Stop trying to come up with clever, cryptic passwords that you struggle to keep in your head. With a secure and easy-to-use password manager, you can manage your login credentials across all your devices, keeping your passwords safe and automatically filling in forms and syncing your data across Windows, MacOS, Android phones and iPhones and iPads.
Simply, a password manager is an encrypted digital vault that stores the login information you use to access websites, apps and other services. Besides keeping your credentials and sensitive data safe, a password manager can generate unique, strong passwords to ensure you aren't reusing your them across your services. Withalltherecentnewsofsecuritybreaches and identity theft, using unique passwords can go a long way to ensuring if one site gets hacked, your stolen password can't be used on other sites.
Now playing:Watch this: Inside a password-free future
And with a manager, you don't have to remember the various pieces of login information, such as credit-card information or shipping addresses. With just one master password -- or in some cases a PIN or even your fingerprint -- you can autofill a form or password field. Some also feature online storage and an encrypted vault for storing documents.
The best password managers of 2018. Ditch the sticky notes and get peace of mind. Choose a password manager to secure your digital life. Dashlane for Mac. The best way to manage passwords, protect yourself online and save time on the web.
All our best password manager picks come in free versions, which usually lets you securely store passwords for one device (although our pick for best free manager can be used across multiple devices). Our picks also feature subscription options that let you sync your log-in information across all your devices, share credentials with trusted family and friends and get access to secure online storage. And if transparency is important to you, several of our picks are open-source projects. We also look at what a password manager is and the basics of how to use one.
Note that these services are independently chosen by our editors. CNET may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Some of our other picks have a free option, but most lock you to just one device if you don't pay up. The free version of LastPass stands out by giving you the ability to store passwords, user log-in info and credentials and sync all of it wherever you want -- across desktop, mobile and browsers.
You can also share a login item with another person. For $36 a year, you can purchase the Premium version to share passwords, log-ins, memberships and other items with trusted emergency contacts, multifactor authentication through YubiKey and fingerprint and 1GB of encrypted storage.
And with a $48 annual subscription, you can sign up for the Families plan that gives you six individual accounts, shared folders and a dashboard interface for managing the accounts and keeping an eye on your account's security.
Jason Cipriani/CNET
If you're looking for a trusted password manager app to keep your log-in information private and secure, 1Password is up to the task, letting you access your accounts and services with one master password. It's available for Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, Linux and Chrome OS. Amazing macbook pro wallpapers for 2018 mac. https://renewbabes134.weebly.com/download-torrents-on-mac.html.
The nicely designed manager lacks a free version, but you can try for free for 30 days before signing up. An individual subscription runs $36 a year, and comes with 1GB of document storage and optional two-factor authentication for additional protection. A travel mode lets you remove your 1Password sensitive data from your device when you travel and then restore it with one click when you return.
On Macs, you can use Touch ID to unlock 1Password, and on iOS devices, you can use Face ID too. For $60 a year, you can cover a family of five, sharing passwords, credit cards and anything else among the group. Each person gets their own vault, and it's easy to control who you share information with and what they can do with it.
You can also create separate guest accounts to share Wi-Fi connection passwords, for example, or home alarm codes with guests.
Other free and paid options worth considering
Both LastPass and 1Password are solid, affordable password keepers, and in a straw poll of CNET staffers, they were about neck-and-neck in use -- though the latter may include some taking advantage of the 1Password for Journalism initiative that offers free service to us hacks. But if you find neither of our two recommended password managers works quite how you want, a handful of other apps are worth considering. These all have free versions available.
Bitwarden
Bitwarden is a lean, open-source software password manager that can store and autofill your passwords across your devices and popular browsers -- including Brave and Tor -- for free. It lacks some of the bells and whistles of our picks, but for $10 a year, you can add 1GB of encrypted file storage.
Dashlane
Dashlane provides a simple and secure way to manage your passwords and keep other log-in information stored. Just for managing passwords, we like it as much as our picks, but the free version limits you to one device and 50 passwords, and the Premium subscription is $60 a year, more than similar plans from 1Password and LastPass.
