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Bitwarden: Free, open-source password manager

bitwarden.com

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Re: Bitwarden: Free, open-source password manager

#241

Post by windexh8er »

flangola7 wrote: post #225
josephd79 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When was the last time you used it? They just had a UI change here recently and it's better than the original. It's cheaper for personal and family accounts compared to 1password. I've been a paying customer of Bitwarden for a long time now and have never experienced any of these issues. FYI, 1password has taken almost 1 billion dollars in vc investment. They have an obscene amount of pressure to grow.

Why would a password manager need $1B? Cloud password manager functionality can be accomplished in 6U of server space. Vault files are measured in kilobytes or megabytes, millions of customers could be handled by a single SSD RAID and a fast Xeon. Infrastructure and software to make it secure, reliable, and user friendly, add expense but not 9 digits of it.

I do realize that Bitwarden has also taken funding, but nowhere near this much. That being said I'm always baffled by some talking heads in the security space who continuously hock 1Password. I'm sorry, but when you've taken that amount of funding - the customer is no longer the customer, the investors are and that is who is being catered to. Does the industry as a whole not remember LastPass and the garbage that has become to cater to "Enterprise"? I would bet good money that I can come back to this post in less than 10 years and highlight the downfall of how 1Password has changed hands, changed direction and the product has become less than ideal or a leader in their space. The upside with Bitwarden is it can be forked and kept true to it's roots. I get it, 1Password has a few things that work slightly better - but I'm forced to use it for work and despise it's bloated feel comparative to Bitwarden.

Re: Bitwarden: Free, open-source password manager

#242

Post by windexh8er »

jrm4 wrote: post #236
bad_user wrote: post #39

I wanted to like Bitwarden, due to its “open source” nature. But 1Password is really miles ahead, and it's a little ironic, as 1Password 8 went through a major refactoring to a Node-enabled UI, which many people disliked, and it's still miles and miles ahead. I tried teaching my father to use Bitwarden for the sole reason that it seemed to be translated into my native tongue. In his use, Bitwarden turned out to be co…

"Bitwarden also took VC investments. Which is fine." Nope. With that, you've quite literally convinced me to not just avoid it forever, but to also recommend others do the same. VC investments means "they're gonna want money back at some point," and the service they provide is too important to have that hanging in the air, especially given how badly MANY other VC backed things have screwed things up. You've effective…

There is a difference and that is the Bitwarden bits are open source. If the masses decide to change direction and leave Bitwarden as a paid for service - they can. That can't be said about 1Password. IMO this counterbalance of OSS and VC investment can help to keep things in line - look at how this exact situation is playing out for Hashicorp. When you're $1B deep with no way for your customers to push back - you, as an end user, are no longer the customer. I still recommend Bitwarden over 1Password because of this.

Re: Bitwarden: Free, open-source password manager

#243

Post by belthesar »

alt227 wrote: post #92
luczsoma wrote: post #87

1Password is miles ahead. Its UX is WAY better, as is its cryptography architecture and its security whitepaper ( https://1passwordstatic.com/files/security/1password-white-p... ). Bitwarden doesn’t even come close.

Unfortunately 1Password doesnt have the main feature that most of us are probably using bitwarden for, self hosting. EDIT: I have just noticed this. Everyone whos interest should submit! https://survey.1password.com/self-host/

Ironically, I tried to fill out that form, and I receive a 429 when trying to submit. I guess they aren't going to get a lot of requests to make this product a reality if they can't get feedback that folks want it.

Re: Bitwarden: Free, open-source password manager

#244

Post by [deleted] »

bruh2 wrote: post #238
jrm4 wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Bitwarden also took VC investments. Which is fine." Nope. With that, you've quite literally convinced me to not just avoid it forever, but to also recommend others do the same. VC investments means "they're gonna want money back at some point," and the service they provide is too important to have that hanging in the air, especially given how badly MANY other VC backed things have screwed things up. You've effective…

Do you have any examples of startups that went to shit due to VC funding? I have a feeling you're completely right, and I want to recommend others to avoid it. I might need some examples to back this up though:)

[deleted]

Re: Bitwarden: Free, open-source password manager

#245

Post by monlockandkey »

