The Best Cheap Password Managers of 2023

Everyone has different needs and preferences when it comes to password managers, so we can’t say that Bitwarden is the right choice for every reader. However, Bitwarden stands apart from the competition due to its combination of functionality, ease of use, and value for cost. It has all the features most people are looking for, plus strong user reviews for both the mobile and desktop clients. Overall, Bitwarden is our top recommendation in 2023 if you’re looking for a cheap password manager.

Even if you don’t want to spend any money, you can still get a surprising amount of functionality from Bitwarden. Unlike other free plans, Bitwarden’s free tier supports unlimited devices, unlimited passwords, two-factor authentication (2FA), and other advanced features. There’s also a free two-person plan that includes the same tools plus password sharing with the other person. At $10 per year, or less than $1 per month, premium subscriptions come with some extra tools like emergency access and additional 2FA methods. Finally, the family plan includes six premium accounts for $40 per year.

Furthermore, Bitwarden has generated plenty of positive feedback. Users are highly satisfied with the platform’s functionality, particularly considering its generous pricing system. The Bitwarden mobile app has an average review score of 4.7 out of 5 on iOS and 4.6 on Android, based on feedback from tens of thousands of users. We also found that subscribers are happy with the quality of Bitwarden’s customer support.

With smartphones performing more functions every year, most people need a password manager to work on their mobile device as well as their computer. Keeper Password Manager is our pick as the cheap password manager in 2023 with the best mobile app due to its incredibly strong user reviews on both iOS and Android. Like most other apps, Keeper has a higher average score on iOS (4.9) than Android (4.6). However, both ratings are at the top of the list for mobile password managers. Keeper is a great choice for anyone who regularly needs to use a password manager on a smartphone or tablet.

One drawback of Keeper Password Manager is that it isn’t as cheap as the other platforms we’ve covered. Plans start at $2.91 per month, and you have to commit to a full year. Furthermore, this plan doesn’t include features like cloud storage and dark web monitoring, which are only available as add-ons or in the Plus Bundle at $4.87 per month billed annually. Family subscriptions run $6.25 per month paid annually or $8.62 per month paid annually for the Plus Bundle, and they support just five users.

As we mentioned, Keeper made our list of cheap password managers largely due to its outstanding performance in user reviews, particularly for the mobile apps. Like every other application, Keeper has received some negative feedback, and there are more notes about technical issues on Android compared to iOS. But overall, Keeper’s ratings indicate that users are satisfied with the service they’re getting, with a particular emphasis on the responsive customer support.

If you need a password manager for you and your family, you don’t have to pay for multiple subscriptions. Most providers offer dedicated family plans that support several users for a lower rate than separate plans. The base subscription supports up to five family members for $4.99 per month paid annually, but you can also add extra users for $1 each per month. Most password managers only offer a single-family option with a preset user limit, so 1Password is our choice as the provider in 2023 with the best family plan.

While 1Password doesn’t have a free tier, you can start with a 14-day free trial of any of the paid plans. Personal subscriptions run $2.99 per month billed annually. Family plans are an extra $2 per month extra at $4.99 per month billed annually, with prices going up from there for additional users. Both options come with the same features aside from family sharing.

1Password reviews aren’t exactly negative, but they also aren’t as strong as we’ve seen from some other providers. The iOS version is sitting at an average score of 4.3 while the Android counterpart is slightly lower at 3.9. Some Android users who switched from iOS found that they started experiencing more technical issues after that transition. As such, Android users may be better off with another platform.

NordPass is a free and paid password manager from the same team behind other cybersecurity solutions like NordVPN and NordLocker. With premium plans starting at just $2.49 per month with a two-year commitment, NordPass is relatively affordable over the long term. It’s compatible with iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux as well as six major browsers. Even if you don’t want to download any software, you can still access your passwords through the NordPass web vault.

The free NordPass plan comes with unlimited passwords, automatic cloud syncing, 2FA, and more. However, you have to pay for certain advanced features such as persistent login, dark web monitoring, and password health analysis. New users get a 30-day free trial of the Premium plan when they create their account. Paid plans are $2.49 per month paid every two years, $2.99 per month paid annually, or $4.99 per month paid monthly. Family plans come with six licenses for $4.99 per month, $5.99 per month, or $7.99 per month with the same subscription options.

