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Ask HN: What password managers can you recommend?

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41–50 of 136 posts

Re: Ask HN: What password managers can you recommend?

#42
post #9
post #2

Bitwarden. The free version does everything I need from a password manager (which is to store, sync and generate passwords); decent browser extension, decent mobile app.

+1 Bitwarden. I wish they dog fooded more so they can see how bad their browser extension is though.

On firefox, their browser extension is excellent for me; what issues do you have?

Re: Ask HN: What password managers can you recommend?

#45

I use LastPass. I love that it has a mobile app for me to copy/paste on my phone and my wife's phone. It has a really good browser extension. I do pay the small fee for multiple devices.

A few HN posts from the last week regarding LastPass:

Ask HN: How did my LastPass master password get leaked?: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29716715

LastPass users warned their master passwords are compromised: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29716715

Re: Ask HN: What password managers can you recommend?

#46
post #26

I hate what 1Password has become, and how user-hostile Agile Bits are. BUT after the last bait and switch they pulled I tested _every single password manager on the market_, and the bad news is that the others are all worse. The only two I found that I liked, but sadly lacked at least one feature that we need, were Secrets [0] and Elpass [1]. I think both might fail your requirements list too. I've begrudgingly had t…

I've been a happy 1PW user on Windows 10 for a few years, but admit I haven't paid a lot of attention. I haven't noticed any big changes. What are you guys referring to?

They've made a laundry list of user-hostile changes in the last few years, enough to turn me from a very vocal advocate recommending 1P to everyone I know, into someone with a visceral dislike of the company and everything they do. They've repeatedly removed features that people relied on (self-managed sync), done all sorts of dark patterns to trick people into subscribing and the app just keeps getting worse. My biggest bugbear on that last point is that it's no longer possible to tab to the generate password button - something that was possible in every version up until the latest one. And to top it all off, the next version is going to be yet another stinking Electron turd eating up your system resources.

Re: Ask HN: What password managers can you recommend?

#47
post #26

I hate what 1Password has become, and how user-hostile Agile Bits are. BUT after the last bait and switch they pulled I tested _every single password manager on the market_, and the bad news is that the others are all worse. The only two I found that I liked, but sadly lacked at least one feature that we need, were Secrets [0] and Elpass [1]. I think both might fail your requirements list too. I've begrudgingly had t…

I've been a happy 1PW user on Windows 10 for a few years, but admit I haven't paid a lot of attention. I haven't noticed any big changes. What are you guys referring to?

They made generating passwords more difficult. You can no longer tell it how many, e.g., special symbols to use, only to use them or not. This means regenerating new passwords over and over until one fits site requirements, and/or manual tweaking that might unintentionally reduce entropy.

They stopped supporting the mobile extension. I can no longer invoke 1Password from Safari on iOS. If I'm lucky, then Safari's own AutoFill will recognize what I'm trying to do, and connect to 1Password that way. Otherwise I have to manually copy login credentials from the 1Password app to Safari. Either way, that is not an acceptable solution.

They make it increasingly difficult to find and use the non-subscription version of their software.

The new desktop software is a giant Electron mess.

And the developers respond to any and all criticism with the polite corporate-speak version of a giant middle finger.

Re: Ask HN: What password managers can you recommend?

#48
post #26

I hate what 1Password has become, and how user-hostile Agile Bits are. BUT after the last bait and switch they pulled I tested _every single password manager on the market_, and the bad news is that the others are all worse. The only two I found that I liked, but sadly lacked at least one feature that we need, were Secrets [0] and Elpass [1]. I think both might fail your requirements list too. I've begrudgingly had t…

I've been a happy 1PW user on Windows 10 for a few years, but admit I haven't paid a lot of attention. I haven't noticed any big changes. What are you guys referring to?

1) Pressure to move from standalone purchase to subscription pricing

2) For some reason, using the above as justification to also try pressuring folks from moving from stand-alone vaults to cloud native vaults, which people worry is less secure

3) Switching to electron app rather than fully native app

4) When users voice above criticism, responding with BS, rather than engage in a fair, honest and transparent way

Bottom line, they raised a ton of cash, and it seems clear they are focused on decreasing costs and increasing profitability, at the expense of what made their loyal long time users love them

Re: Ask HN: What password managers can you recommend?

#49

I use LastPass. I love that it has a mobile app for me to copy/paste on my phone and my wife's phone. It has a really good browser extension. I do pay the small fee for multiple devices.

Another vote for LastPass, though I haven't cross-shopped in a while. It generally "works", including on iOS. (You can enable auto-fill directly in Mobile Safari in Setting > Passwords > AutoFill, so I rarely have to open the app anymore.) Chrome extension experience on desktop is similarly "fine".

The LastPass app itself is just "ok" from a UI perspective, but again, I use that part rarely.

Re: Ask HN: What password managers can you recommend?

#50

I use LastPass. I love that it has a mobile app for me to copy/paste on my phone and my wife's phone. It has a really good browser extension. I do pay the small fee for multiple devices.

A few HN posts from the last week regarding LastPass: Ask HN: How did my LastPass master password get leaked?: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29716715 LastPass users warned their master passwords are compromised: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29716715

Note that master passwords were not compromised, the the warnings were triggered in error[1]. That's not to say that other concerns around security aren't valid.

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/28/22857485/lastpass-compro...

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