, Bitwarden supports passkey management on all accounts, and LastPass lists passkeys on its personal plans.

Can I self-host my password manager?

Among these three, only Bitwarden offers self-hosting, on its Enterprise plan.

Sources and Method

Prices, plans, features and security statements were checked on the official pages on November 13, 2026: 1password.com/pricing/personal, 1password.com/pricing/business, 1password.com/teams and 1password.com/security; bitwarden.com/pricing, bitwarden.com/pricing/business and bitwarden.com/help/is-bitwarden-audited; lastpass.com/pricing, LastPass product pages for Premium, Families, Teams, Business and Business Max, and LastPass's incident notices of December 22, 2022 and March 1, 2023. LastPass's pricing page did not display its personal and Teams prices on that day, so they are marked as not shown rather than estimated. Promotional first-year prices are noted separately from regular prices. Fit Scores are PURIST's editorial judgment. Confirm current prices on each official page before you buy.