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Ask HN: What password managers can you recommend?

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

#72

Why are Dropbox and iCloud preferable to 1Password sync?

Because they work at a standard level of abstraction (the file system) and can be replaced if necessary. I can replace Dropbox with Box or Syncthing or OwnCloud or rsync or sftp coupled with crontab or an FSEventsD monitor or whatever I want, at any time I want. 1Password's proprietary sync isn't open source and isn't open standards. It is designed to lock me into reliance on a company that has inarguably demonstrate…

My password manager works just like this! It just monitors shared folders and keeps everything in a compressed/32k encoded XML file that you can open with a text editor.

It's 1 file per vault, but multiple people can use the same vault and all are update simultaneously.

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

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bitwarden is just as user-hostile. They go out of their way to make it harder to own your data, when it should just be local-first vaults. Import/export is irrelevant. I want to own my data, not just be able to check out a copy whenever I want.

Curious what makes you say this. I recently started using it and it has prominent import and export functionality.

[deleted]

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

#75
As stupid as it might sound, but my recommendation is a simple paper notebook. Certainly, it is less convenient; but in terms of security, one pretty much needs physical access to obtain it.

Otherwise, I think KeePass will do you just fine. I'd advice against any form of browser integration. Stick with the auto-type type feature instead. Connecting a full, decrypted password database directly to a _browser_ sounds scary.

Consider installing an add-on in your browser that changes the window title to include the page's URL. This way KeePass' window matching works a lot better.

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

#77
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…

What features were missing?

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

#78
post #13
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.

I use Bitwarden, but the lack of auto type on Desktop as well as the limited selection of symbols of the password generator annoys me a lot

Re: lack of autofill (at least for the browser extension), Ctrl-Shfit-L will fill in forms with the top candidate. Not quite autofill, but I find it faster than clicking.

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

#80
Considering how important security is in a password manager, I don't trust any other than Bitwarden.

It's been audited [0] by external companies multiple times and both the client and the server are fully open source [1].

I know others may say that the encryption is too weak[2], but that's true for all other password managers too [3], since Argon2id is not mature enough to run as a WASM module in the browser yet (especially not on mobile).

[0] https://bitwarden.com/help/article/is-bitwarden-audited/

[1] https://github.com/bitwarden

[2] https://github.com/bitwarden/jslib/issues/52

[3] https://github.com/bitwarden/jslib/issues/52#issuecomment-78...

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