Keeper
Keeper is another password service than helps you manage login info on Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS devices. A free version gives you unlimited passwords on one device. The step-up version costs $25 to $30 a year and lets you sync passwords across all your devices. For $60 a year, you can get 10 GB of secure file storage.
KeePassXC
KeePass, another open-source software, started on Windows and has been ported over using the same code base to other platforms, including MacOS, Android and iOS. On the plus side, it's totally free and endorsed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. On the other side, it's really for advanced users only: It takes a bit of fiddling to get all the independently built versions of KeePass to work together. Terrarium tv for mac.
Password Manager Basics
Still need more info on what password managers are, and why they're better than the alternatives? Read on.
How does a password manager work?
To get started, a password manager will record the username and password you use when you first sign in to a website or service. Then the next time you use visit the site, it will autofill forms with your stored user login information. For those websites and services that don't handle automatic filling, a manager lets you copy the password to paste into the password field.
If you're stuck picking a good password, the manager can generate a strong password for you and watch that you aren't reusing any across services. And if you use more than one device, you want a manager that is available across all your devices and browsers, so you can access your passwords and login information -- including credit-card and shipping information -- from anywhere through the manager app or its browser extension. Some provide secure storage so you can store other items too, such as documents, say an electronic copy of your passport or will.
Take note: Many password managers keep the master password you use to unlock the manager locally and not on a remote server. Or if it's on a server, it's encrypted and not readable by the company.
This ensures your account stays secure in case of a data breach. It also means that if you forget your master password, there may not be a way to recover your account through the company. Because of that, a few password managers offer DIY kits to help you recover your account on your own. Worse case scenario, you start over with a new account and manually reset your passwords at each specific destination site and account and start again.
What makes for a secure password?
A good password should be a long string of capital and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation and other nonalphanumeric characters -- something that's difficult for others to guess, but a snap for a password manager to keep track of. And despite what you may have heard, once you select a good password, you don't really need to change it periodically.
Can I use a web browser to manage my passwords and login information?
You can certainly use Chrome, Safari or Firefox to manage your passwords, addresses and other login data. You can even set up a master password to unlock your credentials within a browser. And while using an online browser's password tool is certainly better than not using a password keeper at all, you can't access your passwords and other login info outside of the browser, the browser isn't much help in generating strong passwords and you can't share login info with others you trust.
What about iCloud Keychain?
Through iCloud Keychain, you can access your Safari website usernames and passwords, credit card information and Wi-Fi network information from your Mac and iOS devices. It's great if you live in Apple's world. But if you venture outside and have a Windows or Android device or use the Chrome or Firefox browser, iCloud Keychain comes up short.
Originally published Feb. 16, 2018.
Update, Aug. 8, 2019: This story is frequently updated to reflect new picks, pricing and changes in the market.
Best laptops for college students: We've got an affordable laptop for every student.
Best live TV streaming services: Ditch your cable company but keep the live channels and DVR.
Best Overall
Dashlane
Dashlane has surpassed LastPass in flexibility and features, but you'll pay more for those extras.
Best Free Tier
LastPass
LastPass' free service is still one of the best bargains in password management.
Best Security
Keeper
Keeper works well and has perhaps the best security of any cloud-based password manager.
Using a password manager is an easy, quick way to make your online life more secure. You won't need to remember a unique, long, complex password for every online account. The password manager remembers each password for you, minimizing your risk next time there's a massive data breach. The only password you'll need to remember is the single 'master' password to the password manager itself.
Based on our extensive testing of seven services — in which we focused on user experience, platform support, security and overall performance — the best overall password managers are Dashlane and LastPass, which offer the ideal combinations of ease of use, convenience and security.
Best Overall: Dashlane Password Manager
Dashlane has a well-designed desktop application and a tool that changes your passwords on hundreds of websites at once, a fully interactive website interface and support for Linux and Chrome OS. However, the price of Dashlane's Premium plan has gone up by 50 percent, giving LastPass and especially Keeper, our second runner-up, more of a price advantage.
