Bitwarden Is Now the Best Free Alternative to LastPass
Whether you’re looking to change your password management just because you are a LastPass user who is annoyed by recent changes to the free service tier, upgrading to the much-loved (and free) Bitwarden service is a good choice. … Bitwarden is now the best free password manager for most people – as it works across all your devices, making it more convenient and secure to sign in – and setting it up is quick and easy.
To get started, head over to the Bitwarden website and create an account. It’s free and all you have to worry about is giving yourself a strong master password . Make it nice and something you won’t be anywhere else, because it will be one of the gatekeepers for all your other passwords that you will store in the service. Once you’ve created your account and signed in, make sure you verify your email address using the option in the top right corner.
If you’re migrating from another service – like LastPass – you’ll need to find a tool that you can use to export passwords. In LastPass, this is hidden under the More Options link at the bottom; exporting your passwords will basically convert them to a simple .CSV list.
Then you copy the list (which I am not removing for obvious reasons) directly into Bitwarden via the Tools > Import Data menu.
All of your passwords will appear on your home screen and should also sync with your various Bitwarden apps the next time you use them. To change any of your passwords, simply click the hyperlink for that site or service. You can also use the gear icon that appears when you hover over each ad to copy your username or password directly to your clipboard.
These are the basics of Bitwarden, but you’re not done yet. Click on your profile picture in the upper right corner and select My Account. From there, click on ” Two-Step Sign In” on the left-most sidebar.
This is where you’ll set up two-factor authentication for your account – it’s not required to use Bitwarden, but it’s highly recommended to protect your account from unauthorized logins. You can choose to receive 2FA codes via email to verify any login attempts, but I recommend that you use an authentication app instead. They are just as easy to set up and act as a password manager for all of your 2FA tokens.
You can also click the Options link on the left sidebar, which will allow you to configure the storage timeout, such as how long it will remain open since the last time it was accessed. Pass this time and you will have to enter your password again. Disable this value if you are using a shared computer, and consider increasing it slightly if you feel particularly confident with your setup.
After that, download all the Bitwarden apps and extensions you need for your devices and browsers. Installing them is easy and gives you access to whatever you store in your Bitwarden vault. In the case of your browser, for example, you just need to right-click the password prompt to open Bitwarden’s autocomplete:
And it’s all. The free version of Bitwarden doesn’t offer a ton of features – it doesn’t check stored passwords for leaks, for example – but gives you a quick and easy way to sync passwords across all your devices. What’s not to like?