Bitwarden

Long-term owners

I don't mind the increase, especially after 10 years, but I really don't like the fact that it seems they actively hid it.

Mar 2026 · comment

What hackers pick instead

• 1PasswordA long-trusted password manager praised for secret-key encryption, passkey and SSH key support and family sharing; critics dislike price hikes, Electron rewrites, glitchy autofill and its enterprise focus.238recommend
• KeePassXCA free, open-source, local-file password manager that stores passwords, TOTP seeds and exportable passkeys without tying you to a cloud provider; critics cite rough UI, flaky browser autofill and AI-assisted development.131recommend
• VaultwardenA lightweight, easy-to-deploy self-hosted server for Bitwarden clients that lets you own your vault data, though it depends on Bitwarden's clients and self-hosting something this critical carries risk.112recommend
• KeePassRecommended as a free, long-lived password manager that stores everything in one encrypted local file you control and sync however you like, though syncing and browser autofill can be rough.100recommend
• Apple PasswordsFree, built-in password manager with easy biometric autofill; critics cite a barebones feature set and Apple device lock-in.79recommend

Every quote

The 40 most detailed of 595 comments. Each links to the original.

1. I originally started using Bitwarden to achieve sync across Mac, Windows, and Linux machines, along with all major browser platforms. It's been great!

   Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “Two billion email addresses were exposed”

2. Bitwarden's format is at least implicitly documented via their open-source clients, and their data export includes all private/secret key material.

   Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “Don't use passkeys for encrypting user data”

3. I've experienced Bitwarden failing to auto-fill due to quirks on websites, but I've never seen it fail to identify the domain correctly.

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “On Getting Hacked”

4. Bitwarden has an open source self hosted option(you can also use their service), that can be set as provider in Android and Windows 11.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain”

5. Enshitification after an acquisition by private equity is a real threat to Bitwarden's perennity as a secure and free password manager.

   Mixed · May 2026 · in “Bitwarden scrubs 'Always free' and 'Inclusion' values from its site”

6. The key selling point of Bitwarden was that it is free-ish and it is easy enough to work with for somebody that is not too technical.

   Recommends · May 2026 · in “The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden”

7. A cross-platform password manager like Bitwarden handles passkeys (and passwords) across multiple operating systems, browsers, etc.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain”

8. Passkeys work great with Bitwarden too. With it being set up on all of my devices I actually often prefer the passkey experience.

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “I don't like passkeys”

9. If Bitwarden was sold they could remove all of this free functionality and interoperability with 3rd party clients immediately.

   Mixed · May 2026 · in “Bitwarden scrubs 'Always free' and 'Inclusion' values from its site”

10. I don't mind the increase, especially after 10 years, but I really don't like the fact that it seems they actively hid it.

    Mixed · Mar 2026

11. As a Bitwarden (and Vaultwarden) user on Mac/iOS/Safari, Linux/Firefox and Android I have had zero issues with passkeys

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Passkeys are not a trap”

12. Bitwarden[0] can store and supply passkeys (and passwords of course) across macOS, iOS, Windows and linux seamlessly.

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Passkeys are not a trap”

13. Bitwarden also increased their prices earlier this year, although it's still less than half the price of 1Password.

    Mixed · Mar 2026 · in “Bitwarden Integrates with OneCLI Agent Vault”

14. that's exactly how I use all my passkeys with Bitwarden. They sync to any device I have Bitwarden installed on

    Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain”

15. Linux, Mac, and Windows (i happen to use all three regularly for work, hobbies, gaming), Firefox + Bitwarden.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “I don't like passkeys”

16. self-hosted Bitwarden has seen like the best potential setup, yet still not perfect enough to warrant a move

    Mixed · Sep 2026 · in “1Password Replied to My Disappointment”

17. I'd recommend hanging in there a bit longer. I think there may be a moat around BW already for self-hosting.

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden”

18. I personally use bitwarden on my chrome profile across Windows Mac Linux and android and think it's great.

    Recommends · Apr 2026 · in “Gone (Almost) Phishin'”

19. It's a paltry price for an outstanding product with great features that improves my life/security greatly

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

20. The change in leadership, the poor transparency, 100% price increase and the quiet change in core values.

    Mixed · May 2026 · in “The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden”

21. you can use free bitwarden, which is better than Apple Passwords or others that are not cross platform.