LastPass' free version is unlimited and versatile; it recently also raised the price of its paid versions, but they're the most full-featured of any password manager.
We also liked Keeper's strong security and Enpass' flexibility, although each lacked certain conveniences.
Two other password managers are best suited for niche segments: 1Password for Mac and iOS users, and Zoho Vault for couples and small families who want to share passwords. The seventh password manager, RoboForm, is the oldest on the list, and while it does a competent job, it needs an overhaul before we can recommend it over any other product. https://skirenew324.weebly.com/usu-for-mac-2018.html.
News and Updates
— The parent company of Clarion, Comfort Inn, EconoLodge, Quality Inn, Rodeway Inn and half a dozen other hotel and motel chains had the names, address, phone numbers and email addresses of more than 700,000 guests stolen. ADVICE: If you've stayed at any of the aforenamed hotel chains in the past few years, prepare for an uptick in spam and phishing emails, and keep your antivirus software updated.
— Some widely used robocall-blocking apps secretly sell user data to third-party companies, a security researcher said. ADVICE: Use AT&T Call Protect if you're on an AT&T postpaid plan; otherwise, let calls go to voicemail if you don't recognize the number.
Nero 11 free download. — If you're replacing an old smart-home device, don't sell or give away the old one -- it will likely hold lots of your personal data even after a factory reset, a researcher says. ADVICE: Hold onto the old device, or take it apart and smash the memory chip.
Best Overall: DashlaneBest OverallDashlane
SPECIFICATIONS
Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Chrome OS, watchOS | Free-version limitations: Single device; 50 passwords max | Two-factor authentication: Yes | Browser plugins: Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari, Edge | Form filling: Yes | Mobile app PIN unlock: Yes | Biometric login: Face ID, Touch ID on iOS, most Android fingerprint readers
Reasons to Buy
Intuitive interface across all platforms
Reasons to Avoid
Dashlane now has support for Linux, Chrome OS and the Microsoft Edge browser and has made its website interface truly interactive, matching LastPass in platform support and, with its excellent desktop software, surpassing its chief rival in interface flexibility.
Dashlane's killer feature remains its bulk password changer, which can reset hundreds of your passwords at once, saving you time and worry in the event of a major data breach. There's also a scanner that goes through your email inbox on iOS or Android to find online accounts you may have forgotten about. The password manager is well designed, easy to use and possibly the best at filling out your personal information in online forms.
Dashlane's main drawback is its high price. When we last reviewed the service, it was $40 per year for the paid plan, already more than most of its rivals. But in July 2018, Dashlane jacked its Premium plan to $60 per year and added a Premium Plus plan that run $120 per year. At the same time, it capped its free plan, which once offered unlimited password storage, to 50 sets of credentials.
To be fair, the Premium plan now comes with a dark-web monitoring service and an unlimited VPN service. To that, the Premium Plus plan adds credit monitoring, identity-restoration assistance and identity-theft insurance. Taken together, all these features may justify the higher prices, and we look forward to giving them a thorough review soon.
Best Free Tier: LastPassBest Free TierLastPass
SPECIFICATIONS
Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Chrome OS, Windows Phone, watchOS | Free-version limitations: Limited password sharing, limited 2FA | Two-factor authentication: Yes | Browser plugins: Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari, Edge, Maxthon, Opera | Form filling: Yes | Mobile app PIN unlock: Yes | Biometric login: Face ID, Touch ID on iOS & macOS, most Android & Windows fingerprint readers
Reasons to Buy
Extensive two-factor-authentication options
Reasons to Avoid
LastPass shares our Editor's Choice award with Dashlane because of its ease of use, support for all major platforms, wide range of features and variety of configurations. The free version of LastPass syncs across an unlimited number of devices and has almost as many features as the paid version. However, the paid version's price has tripled in the past few years, going from $12 per year to $36 per year.
You don't need to install an application on your computer to use LastPass. Instead, the software lives entirely in browser extensions and in a full-featured web interface.
