Proton Pass
Hacker ApprovedRanked 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%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- 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” - Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Bitwarden Dual License Model”
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” - Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “Two billion email addresses were exposed”
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.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitwarden | 278 | 213 | 57% | 12 | 6.5 yrs23 owners | — |
| 1Password | 238 | 179 | 57% | 12 | 15 yrs28 owners | — |
| KeePassXC | 131 | 38 | 78% | 12 | 5 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Vaultwarden | 112 | 13 | 90% | 11 | 3 yrs9 owners | Approved |
| Proton PassThis page | 39 | 13 | 75% | 10 | — | Approved |
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.”
“I use ProtonPass on every device I own (religiously) and have never had an issue.”
“combined with remembering to check the URL stops phishing and is easier to share”
“only Proton Pass works on my old Android 9”
“you can't operate it fully with the keyboard, with keepassxc you can”
“Proton Pass has a good backend, but their clients are so-so.”
“So far Proton Pass seems to be much more polished than Bitwarden.”
“Proton ticks all good-company boxes. E2ee, majority owned by the Proton foundation, all client-side code is OSS”
“Pass works much better, especially passkeys on Android.”
“Proton Pass is better in this regard.”
“Proton's corporate structure offers some protection against enshittification.”
“I thought about giving up on Bitwarden for some time and probably will try it now.”
“I don't like the UI of Proton Pass”
“Setup and import from 1PW was easy, took maybe 15 minutes tops.”
“I don't have that problem with Proton.”
“It has it's own credentials, it's optional”
“Proton Pass is much more intuitive with just straight up sharing of credentials or sharing whole Vaults.”
“How is it the browser extension doesn't have a local cache?”
“it just syncs the passkeys private part everywhere you need it”
“This way all passkeys get stored in proton and I can login from any other personal device with proton setup.”
“I have chosen protonpass for my vault. I just tell my OS to save the passkey there and everything works pretty well.”
“as a Proton user, Proton Pass currently supplies my ID everywhere, including for government services”
“Proton pass has a built in hide-my-email feature that supports custom domains”
“Proton Mail is excellent as is their password manager and VPN.”
“since I already use Protonmail”
“once url matching is added (which is now on their roadmap[1]), I'll try making the switch”
“very quickly went from worse than Bitwarden to better with more reliable auto-fill”
“actively developing and IMO its UX is way better than what I had with Bitwarden”
“The audit confirmed Proton Pass security is exceptionally robust”
“was positively surprised by the flexibility of the import process”
“At least the clients are, it's something.”
“I've been happy with Protonpass.”
“reading this was my cue to finally switch over to Proton Pass”
“Proton Pass is my default for all 2FA. I love the browser extension, so easy and sleek.”
“Generate random email alias and password for new services using proton pass.”
“I love the SimpleLogin integration that Proton made with Proton Pass.”
“Bitwarden, OnePassword, LastPass, Proton Pass etc. are password managers with dozens of millions of users that agree.”
“does work fairly well so will likely move non-essential logins there”
“especially for sharing credentials in the family”
“really like the layout over BW”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.