Just get a password manager already — here are the best options

Remembering logins is the worst, and don't even get us started on hacking.
By Leah Stodart and Kaitlyn McInnis  on 
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Overview

Best Overall Password Manager

Dashlane

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Best Budget-friendly Option

Sticky Password

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Easiest To Use

Password Boss

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Best No-frills Password Manager

Zoho Vault

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Best For Families

1Password

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See 2 More

The spammers. The scammers. And you. Telemarketers and junk mail has evolved in the digital age to a behemoth of persistent trickery. In Scammed, we help you navigate a connected world that’s out for your money, your information, or just your attention.


Table of Contents

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  • RoboForm $0.99 Per Month (60% Off 1 Year RoboForm Premium Plan)

  • Dashlane Get Dashlane Free for Your Business


We're just gonna say it: Creating strong, complex passwords — and then actually remembering what those passwords are — has become a huge pain in the behind. The well-known advice is that you shouldn't use the same password for everything because it's not safe, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying as you’re mentally shifting through every password and password variation you’ve ever created as you try to log into a bank account or online shop.

This warning to use a different password for each site is definitely true though: According to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report, 81% of hacking related breaches involved the misuse of stolen or weak credentials — AKA crappy, overused passwords. And we probably don't have to tell you this, but having your money or identity stolen isn't exactly a good time either.

But even if you do manage to come up with Olympic-level strength passwords, remembering your complex, unique passwords for dozens of different sites is nearly impossible, especially when password requirements sound more like the recipe for a potion. Uppercase letter, number, symbol, eye of newt, etc.

So before you know it, you’ve used up your three guesses and you’re locked out because you can’t remember your genius combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. And now you need to create a new amazing password again. So you try something you think you’ll remember and  just like that, you get the alert that “new password cannot be the same as old password.”

Enter: password managers. AKA your new best friend to help keep your online accounts safe and keep you from tossing your device across the room every time you need to remember or create a new password. 

What does a password manager really do?

The best password managers are essentially a way to safely store all your logins and passwords in a safe place. 

All you have to do is remember one master password and then your password manager will autofill the rest for you, plus more security stuff you probably didn't even think about.

In other words, a password manager is like a secure list of passwords in your phone's notes (or a notebook, if you’re old-school), except losing your phone or notebook won't mean that your entire life is about to be hacked.

Password managers can be apps on your mobile phone, plugins in your browser, or desktop software you install. 

Some will also help you create, not just store, some super secure passwords that a hacker wouldn’t be able to guess so you don’t have to keep thinking of variations based on your pets’ or kids' names. 

The best password managers will also allow you to secure your devices — like your Kindle or Apple Watch — and even your photos and other private documents that you won’t want easily accessible on your computer or smartphone. Think of it as a form of personal encryption to add even more security to your digital life.

Things to consider when choosing a password manager:

  • Do you want passwords to be remembered on your phone and laptop? If so, you'll need to make sure the password manager allows syncing on multiple devices. (As you'll see, most free versions other than LastPass do not allow more than one device.)

  • Are you storing passwords just for personal use or do you need to share with a group? Some password managers will allow you to share logins with colleagues or family without actually telling them what the password is. That will allow you to give them access to a site or platform you all use — and remove their access if you need to — without having to worry that they can share the password with people you don’t approve. Others will allow you to set up a family account so that you and your spouse or children can share passwords easily.

  • Two-factor authentication: Using the Google Authenticator app, an external device, text message, or something similar, does the password manager require a second form of insurance to make sure that it's actually you trying to log in? Without this, if someone gets ahold of your master password, they have access to all of your stuff.

  • Emergency contacts: If you forget your master password, you need to make sure you're not completely screwed. Many password managers are equipped with emergency contacts, which are basically the password version of writing someone into your will. This is where you give a trusted friend, family member, or boss access to your master password in the event that you can't provide it.

What are some of the best password managers on the market?

Interested in employing a password manager to help make your online life a little easier? We’ve sifted through a whole bunch of password manager programs out there so you don’t have to. Below, we’re listing six of the best password managers and exactly what each plan offers, so you can easily find the one that best fits your individual needs. All prices listed are for the year.

Laptop open to Dashlane.

Dashlane

Best Overall Password Manager

With one of the slickest looking and most user-friendly interfaces (including 11 language options), the Dashlane app offers three different individual plans, including a free one if you plan just to use it on one device, a premium one, and a family one (which combines six premium accounts into one plan). It also comes with a free 30-day Premium trial and you can get up to a 20% discount if you pay for your yearly subscription upfront. 

The Dashlane Premium plan makes managing passwords on multiple devices a piece of cake because it gives you the option to import passwords from any site, syncs across unlimited devices, and stores unlimited passwords. If you’re switching from another password manager, it also allows you to import passwords from other password managers. After importing passwords from all of your sites, you can separate them into categories (like banks and shopping, social media, etc.), and Dashlane will let you know if it thinks any of your passwords are too weak. It will also allow help you generate secure passwords so you don’t need to keep making up new ones on your own and it will allow you to share passwords as many times as you need to with other people. 