Best Security: KeeperBest SecurityKeeper
SPECIFICATIONS
Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Chrome OS, Windows Phone, Kindle, BlackBerry | Free-version limitations: Single device | Two-factor authentication: Yes | Browser plugins: Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari, Edge | Form filling: Yes | Mobile app PIN unlock: No | Biometric login: Face ID, Touch ID on iOS & macOS, Windows Hello, most Android fingerprint readers
Reasons to BuyApple Mac Password Manager
Solid browser extension and web app
Reasons to Avoid
Some security-related inconveniences
Keeper Password Manager Personal
$25.49
Keeper Password Manager Family
$59.99
Keeper ($25.49 per year for the premium service) is fast and full-featured, has a robust web interface, stores files and documents of any kind, offers perhaps the best security of any password manager and is now cheaper than both Dashlane and LastPass. The trade-off for that enhanced security is a bit of inconvenience: Keeper chooses not to have a bulk password changer, and it won't let you create a PIN to quickly access the mobile app. If you have an older phone that can't read your fingerprint or your face, you'll have to enter the full master password every time.
Best Value: EnpassBest ValueEnpass
SPECIFICATIONS
Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Chrome OS | Free-version limitations: 20 items on mobile; no biometric login on desktop | Two-factor authentication: No | Browser plugins: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera, Vivaldi | Form filling: Yes | Mobile app PIN unlock: Yes | Biometric login: Touch ID on iOS & macOS, Windows Hello, most Android fingerprint readers
Reasons to Buy
Strong free desktop version
Reasons to Avoid
Limited features & syncing options
Enpass has a strong free desktop version, and a more limited one for Android and that's limited to only 20 passwords. But the premium software on Windows, Mac, Android or iOS costs a one-time flat fee of $11.99 per platform. (The Linux version is entirely free.) There are no recurring subscription fees.
Enpass handles all the basics quite well, but you'll have to sync your own devices via Dropbox or a similar service, as Enpass doesn't offer any cloud-syncing of its own. (Some users might see that as a security advantage.)
The Enpass desktop interface is a bit spare, but functional; the mobile apps are sleek and handle biometric logins. Enpass says a local-sync feature is in the works, which would make the service ideal for users who are wary of putting their data online.
1Password1Password
SPECIFICATIONS Intuit quickbooks online for mac 2018.
Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android. Linux, Chrome OS | Free-version limitations: Single mobile device | Two-factor authentication: Yes | Browser plugins: Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari, Edge | Form filling: Yes | Mobile app PIN unlock: Yes | Biometric login: Face ID, Touch ID on iOS & macOS, most Android fingerprint readers
Reasons to Buy
Robust categorization options
Non-subscription option keeps data offline.
Reasons to Avoid
Stripped-down mobile experience
1Password
$2.99
1Password Families
$4.99
1Password's Windows and Android versions have finally reached rough parity with their Mac and iOS equivalents, but many functions still feel clunkier than they are on newer password managers. 1Password now asks new users to sign up for a $36 yearly cloud subscription, although for $65, Mac users can buy the older stand-alone application that lets them sync devices locally.
However, 1Password's new browser extensions for Chrome and Firefox, dubbed 1Password X, mostly replicate the desktop experience and work directly with web browsers instead of operating systems. Better yet, they extend 1Password to Chromebook and Linux users.
Only cloud subscribers can use 1Password's killer feature, a Travel Mode that deletes sensitive data from your devices (you'll get it back later) so that snooping border-control agents can't find it. 1Password also has great form-filling abilities, and it has finally added true two-factor authentication.
