The quiet renovation at Bitwarden • Hacker News Board

Re: The quiet renovation at Bitwarden

#191

Post by JuniperMesos » Mon, May 18, 2026, 9:12 PM UTC

varbhat wrote: post #78

I have moved to KeepassXC[1] on my desktop from Bitwarden. On phone, I use KeepassDX[2] which is Android client compatible with KeepassXC. On browser, I use KeepassXC Browser extension which connects with the desktop client. Since KeepassXC operates on a single file, you can use any Filesystem syncing tool to sync that file between devices or to store it in the cloud. I am really happy with the move. [1]: https://kee…

The file syncing, particularly between Android phone and multiple desktop machines, is my biggest worry with this workflow. Will the synced Keepass file get corrupted if I add a new password on the phone and also on desktop, and then later try to merge them?

Re: The quiet renovation at Bitwarden

#192

Post by worksonmine » Mon, May 18, 2026, 9:13 PM UTC

Balvarez wrote: post #101

Omg, do we really need to make another app suck? I left last pass years ago, I'll leave again but wow I'm tired of this cycle. Private equity is truly the destroyer of value. The next time will be self hosted. Anyone know of a password manager that can encrypte and live in say Google drive?

How portable do you need it to be? I use pass[1] and it is good. Just a shell script wrapper to gpg and the passwords are encrypted files you can backup and sync anyway you want.

[1]: https://www.passwordstore.org/

Re: The quiet renovation at Bitwarden

#193

Post by ibizaman » Mon, May 18, 2026, 9:24 PM UTC

xienze wrote: post #172

duckmysick wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Question for anyone self-hosting vaultwarden: how reliable is it and how do you harden it? I'm thinking about running it in a container (Podman Quadlet with systemd) behind a VPN, with daily backups with borg. Anything I'm overlooking here?

> how do you harden it? By not exposing it to the wider internet. When I use a client (iPhone, browser, etc.) while on the home network, it syncs. While off the network, the last synced data is still there. That's been good enough for me.

When the server can’t be accessed, you can’t create a secret, right? This has been quite annoying in my experience. I’d still recommend Bitwarden clients with self-hosted Vaultwarden.

Re: The quiet renovation at Bitwarden

#194

Post by throwaway270925 » Mon, May 18, 2026, 9:26 PM UTC

dgavrilov wrote: post #168

megamike wrote: post #2

what are some bitwarden alternatives?

Passbolt https://www.passbolt.com/

No they aren't. They have a minimum of 10 users on their cloud plans and no offers at all for individuals, except self hosting - and you can just use vaultwarden at that point anyway...

Re: The quiet renovation at Bitwarden

#195

Post by MatmaRex » Mon, May 18, 2026, 9:27 PM UTC

JuniperMesos wrote: post #191

varbhat wrote: post #78

I have moved to KeepassXC[1] on my desktop from Bitwarden. On phone, I use KeepassDX[2] which is Android client compatible with KeepassXC. On browser, I use KeepassXC Browser extension which connects with the desktop client. Since KeepassXC operates on a single file, you can use any Filesystem syncing tool to sync that file between devices or to store it in the cloud. I am really happy with the move. [1]: https://kee…

The file syncing, particularly between Android phone and multiple desktop machines, is my biggest worry with this workflow. Will the synced Keepass file get corrupted if I add a new password on the phone and also on desktop, and then later try to merge them?

No, KeepassXC has an option to merge databases, it never caused me any trouble. I have a similar setup to parent commenter.

Re: The quiet renovation at Bitwarden

#196

Post by WesolyKubeczek » Mon, May 18, 2026, 9:28 PM UTC

giancarlostoro wrote: post #92

welder wrote: post #27

I don't care about raising prices, I'm worried about the new CEO having a PE mindset. That means Bitwarden will now focus on extracting value while the product stagnates and degrades in quality. Time to jump ship before their security and quality goes down the drain.

Not my project but Vaultwarden is an open source (in Rust) alternative backend for Bitwarden. I believe its been around a while, and is still maintained. https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden

Don't I have to rely on the OG frontend/GUI components, though? They are one automatic update away from bundling taking custom server address away with important security fixes, in a way that you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Re: The quiet renovation at Bitwarden

#197

Post by PunchyHamster » Mon, May 18, 2026, 9:30 PM UTC

WesolyKubeczek wrote: post #196

giancarlostoro wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not my project but Vaultwarden is an open source (in Rust) alternative backend for Bitwarden. I believe its been around a while, and is still maintained. https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden

Don't I have to rely on the OG frontend/GUI components, though? They are one automatic update away from bundling taking custom server address away with important security fixes, in a way that you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Technically yes but the frontend is so far open source so forking that is also something that could technically happen if company ever went back on it.

Re: The quiet renovation at Bitwarden

#198

Post by PunchyHamster » Mon, May 18, 2026, 9:31 PM UTC

duckmysick wrote: post #103

giancarlostoro wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not my project but Vaultwarden is an open source (in Rust) alternative backend for Bitwarden. I believe its been around a while, and is still maintained. https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden

Question for anyone self-hosting vaultwarden: how reliable is it and how do you harden it? I'm thinking about running it in a container (Podman Quadlet with systemd) behind a VPN, with daily backups with borg. Anything I'm overlooking here?

I touched it never aside from updates and it never failed. I compiled it from sources tho

Re: The quiet renovation at Bitwarden

#199

Post by afavour » Mon, May 18, 2026, 9:33 PM UTC

giancarlostoro wrote: post #92

welder wrote: post #27

I don't care about raising prices, I'm worried about the new CEO having a PE mindset. That means Bitwarden will now focus on extracting value while the product stagnates and degrades in quality. Time to jump ship before their security and quality goes down the drain.

Not my project but Vaultwarden is an open source (in Rust) alternative backend for Bitwarden. I believe its been around a while, and is still maintained. https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden

Personally, I want to avoid the responsibility for hosting it myself. I'm happy to pay for that. But a reasonable amount. Today Bitwarden's price is fine for me, but I worry about what's coming.

Re: The quiet renovation at Bitwarden

#200

Post by baggachipz » Mon, May 18, 2026, 9:33 PM UTC

Postosuchus wrote: post #185

baggachipz wrote: post #166

Say what you will, but the Apple ecosystem's Passwords app and integration works great. It locks me into their services (iCloud), but I don't see them ever charging for it or sunsetting it. (watch me eat my words in the near future)

Google's is even better, as it is cross-platform (although same caveat of having even more dependency on your account is still true). Plus (not sure about Apple) but Google also does (portable) passkeys and OTP.

Apple does portable passkeys and OTP as well. I know you're going to laugh at me since I'm using Apple, but I don't trust Google with anything. Apple at least pretends to care about keeping my information in-house.