Most mobile password managers have stronger reviews on iOS than Android, but NordPass is just the opposite. Its iOS app has an average score of 3.6 out of 5, compared to a slightly better 3.8 out of 5 on Android. Some of the other providers we’ve covered are higher than 4.5 on both operating systems, so NordPass doesn’t look great when it comes to user feedback. Reviewers report problems with autofill, slowdowns, and other technical issues.

LastPass is one of the most popular password managers in 2023, but we brought it further down our list due to concerns with the Android app. Aside from that particular issue, LastPass is a solid choice that comes with a deep range of features. With 24/7 customer service, support for YubiKey and other alternative 2FA methods, 1 GB of file storage with all paid plans, and other powerful tools, LastPass is worth considering for anyone who isn’t an Android user.

The LastPass free plan comes with a unique limitation: even though you can still access your account on unlimited devices, you can’t share access across device types. LastPass splits devices into desktop and mobile, so you’ll have to pick one or the other for your account until you upgrade to a paid subscription. The other main limitation is that you can only share passwords with one other user. At $3 per month paid annually, premium plans remove those limitations while introducing features like dark web monitoring, emergency access, and 1 GB of file storage. Family plans come with six unique vaults for $4 per month paid annually, which is $1 extra per month compared to the individual option.

LastPass is yet another example of the trend of negative Android reviews. Even though the iOS version has a strong average of 4.5, the Android app is sitting at just 3.4. Users report many of the same issues seen with other apps including trouble with syncing, technical issues with the interface, and unresponsive customer support. Reviewers seem to have much better experiences on all non-Android platforms.

At $10 per year, Bitwarden is one of the best values we’ve seen from a password manager. However, Enpass ends up being even less expensive over a long period of time. You can get an unlimited lifetime license for a single payment of $79.99. That works out to essentially the same cost as Bitwarden after eight years. After 32 years, you will have saved a full 75% relative to Bitwarden. Even though $79.99 upfront is a lot, Enpass is still the best long-term deal from any password manager in 2023.

If you don’t want to commit to a lifetime license, you can get Enpass for $2.67 per month ― paid every six months ― or $2 per month paid annually. However, you’ll end up spending more than $79.99 on those plans within four years of subscribing. Enpass also offers an annual family subscription at $3 per month for the first year and $4 per month after that. Unfortunately, there’s no lifetime payment option for family subscribers.

With an average score of 4.4 on iOS and 4.0 on Android, Enpass is roughly in the middle of the providers we looked at with respect to user reviews. As with other password managers, Enpass seems to have more technical issues on Android compared to iOS. Still, feedback is generally positive, so there’s no reason to avoid Enpass if you’re looking for a good deal on a password manager.

While you don’t need cloud storage to keep your passwords safe, you need storage if you want to save other files. Storage is particularly helpful when it comes to things like images and videos, which take up much more space than text-based documents. The LogMeOnce Ultimate and Family subscriptions come with a full 10 GB of encrypted cloud storage, more than we’ve seen from any of the other providers on this list. LogMeOnce is a good choice if you’re looking for a combined password manager and file storage solution.

If you just want to store passwords, you should be able to get by with the LogMeOnce free tier. This option comes with support for unlimited devices and passwords, but there are limits on secure notes and credit cards (three each) and shared passwords (five). At $2.50 per month paid annually, Professional raises those limits and adds some more features like emergency access, activity tracking, 1 GB of storage, and extra 2FA methods. The Ultimate plan at $3.25 per month paid annually and the Family plan at $4.99 per month paid annually come with the full set of LogMeOnce tools plus a generous 10 GB of cloud storage.

LogMeOnce has received generally positive reviews, but that changes dramatically when you look at feedback for the Android app in particular. At an average score of just 2.3 out of 5, LogMeOnce has the worst Android reviews of any provider on this list. We would recommend LogMeOnce to others without hesitation, but Android users should think twice or start with a free trial before paying for this service.

KeePassXC is a free and open-source password manager built on the KeePass platform. Along with support for macOS, Windows, and Linux, it also integrates directly with Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Chromium, Vivaldi, Brave, and Tor browsers. While Safari and Internet Explorer notably aren’t on that list, KeePassXC’s support for seven different browsers gives it the best selection we’ve seen. It’s a great choice for anyone who is using a less common browser.

Even though there’s no KeePassXC mobile app, there are other mobile apps built on the same KeePass framework that have strong user reviews. We also noticed that KeePassXC has an impressive set of security features including YubiKey/OnlyKey support, time-based one-time password storage and generation, and optional Twofish and ChaCha20 encryption. You can also view the history of each entry and restore earlier versions of your passwords as needed.

