Keeper vs. LastPass: Compare Password Managers

Keeper and LastPass are two top competitors in the password management field — among the best password managers of 2023. These services are comparable in price, features, and compatibility.

LastPass has a leg up with its free tier, which has most of the basic functionality you could want. But it limits syncing across all device types (computers, smartphones, and tablets) to its premium plan. While you’ll have to pay for an entry-level Keeper plan, all its features are unlocked from the get-go.

Which password manager should you get? Let this Keeper vs. LastPass face-off help you decide which one is best for you.

For businesses, team plans work for up to 50 members at $4 per user per month with a yearly subscription, and business plans start at $6 per user monthly. LastPass easily ranks among one of the better cheap password managers on the market. In the end, neither got a leg up on the other, so we had to call in a draw.

LastPass recommends running Windows 8.1 and above, Catalina 10.15 (for macOS), Chrome OS, or one of the most common distributions of Linux. Supported browsers include Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and Opera.

The thing I found most interesting about the UX was the reward mechanism implemented for exploring the user interface (UI). It will give you a 10% discount for completing “achievements,” mostly geared toward teaching how to use the features of this service. I love this concept and hope to see it crop up more often for services like this.

Likewise, LastPass’s form-filling feature works fine. Still, it isn’t apparent how to distinguish between data sets until you’ve set up a few — particularly if you have multiple addresses under the same name.

The system seems to assume each address will be for a different person. But if you’re adding many addresses, this could make the form-filling drop-down menu significantly more difficult to use. In the end, both worked well; I had minor quibbles with each.

On the LastPass side, I found the actual front-facing Security Dashboard built into the browser extension to be thorough and a breeze to use, with features not commonly seen for these kinds of services, such as dark web monitoring. Other features, such as identifying weak or compromised passwords, worked well, with helpful suggestions on strengthening your security.

Despite several great features, it is worth noting that LastPass experienced a security breach on November 30, 2022. While the company assures users their passwords were not leaked, it admits the attacker gained access to certain elements of customers’ information. The specifics are unclear, so we deducted major points from LastPass’s score.

LastPass also allows you to enable 2FA when accessing your dashboard. There are many free options to use an authenticator, with more options (including YubiKey and fingerprint sensors) available to those who pay for the premium service.

This adds a welcome layer of security and a level of control over that security method. Yet it’s a little disappointing this feature is only available to unlock your LastPass account itself, without an option to add MFA to specific website logins you might want to keep more secure.

Due to a recent security breach at LastPass, Keeper pulls ahead by two-tenths of a point, securing its victory. While I seriously weighed the breach against LastPass, the heavy encryption standards used by password management companies more or less ensure user data cannot be decrypted even if it is leaked. This knowledge may be enough for some people, yet LastPass has still not revealed what information was leaked.

It could have been benign but also could have included customer information that isn’t encrypted. Still, with its free tier, LastPass is among the best free password managers. And as close as these password managers performed up to that point, it’s incredibly easy to recommend Keeper over LastPass.

On the surface, all password managers essentially generate and store passwords. As I evaluated providers, I dug deeper, comparing software on what matters most, including price, platform compatibility, security, and other factors.

I signed up for a plan with each provider to test:

• Plan value: Most password managers offer various subscription plans from free to around $20 per month. While free plans may be sufficient for some, those that need more functionality may prefer paid plans. We included a wide array of free and paid password managers to find the one that works best for you.
• Platform compatibility: You likely access your online accounts from multiple devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, phones, as well as through different web browsers. Your password manager should be compatible with various devices, operating systems and browsers, and sync seamlessly between them all.
• UX: This is how you interface with all the features and functions of your new password manager — if it’s bad, you’ll be less likely to use the service. While this is a highly subjective category and some will disagree, it’s important to provide an overview based on my experience.
• Form filling: A password manager doesn’t have to include form-filling, but it’s somewhat standard and the ease with which it performs that function can be the deciding factor in which password manager you ultimately choose.
• Security: Since a password manager is first and foremost a security tool, it should come with all of the most up-to-date standard security features. This includes the highest level of available encryption (256-bit AES with PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA512); 2FA, such as biometric logins or MFA, and a password generator.
• Two-factor authentication (2FA): Used all over the internet to protect your accounts, this is quickly becoming a standard security practice. 2FA is a great way to secure more sensitive accounts to ensure they’re not breached.

Learn more about our review methodology.