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Proton Pass

Hacker Approved

Ranked 9 of 21 password managers by recommenders

People recommend it for end-to-end encryption, easy sharing, passkey handling and built-in email aliases. Common caveat: the apps are weaker than the backend.

People recommend it for end-to-end encryption, easy sharing, passkey handling and built-in email aliases. Common caveat: the apps are weaker than the backend.

52 people gave an opinion

recommend it
39
criticize it
13
approval share
75%
Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 10 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: recommended
  2. December 2025: not recommended
  3. January 2026: recommended
  4. February 2026: not recommended
  5. March 2026: recommended
  6. April 2026: recommended
  7. May 2026: recommended
  8. June 2026: recommended
  9. July 2026: recommended
  10. August 2026: not recommended
  11. September 2026: recommended
  12. October 2026: recommended
  13. November 2026: recommended (month in progress)

Why it carries the badge

  • 39 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
  • 3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
  • Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.

The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works

What people say about it

The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.

Why people recommend it

Each mark is one comment

  • Passkeys stored and synced across devices

    “I have chosen protonpass for my vault. I just tell my OS to save the passkey there and everything works pretty well.”

    Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain”

    “This way all passkeys get stored in proton and I can login from any other personal device with proton setup.”

    Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain”

    “it just syncs the passkeys private part everywhere you need it”

    Comment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain”
  • Better UX and autofill than Bitwarden

    “very quickly went from worse than Bitwarden to better with more reliable auto-fill”

    Comment from 18 May 2026 in “The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden”

    “actively developing and IMO its UX is way better than what I had with Bitwarden”

    Comment from 18 May 2026 in “The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden”

    “So far Proton Pass seems to be much more polished than Bitwarden.”

    Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”
  • Built-in hide-my-email aliases

    “Proton pass has a built in hide-my-email feature that supports custom domains”

    Comment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Apple is about to make Hide My Email useless”

    “Generate random email alias and password for new services using proton pass.”

    Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Gone (Almost) Phishin'”

    “I love the SimpleLogin integration that Proton made with Proton Pass.”

    Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous 'Stop Cop City' Protester”
  • Easy sharing of credentials and vaults

    “Proton Pass is much more intuitive with just straight up sharing of credentials or sharing whole Vaults.”

    Comment from 3 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Advice on Migrating from 1Password?”

    “especially for sharing credentials in the family”

    Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Proton Lumo 1.3: Introducing Projects, a better way to organize and create”

What people warn about

Each mark is one comment

  • Clients weaker than the backend

    “Proton Pass has a good backend, but their clients are so-so.”

    Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

    “At least the clients are, it's something.”

    Comment from 15 May 2026 in “Bitwarden scrubs 'Always free' and 'Inclusion' values from its site”

    “I don't like the UI of Proton Pass”

    Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”
  • Limited keyboard use and no local cache

    “you can't operate it fully with the keyboard, with keepassxc you can”

    Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

    “How is it the browser extension doesn't have a local cache?”

    Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Proton Global Outage”

Other password managers people recommend

The four most recommended other password managers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.

Proton Pass compared with 4 alternatives
ProductRecommendCriticizeApprovalMonthsOwnedBadge
Bitwarden27821357%126.5 yrs23 owners—
1Password23817957%1215 yrs28 owners—
KeePassXC1313878%125 yrs5 ownersApproved
Vaultwarden1121390%113 yrs9 ownersApproved
Proton PassThis page391375%10—Approved
See all 21 password managers, ranked

What people said

40 of the 58 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“Bitwarden / ProtonPass + iOS has also been smooth.”

RecommendsComment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Passkeys are not a trap”

“I use ProtonPass on every device I own (religiously) and have never had an issue.”

RecommendsComment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Passkeys are not a trap”

“combined with remembering to check the URL stops phishing and is easier to share”

RecommendsComment from 14 Oct 2026 in “Passkeys are not a trap”

“only Proton Pass works on my old Android 9”

RecommendsComment from 11 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

“you can't operate it fully with the keyboard, with keepassxc you can”

CriticizesComment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

“Proton Pass has a good backend, but their clients are so-so.”

MixedComment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

“So far Proton Pass seems to be much more polished than Bitwarden.”

RecommendsComment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

“Proton ticks all good-company boxes. E2ee, majority owned by the Proton foundation, all client-side code is OSS”

RecommendsComment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

“Pass works much better, especially passkeys on Android.”