While feedback for the broader KeePass platform is generally positive, it’s harder to find reviews about KeePassXC in particular. The main criticism of KeePassXC is that it doesn’t support syncing passwords across multiple devices. Managing passwords offline comes with some security benefits compared to storing them in the cloud, but access on a single device just isn’t enough for most users.

If you’re on an Android or iOS device, you don’t have to worry about finding a password manager that works on your smartphone or tablet. However, other kinds of mobile devices don’t receive as much support from top password managers. We chose Sticky Password as the provider with the best support for alternative mobile devices due to its dedicated app for BlackBerry OS 10, Amazon Kindle Fire, and Nokia X. If you’re on one of those platforms, you should think about going with Sticky Password.

Along with Enpass, Sticky Password is one of the only providers we’ve seen that provides a lifetime license. That said, Sticky’s lifetime option is more expensive than we saw from Enpass. The website offered us a “50% discount” from $199.99 to $99.99, but it’s unclear whether that’s truly a sale or simply a promotional tactic. If you’d rather open a subscription, you can get a paid plan for $29.99 per year. Free plans come with most of Sticky’s features, but they’re missing some basic tools like syncing, password sharing cloud backups, emergency access, and priority support.

Sticky Password users are generally satisfied with the platform’s mobile app, which has an average review score of 4.6 out of 5 on both iOS and Android. However, we noticed that feedback isn’t quite as positive when it comes to the desktop version. Most criticisms involve minor issues with the user interface, but some reviewers also had trouble keeping their passwords synced across devices.

Rounding out our list, mSecure is a desktop and mobile password manager that also supports Watch OS. Like most of the other platforms we looked at, mSecure uses AES 256-bit encryption, supports password storage and sharing, and is compatible with biometric authentication. It also comes with fine-grained password sharing tools that come with three types of permissions ― read, write, and admin ― and an intuitive vault-based system.

Furthermore, mSecure is surprisingly affordable at less than $2 per month. The Essentials tier runs $1.99 per month or just $1.66 per month paid annually. This subscription is missing some key features like cross-account sharing, PDF and text storage, and custom data tags, but it still comes with the tools you need to store passwords and sync them across devices. At $2.99 per month or $2.49 per month paid annually, the Premium plan adds in those features plus a few other quality-of-life tools.

mSecure has received excellent reviews on the Apple App Store, with an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 based on more than 38,000 unique iOS users. However, that falls to just 4.0 out of 5 on Android, with fewer than 5,000 total reviews. It’s normal for a password manager to have more mixed feedback on Android compared to iOS, but mSecure’s consistent performance issues seem to make it a poor option for Android users.

With more and more people taking control of their cybersecurity, internet users have more choices than ever when it comes to password managers. In 2023, you don’t have to spend much money to get all the password management and sharing tools you need.

To help you make an informed decision, we covered 10 of the most affordable and powerful password managers on the market. While some platforms are more expensive than others, every provider on this list offers a paid subscription for less than $5 per month.

Security and Encryption

If you’re looking for a password manager, you’re probably concerned about keeping your private information safe. Naturally, security and encryption are two of the most important criteria to consider when trying to find the right platform.

Almost every password manager relies on AES 256-bit encryption to protect user data. However, there are a few providers on this list that use alternative encryption methods.

Security and encryption also covers other safety features, such as 2FA and dark web monitoring. Without these tools, you are vulnerable to certain password cracking techniques.

Password Sharing

A password manager should let you store your own passwords, but it should also give you the ability to share those passwords with other users. While some people share passwords through channels like email and short message service (SMS), this approach is much less safe than secure sharing through a reliable password manager.

Each provider offers a unique set of password sharing features that affect both security and ease of use. 1Password, for example, allows users to configure who they want to be able to access a password, when they want the sharing link to expire, and other important settings.

App Compatibility

Finally, you need a password manager that supports the devices and operating systems you use. Every provider we’ve listed offers a mobile app for iOS and Android, but desktop functionality varies from one password manager to another.

For example, some password managers come with desktop apps, while others use extensions that integrate into your browser. App compatibility covers the availability of each platform, as well as user reviews for its various apps and extensions.

App compatibility is especially important for Linux users since many password managers offer limited support for Linux or none at all. We found that Keeper Password Manager offers the best mobile app, KeePassXC is the best when it comes to supporting different browsers. Only a few providers such as KeePassXC and NordPass are compatible with Linux. Of course, platforms with a web vault should still be accessible on Linux through the browser.