Online security should be a constant concern for all internet users. One important rule is to use different passwords with each of your online accounts. Other rules could be to make them as long as possible or to change them regularly. But remembering all of these might be a hustle, without the help of a dedicated tool – the password manager.
In an alphabetical order, these solutions stand out:
- https://1password.com/
- https://bitwarden.com/
- https://www.dashlane.com/
- https://www.enpass.io/
- https://keeweb.info/
- https://www.lastpass.com/
- https://www.passbolt.com/
- https://passwords.google.com/
BitWarden – the champion
I currently use bitwarden. I started with it because:
- it got recommended by a friend, which is always good 🙂
- it has quite a cool name, right? 🙂
- it has quite a generous offer for the free tier and can also be selfhosted;
- while using it, it proved to cover most of my needs, thus I had no reason to search for alternatives.
The main way I use it is with the browser add-on, which helps with autocompleting passwords. Also, with the browser always open, selecting and copying the password I need is a piece of cake.
Later I found that it has a command line. At first it might seem overkill, but as a programmer, you can find good use for it with automation tools like jenkins.
Browser addon links:
- https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/bitwarden-password-manager/
- https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bitwarden-free-password-m/nngceckbapebfimnlniiiahkandclblb
- https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/bitwarden-free-password-manager/
- Safari:
https://blog.bitwarden.com/safari-browser-extension-released-996734e17610
Some information about bitwarden can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eteLdrE9tI
Some important ideas outlined in the video:
- this is a viable product on the long run, as it has viable possibilities of creating income;
- the code is completely open source;
- it is available for multiple operating systems and browsers.
Some notes on the alternatives
Dashlane, 1password, Enpass and Lastpass are the most famous and easily accessible. They are quite good and due to their popularity the offer very good features, but the aim of this article is to find open source solutions.
Passbolt
Passbolt is quite a serious challenger for the winner, with users and groups management standing out as an option.
https://www.passbolt.com/
KeeWeb
KeeWeb is a browser and desktop manager, which doesn’t require any server or additional resources.
https://keeweb.info/
A special mention goes out for the Google password manager, found at:
https://passwords.google.com/
As most of the products this company offers, the password manager does its job right, looks good and will probably be available for a long time.
Interesting information
haveibeenpwned.com might show information on whether your email address exists in leaked databases or not. As you should take everything with a grain of salt, do take into consideration that this could be one of the websites with gather emails, regardless of what they declare.
More on the matter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H2CKTRqOEQ