2rsf wrote: post #117
monlockandkey wrote: post #67

I don't agree with the self hosted Bitwarden philosophy. Having a "server" to manage passwords is overkill for most people. The best is to use an encrypted keepass file stored on your cloud storage (Google drive, Dropbox etc). It is portable and easy to access from anywhere ( don't need to VPN to your local network). Not a fan of the self hosted server password management model. Doesn't make any sense unless managing…

I agree with the first part of your statement, but how do you access an encrypted keepass file from mobiles?

https://keeweb.info/

Re: Bitwarden: Free, open-source password manager

#246

Post by johnchristopher »

kpdemetriou wrote: post #134
tiffanyh wrote: post #13

FYI - Bitwarden took $100M in VC money last year. At some point, the pressure to aggressively monetize will unfortunately happen. https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/06/open-source-password-manag...

The typical trajectory of VC-backed companies is one of the things that led us to develop Backbone[1]. We've opted to forego VC funding and the short-term benefits in entails to build the long-term foundational infrastructure for end-to-end encryption. Another concerning realization is how sparingly encryption is used in (many) modern password managers. Sure, it makes search easier but it also leaks secrets stored in…

FWIW that crypto effect on headings prevents quick visual scanning/parsing of the page and is mildly inconvenient.

Re: Bitwarden: Free, open-source password manager

#248

Post by rented_mule »

bad_user wrote: post #39

I wanted to like Bitwarden, due to its “open source” nature. But 1Password is really miles ahead, and it's a little ironic, as 1Password 8 went through a major refactoring to a Node-enabled UI, which many people disliked, and it's still miles and miles ahead. I tried teaching my father to use Bitwarden for the sole reason that it seemed to be translated into my native tongue. In his use, Bitwarden turned out to be co…

> Why does everything need freaking VC investments?

I share this frustration. Putting aside the ambitions of founders and initial investors in order to address your question about "everything"...

I think it comes down to tech being perennially talent constrained. It might not feel like that right now after a year or two of big layoffs, but every time that has happened, another long hiring boom has started within a couple of years.

If there were enough competent engineers (in this case, ones that aren't going to get the company in the news for things like cryptography mistakes or sloppy data handling), then that would change all of this. But there aren't, so these companies are left competing for the scarce talent.

You need a large pool of resources for that competition. VC money (eventually replaced by liquid stock grants) is often the easiest source of that. So, VCs can help a company keep and add talent, but in return they want hypergrowth.

Re: Bitwarden: Free, open-source password manager

#249

Post by cycomanic »

chickahoona wrote: post #240
bad_user wrote: post #39

I wanted to like Bitwarden, due to its “open source” nature. But 1Password is really miles ahead, and it's a little ironic, as 1Password 8 went through a major refactoring to a Node-enabled UI, which many people disliked, and it's still miles and miles ahead. I tried teaching my father to use Bitwarden for the sole reason that it seemed to be translated into my native tongue. In his use, Bitwarden turned out to be co…

Have you ever tried Psono? (I am the main developer behind it). Its open source, client side encryption, offers free versions for individuals, regular audited and and bootstrapped / no VC money. Would be happy to hear your opinion how it compares to 1password.

I just had a look if psono would be for me. One thing that I discover all too often (and that is also the case here) is that SSO (openid Salm...) is considered enterprise (sorry for calling you out here right now, this is a general frustration).

If I selfhost i want to not have to manage all my services with individual logins. Selfhosting with e.g. Authentik to provide SSO and identity management is really a perfect solution, but alas so many projects lock SSO away in their enterprise edition (good on psono to not make it ridiculously expensive like often is the case).

Re: Bitwarden: Free, open-source password manager

#250

Post by pacija »

flangola7 wrote: post #225
josephd79 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When was the last time you used it? They just had a UI change here recently and it's better than the original. It's cheaper for personal and family accounts compared to 1password. I've been a paying customer of Bitwarden for a long time now and have never experienced any of these issues. FYI, 1password has taken almost 1 billion dollars in vc investment. They have an obscene amount of pressure to grow.

Why would a password manager need $1B? Cloud password manager functionality can be accomplished in 6U of server space. Vault files are measured in kilobytes or megabytes, millions of customers could be handled by a single SSD RAID and a fast Xeon. Infrastructure and software to make it secure, reliable, and user friendly, add expense but not 9 digits of it.

I would be more interested in knowing why would a password manager _get_ $1B.
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