Most Popular Password Manager: LastPass
There are more password managers out there than we can count, but the best offer a rich mix of security, features, portability, and cross-platform support. Last week, we asked you to list your favorites , and then we looked at five of the best password managers . It’s time to crown the favorite, Lifehacker.
My times have changed. A few years ago, our new winner would never have taken first place, but this time LastPass got the pennant with over 43% of the vote. It’s cross-platform, flexible, easy to use, and available at $ 12 / year for premium. You have the option to sync your passwords online and across devices, or manage your passwords yourself offline, and with LastPass Trust No One’s approach to security, you’re the only one who can decrypt your vault.
The second place was taken by 1Password with 26% of the votes, a beautiful and well-designed password manager that is also cross-platform, but gives you the option to buy once and own forever instead of paying a subscription. With 1Password, you own your vault and sync it (or not) however you see fit. Third place and about 20% of the vote went to the winner of bygone days, KeePass , an open source Windows-only password manager (although there are many forks and clones for OS X, Linux and mobile platforms). Free and flexible, KeePass works in any window on your system, not just the Internet, and gives you the freedom to manage your storage however you like – without syncing or using web services. Fourth and fifth places were virtually equal – or we could say there was an equal fourth place – with 5.3% of the vote each (615 votes each, to be precise) were Dashlane and Roboform . Dashlane is a gorgeous cross-platform digital wallet and password manager that works like a charm, has easy secure password exchange and an incredible password change feature that makes it easy to check your passwords or change your password on a compromised account. However, it is expensive. Roboform, on the other hand, has been around for a long time (15 years!), And while its interface needs updating, it is still an effective password manager and auto-filling tool that has earned its diehard fans.
To learn more about each of them and honorable mentions not listed here, be sure to return to the full Hive Five feature to find out more.