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I have been using password managers for more than 10 years now. I mainly used KeePass which is working fine for me personally, but I always missed specific features. So I started looking into a new password manager and limited the choices down to Keeper vs 1Password vs LastPass.

The reason why I am looking for something else that I miss features like easily sharing passwords with family members or accessing it from other devices. I have set up KeePass with a key file and master password. I stored the KeePass database on one cloud storage provider and the key file on another. So technically I can access it from everywhere, but it isn’t really convenient. So I did some research and finally tested Keeper, 1Password and LastPass.

Comparing 1Password vs LastPass vs Keeper

So before we go into details between the three password managers, lets first take a look at the key features of the three and their differences.

1Password Personal1Password FamilyKeeper PersonalKeeper FamilyLastPass FreeLastPass PremiumLastPass Family
Number of Members1515116
Guests access5 guests
Two-factor authentication
Emergency Access
Secure Storage1Gb1Gb10Gb50Mb1Gb1Gb
Travel Mode
Price per month$2.99$4.99$2.50$5.00Free$3.00$4.00

In the comparison table, I added only the key differences. All three password managers support all devices (iOS, Android, Windows, Linux, Mac), can store an unlimited amount of passwords and don’t have a limit on the number of devices you are using it on.

LastPass is the only password manager in this comparison that has a free version, how it compares to the premium version I will explain later. The prices of the other plans are in the same line, around $3.00 for personal use and $5.00 for a family plan.

Security features

The most important aspect of a password manager are the security features. They can all store you password safely, but do they also help you / train you in using secure passwords?

To protect your online identity is it important to use a different strong password for each site and 2FA (Two Factor Authentication) where possible. Using a password manager allows you to create new passwords easily. But do you also keep track of passwords that are breached? Or maybe you are using the same password multiple times?

1Password Watchtower

1Password helps you with a secure online identity with there Watchtower feature. Watchtower keeps an eye out for security issue with sites and services that you are using. Maybe one of the sites you are using is hacked exposing your account to hackers. 1Password has partnered-up with haveibeenpwn.com, allowing to keep track of your account and weak passwords.

If you are logged-in to 1Password you will see Watchtower on the left side in the menu. It will give you an overview of your overall password strength, which passwords are vulnerable (a password that is found in a database of hacked passwords), if you reused passwords or if you are using weak passwords.

Another great feature of Watchtower is that it tells you when you are not using 2FA on a website, while it’s supported and it keeps track on the expiring dates of your passport, driver license or credit cards.

Watchtower is a free feature of 1Password and is included in every plan.

Keeper Security Audit

Keeper comes with a more basic free security feature and a paid advanced security feature. The Security Audit is a free security feature that comes with every plan. It will give you an overview of your password strength, weak passwords and reused passwords.

It doesn’t check if your passwords are breached, if you want to know this, you will have to buy the additional feature called BreachWatch. BreachWatch will scan the dark web for know passwords. A feature is similar to what ihavebeenpwn.com does. Adding BreachWatch will cost you $19.99 a year for the personal plan and $ 39.99 a year for the family plan.

LastPass Security Challenge

The security check of LastPass is a little bit different. It’s accessible from your main screen, but it will open in a new screen and you will have to login before you can see your score. Not a real big deal, but not really convenient.

It will check your password on strength, if it’s reused or if it’s compromised. Now the funny thing is, for the tests I created on all three password managers the same passwords. The password for the two test accounts are simply Test123, so yes it is weak. But this also a password that is compromised, because it’s listed in every known password database.

1Password listed that password as vulnerable, which is correct, but LastPass only flags it as weak, while it’s compromised for sure.

Password Manager Family

What I personally really was missing was an easy way to share my password with my wife. So let’s take a look at the family plans. Keeper and LastPass are pretty much the same prices. LastPass gives you 6 family account, Keeper only 5. So if you have a big household then you are cheaper out with LastPass on that point.

With all family plans, every member gets there own personal password vault. You can share passwords with your household and control the access from one account. The features that you get with a family plan are for LastPass, Keeper and 1Password pretty much the same.

Good to know is that with 1Password you can add additional members for only $1. And with Keeper, you get 10Gb of secure storage with a family plan. Secure storage is nice (for important documents etc), but I think you won’t reach 1Gb with it pretty soon. Secure storage isn’t really meant for saving you holiday pictures for example.

1Password Travel mode

1Password is the only password manager at the moment that comes with a travel mode. Now what is it and when do you use it? Travel mode removes the passwords from your device that are not safe to take with you when you travel.

You might have access to corporate services that are a huge security risk if they are leaked, or you want to protect your personal data and don’t want the customs to see or get access to your accounts. With Travel mode, you mark the passwords that are safe to keep with you, and when you enable travel mode every other account will be removed from your device.

1Password doesn’t hide the password on your device, it really removes the data from your device. This way when you devices gets lost you won’t have to worry about your password vault.

It’s a feature that most of us don’t need, but if you travel a lot for your work this can really be a welcome feature to have.

LastPass Free vs Premium

LastPass is the only password manager of these three that have a free plan. The last couple of years the free plan came closer to the premium plan, so what are the differences between LastPass Free and Premium?

In the past you could only use the free version on one device, but that limitation is gone. You can now use the LastPass Free plan on every device you have. When you go for the premium plan you will get the following extra features:

  • 1Gb Secure Storage
  • Two-Factor Authentication
  • Desktop Applications login
  • Desktop fingerprint identification
  • No ads

I really recommend using two-factor authentication for any password vault. In the vault are all your important and personal login accounts. For your bank, work, credit card details, mail etc. With 2FA you will add an extra layer of security to your vault (something you know (your master password) and something you have (your mobile phone)).

Pricing

The prices between 1Password vs Keeper vs LastPass are pretty much the same. Only the LastPass family plan is a dollar cheaper than the other two. Besides the password managers that I mentioned here are there also free alternatives on the market, like LastPass free.

But the additional features that you get, sharing with your family, secure storage, all devices are supported (something that isn’t always the fact with the free versions) makes it worth your money in my opinion.

Most of us don’t mind paying for Spotify subscription so we can listen to our favorite music but don’t want to spend $3 on keeping our online identity secure. A good and reliable password manager is money well spent.

If you are going for Keeper, which comes with more secure storage and is the cheapest of three for personal use, then you can use this link to get 15% discount on the first year.

As a response to COVID-19, 1Password has removed the 30-day trial period on 1Password Business so you can start keeping your teams secure without getting finance involved.

Conclusion

After reviewing and testing these three password managers I have gone for 1Password. What I really like about it is the watchtower security feature. It keeps track of all my accounts, my family accounts, and warns me when an account or password is compromised.

Also, the interface with the ability to create different vaults worked for me. If you don’t use a password manager yet and you don’t want to spend money on it, then go for the LastPass free version. LastPass is also a great product and a really go solution to start with.