    Recommends · Mar 2026 · in “GrapheneOS will remain usable by anyone without requiring personal information”

22. PE's entire modus operandi is enshittification. If there's no enshittification to be done there would be no point in purchasing the company

    Criticizes · May 2026 · in “The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden”

23. replacing the principled leader who promised things with the vulture leader whose job and job history is primarily to enshittify things

    Criticizes · May 2026 · in “Get your passwords out of Bitwarden while you still can”

24. I can't think of any good reason that 'fill' is not the default action on an app/extension whose core purpose is to fill things.

    Criticizes · May 2026 · in “I Do Not Recommend Bitwarden”

25. The subscription price is now a negative proposition, alongside the silent rollout and the other red flags raised in the post.

    Criticizes · May 2026 · in “The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden”

26. feel so bitter paying Bitwarden, Adobe, and all the other enshittified stacks that 30-100% uplift on the base plan to get SSO

    Criticizes · Oct 2026 · in “Ousted Savannah police officer gave ICE agent husband access to Flock system”

27. Later I did try Bitwarden but was unhappy with the ability to correctly identify username and password fields on websites.

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Two billion email addresses were exposed”

28. With the recent change in Bitwarden's license, not sure for how long they will continue to be self hosting friendly.

    Criticizes · Oct 2026 · in “What I self-host”

29. I really don't like Bitwarden's extensions, they have clunky UX, are slow and often don't even respect my settings.

    Criticizes · Nov 2025 · in “Two billion email addresses were exposed”

30. I don't find a 200% price increase to be reasonable. I've cancelled the premium, I can run my TOTP somewhere else.

    Criticizes · May 2026 · in “I Do Not Recommend Bitwarden”

31. I literally just spent hours in January of researching all the commonly mentioned options out there and trying them for myself before deciding fully on Bitwarden Family

    Recommends · May 2026 · in “Bitwarden scrubs 'Always free' and 'Inclusion' values from its site”

32. Bitwarden is definitely more polished, and Syncthing is definitely (much) more fiddly than using Bitwarden's and Obsidian's ($5/mo) native syncing tools.

    Mixed · Nov 2025 · in “Two billion email addresses were exposed”

33. Having to support multiple backends (some of which you don't control!) with your frontend makes everything massively more complicated.

    Mixed · May 2026 · in “Bitwarden scrubs 'Always free' and 'Inclusion' values from its site”

34. being able to make changes on two clients and merge the results cleanly / usefully without needing to do anything manually at all

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

35. I'm holding off on recommending it anymore; at least until everything calms down and the new value proposition is fully laid out.

    Mixed · May 2026 · in “Get your passwords out of Bitwarden while you still can”

36. Bitwarden, OnePassword, LastPass, Proton Pass etc. are password managers with dozens of millions of users that agree.

    Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

37. Bitwarden, Proton Pass, and KeepassXC do support exporting passkeys to CSV, which undermines the phishing protections

    Mixed · Jul 2026 · in “Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain”

38. Bitwarden previously used a font that made passwords that contains i (or was it I?) and l difficult to distinguish.

    Mixed · Dec 2025 · in “Google releases its new Google Sans Flex font as open source”

39. Bitwarden does it via the magic of "ignoring the part of the specification that says not to give users their data."

    Recommends · Oct 2026 · in “Passkeys are a trap”

40. if my house burns down, I can either physically collect the key or use USB-IP to authenticate back into bitwarden

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “I don't like passkeys”