RecommendsComment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

“Proton Pass is better in this regard.”

RecommendsComment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

“Proton's corporate structure offers some protection against enshittification.”

RecommendsComment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

“I thought about giving up on Bitwarden for some time and probably will try it now.”

RecommendsComment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

“I don't like the UI of Proton Pass”

CriticizesComment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”

“Setup and import from 1PW was easy, took maybe 15 minutes tops.”

RecommendsComment from 4 Sep 2026 in “1Password Replied to My Disappointment”

“I don't have that problem with Proton.”

RecommendsComment from 4 Sep 2026 in “Hackers had a live feed of every ID verification company scanned for over a year”

“It has it's own credentials, it's optional”

RecommendsComment from 4 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Advice on Migrating from 1Password?”

“Proton Pass is much more intuitive with just straight up sharing of credentials or sharing whole Vaults.”

MixedComment from 3 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: Advice on Migrating from 1Password?”

“How is it the browser extension doesn't have a local cache?”

CriticizesComment from 26 Aug 2026 in “Proton Global Outage”

“it just syncs the passkeys private part everywhere you need it”

RecommendsComment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain”

“This way all passkeys get stored in proton and I can login from any other personal device with proton setup.”

RecommendsComment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain”

“I have chosen protonpass for my vault. I just tell my OS to save the passkey there and everything works pretty well.”

RecommendsComment from 22 Jul 2026 in “Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain”

“as a Proton user, Proton Pass currently supplies my ID everywhere, including for government services”

RecommendsComment from 30 Jun 2026 in “European digital ID wallets are a gift to Google and Apple”

“Proton pass has a built in hide-my-email feature that supports custom domains”

RecommendsComment from 16 Jun 2026 in “Apple is about to make Hide My Email useless”

“Proton Mail is excellent as is their password manager and VPN.”

RecommendsComment from 3 Jun 2026 in “Gmail thinks I'm stupid, so I left”

“since I already use Protonmail”

RecommendsComment from 20 May 2026 in “Bitwarden scrubs 'Always free' and 'Inclusion' values from its site”

“once url matching is added (which is now on their roadmap[1]), I'll try making the switch”

MixedComment from 18 May 2026 in “The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden”

“very quickly went from worse than Bitwarden to better with more reliable auto-fill”

RecommendsComment from 18 May 2026 in “The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden”

“actively developing and IMO its UX is way better than what I had with Bitwarden”

RecommendsComment from 18 May 2026 in “The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden”

“The audit confirmed Proton Pass security is exceptionally robust”

RecommendsComment from 15 May 2026 in “Bitwarden scrubs 'Always free' and 'Inclusion' values from its site”

“was positively surprised by the flexibility of the import process”

RecommendsComment from 15 May 2026 in “Bitwarden scrubs 'Always free' and 'Inclusion' values from its site”

“At least the clients are, it's something.”

MixedComment from 15 May 2026 in “Bitwarden scrubs 'Always free' and 'Inclusion' values from its site”

“I've been happy with Protonpass.”

RecommendsComment from 15 May 2026 in “Bitwarden scrubs 'Always free' and 'Inclusion' values from its site”

“reading this was my cue to finally switch over to Proton Pass”

RecommendsComment from 15 May 2026 in “Bitwarden scrubs 'Always free' and 'Inclusion' values from its site”

“Proton Pass is my default for all 2FA. I love the browser extension, so easy and sleek.”

RecommendsComment from 14 May 2026 in “Proton's password manager passes audit by top security firm – Proton”

“Generate random email alias and password for new services using proton pass.”

RecommendsComment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Gone (Almost) Phishin'”

“I love the SimpleLogin integration that Proton made with Proton Pass.”

RecommendsComment from 6 Mar 2026 in “Proton Mail Helped FBI Unmask Anonymous 'Stop Cop City' Protester”

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

RecommendsComment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Proton Spam and the AI Consent Problem”

“does work fairly well so will likely move non-essential logins there”

RecommendsComment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Proton Lumo 1.3: Introducing Projects, a better way to organize and create”

“especially for sharing credentials in the family”

RecommendsComment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Proton Lumo 1.3: Introducing Projects, a better way to organize and create”

“really like the layout over BW”

RecommendsComment from 7 Nov 2025 in “Two billion email addresses were exposed”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.