Dashlane Premium also comes with some helpful additional features, including form and payment autofill, dark web monitoring and alerts, VPN for WiFi protection, two-factor authentication, U2F authentication, secure notes, and 1 GB of encrypted file storage.

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Sticky Password open on a computer.

Sticky Password

Best Budget-friendly Option

Sticky Password has been a password manager company for 20 years, making it one of the best-known options on the market today. It is a great option for anyone looking to secure their online life without spending too much on a monthly membership fee. The password manager stores an encrypted copy of your data in the cloud, and the only way you can get to it is with your online password and master password. It will automatically fill out forms and logs for you, generate strong passwords when you need them, keep your credit card info safe and ready for checkout, and securely share passwords and logins with friends if you need to. And, for extra security, you can also opt for secure no-cloud sync. 

Sticky Password also protects your private notes and other text data, works on up all your devices and up to 17 browsers, and will even work on USB and memory cards. Note that for each subscription, Sticky Password donates a portion of the money to a manatee protection fund. If you didn't think it was a great choice before, we bet you do now.

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Keeper is not only a place to store an unlimited number of passwords, but also a place to store your private documents, photos, and other files—it's like the hardcore version of putting a passcode on your phone so no one can see all of the weird pictures you've saved. Keeper also has a broad selection of native apps for macOS, iOS, Windows, Windows Phone, Android, Kindle, and Linux, as well as browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Internet Explorer—so there's never a device left out. 

Like most of the other password managers on this list, it will also generate and autofill strong passwords for you and it allows for use and access on unlimited devices. It will also store identity and payment information and you can log in to the app with your fingerprint and Face ID. There are also two plans: an individual one for one user or a family plan for up to five users. The family plan also includes secure record sharing and 10GB of secure file storage.

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​​Possibly the nicest interface to look at (other than Dashlane), Password Boss does basically everything you'd want a good password manager to do: it stores every password for your websites, apps, WiFi, and anything else in one place, it automatically logs you in, and it offers you great protection from security breaches thanks to end-to-end security. 

Password Boss Premium can sync across all devices, storing your data in the cloud using government-level encryption (according to the website). What’s more, when you go on a secure site that you haven't been on yet, Password Boss will offer to save the login info, and then will automatically log you in every time you go on that site later on. It also has an app so you can log on to devices from your phone too.

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This ultra user-friendly app has a few different plans that don't top $4/month. The free version is more bare-bones now than it was (thanks to a March 2022 update), which now only allows unlimited password storage on one mobile or one desktop device. Still, that's not a major deal if you already rely on, say, Apple's built-in password manager on your Mac.

Bumping to a Premium or Families account ups your number of devices (and device type), adds more storage, and families can have up to six users on one account. Regardless of your membership, the interface also allows you to organize your passwords and credit cards into different folders so you can easily find what you want. 

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Zoho Vault on a computer screen.

Zoho Vault

Best No-frills Password Manager

If you're looking for a straightforward, nothing fancy password manager that still, you know, works, Zoho is an awesome choice. Have as many passwords as you want, access them from any device with the Zoho extension, enable two factor authentication, and share with your team freely—all for only a couple cents each month. While Zoho's vault does allow storing of private data like bank accounts or health care info, it won't auto fill these for you in web pages. Sites with two-page logins like Gmail or Yahoo also give Zoho a little trouble, so keep that in mind if you use those email services. It allows you offline access, it allows you to import and export passwords, and it allows you to transfer or acquire ownership of passwords. If you get the paid version, you can also integrate it with G Suite and Office 365.

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1Password offers two plans: an individual one and a 1Password Families one. Both allow for unlimited password, item, and document storage, two-factor authentication, and the sharing of sensitive information. The app also stores a 365 history of items so if you accidentally delete a password, you can find it again. Unique to 1Password is also that it has a travel mode that you can turn on when you’re crossing borders. 

The family version comes with all those features, but comes with five logins. You can also invite additional family members for only $1 extra a month. On the family plan, you can safely share passwords, credit cards, notes, and more, while also managing what individual family members can see and do (meaning you can control who gets access to what passwords, which is ideal for parents). Plus, you can help any family member in your plan easily recover their accounts if they accidentally get locked out. 

1Password also comes with 24/7 customer support and a 14-day free trial so you can make sure you like it before paying for your membership.

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Topics Cybersecurity

Leah Stodart
Leah Stodart
Senior Shopping Reporter

Leah Stodart is a Philadelphia-based Senior Shopping Reporter at Mashable where she covers essential home tech like vacuums and TVs as well as sustainable swaps and travel. Her ever-growing experience in these categories comes in clutch when making recommendations on how to spend your money during shopping holidays like Black Friday, which Leah has been covering for Mashable since 2017.

Leah graduated from Penn State University in 2016 with dual degrees in Sociology and Media Studies. When she's not writing about shopping (or shopping online for herself), she's almost definitely watching a horror movie, "RuPaul's Drag Race," or "The Office." You can follow her on X at @notleah or email her at [email protected].

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