Zoho VaultZoho Vault
SPECIFICATIONS
Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Windows Phone | Free-version limitations: No sharing | Two-factor authentication: Yes | Browser plugins: Chrome, Firefox, Safari | Form filling: No | Mobile app PIN unlock: Yes | Biometric login: Touch ID on iOS, most Android fingerprint readers
Reasons to Buy
Inexpensive family plan
![]() Reasons to Avoid
Bare-bones mobile apps
Zoho Standard
$1
Zoho Professional
$4
Zoho Vault Free
Zoho Vault is part of a larger suite of paid enterprise tools, and the company makes the password manager free for individual personal use. (Group plans that can be used by families start at $12 per user per year.) You won't get consumer-friendly features such as personal-data form filling or a bulk password changer, but all of the essentials are in place and work smoothly.
Unlke EnPass, Zoho Vault will do the syncing for you using its own servers, and there's no fee to sync across all your desktop, laptop and mobile devices. The only drawbacks are that Zoho Vault sometimes trips over Google logins (there's a somewhat technical workaround) and that LastPass does even more for free.
RoboFormPassword Manager For Macbook ProRoboForm![]()
SPECIFICATIONS
Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Chrome OS | Free-version limitations: Single device | Two-factor authentication: Yes | Browser plugins: Chrome, Firefox, IE, Safari, Edge, Opera | Form filling: Yes | Mobile app PIN unlock: Yes | Biometric login: Face ID, Touch ID on iOS & macOS, most Android & Windows fingerprint readers
Reasons to Buy
Relatively inexpensive
Reasons to Avoid
Stale, unintuitive design
RoboForm Everywhere
$23.88
RoboForm Everywhere Family
$47.75
RoboForm has been around since 1999 and, unfortunately, shows its age. At $24 per year, its premium version isn't expensive, and the service has excellent form filling and runs on a wide variety of platforms and browsers. But its website interface is still read-only, its desktop software can be confusing (the mobile apps are a little more user-friendly) and its functionality is limited. RoboForm needs an overhaul to compete with even the free version of LastPass.
What to Look for in a Password Manager
All seven password managers we reviewed secure your data, both on your machine and in the cloud, with the toughest form of encryption in wide usage today. All have software for Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. All have free options, but none of them are entirely free.
All can be installed on an unlimited number of devices for a single (usually paid) account, store an unlimited number of passwords and generate new, strong passwords for you (though not always on the mobile version). Some alert you to the latest data breaches. Most offer a two-factor authentication option for master passwords.
Many offer to save your personal details, credit-card numbers and other frequently used information so that they can quickly fill out online forms for you. (You don't have to do this, but it's safer than letting the retail website save your credit-card information.) Finally, none can recover your master password for you if you forget it, although some let you reset that password to something else.
How We Test Password Managers
Python 3.6 spyder download mac. We installed and used all seven password managers on a dual-boot Apple laptop running Windows 10 and macOS 10.12 Sierra, an iPad Pro 12.9, a Samsung Galaxy S8+ and a Google Pixel. The primary browser we used was Google Chrome on all platforms, but we also used Apple Safari on macOS and iOS.
We considered each service's ease of use, user interface, variety and usefulness of features, and security practices, especially concerning two-factor authentication. Price was considered only when two or more password managers were otherwise roughly equal.
Cloud vs. Local Management
1Password gives you an option to store and sync your 'vault' of passwords and other sensitive information locally (in other words, only on your own devices) without using the service's cloud servers. There's a security advantage to that because none of the data will ever need to reach the internet, but it can be a hassle to synchronize all of your devices. (Enpass plans to add a similar local-sync feature, but for now, you'll have to sync your devices using third-party file-sharing services such as Dropbox or iCloud.)
Far more convenient are cloud-based password managers, which include LastPass, Dashlane, Keeper and Zoho Vault. (1Password's default mode is also cloud-based.) These services keep encrypted copies of your vault on their own servers, ensure all your devices are always synced and encrypt the transmissions between your devices and their servers.
The risk, though small, is that one of the cloud-based services could be compromised, and your passwords could be released out into the wild. (LastPass has had a number of documented security issues, all of which have been quickly fixed, and has not lost any passwords.) And whether it's local or cloud-synced, a password manager puts all your eggs in one basket, so to speak. But for most people, the demonstrable security benefits of using a password manager far outweigh the disadvantages.
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |