1Password vs Bitwarden
Both are zero-knowledge, well-audited and cross-platform. The real trade-off is polish versus price: 1Password's interface and family features are more refined, while Bitwarden's free plan and open-source code are unmatched at its price point.
| 1Password | Bitwarden | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 9.2/10 | 9.4/10 |
| Price | From $2.99/mo | Free — $10/yr Premium |
| Free plan | No free plan (14-day trial) | Yes, unlimited |
| Open-source | No | Yes |
| Zero-knowledge | Yes | Yes |
| Family plan | Yes | Yes |
| Platforms | Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android / Browser | Win / Mac / Linux / iOS / Android / Browser |
Our Take
Pick 1Password if you want the most polished day-to-day experience and don’t mind paying from day one. Pick Bitwarden if budget matters or you want to verify the code yourself — its free tier alone rivals paid competitors elsewhere on this list.
Security
Both encrypt your vault on your device and use a zero-knowledge model. 1Password adds a Secret Key that protects you if its servers were ever breached; Bitwarden counters with fully open-source code and published audits. Neither has a disclosed vault breach, and both support hardware keys and passkeys.
Price
Bitwarden’s free plan covers unlimited passwords on unlimited devices, and Premium costs $10 a year. 1Password has no free plan — only a 14-day trial — and starts from $2.99 a month. For families, Bitwarden is also cheaper, while 1Password includes more polish for every member.
Everyday use
1Password has the more refined apps and fills more kinds of forms automatically. Bitwarden handles standard logins well, but on unusual multi-step pages you may need to choose the entry yourself, and its design is more utilitarian.
Who should pick which
- Students and budget-conscious users: Bitwarden.
- Busy professionals and families who want it to just work: 1Password.
- Developers and privacy enthusiasts: Bitwarden for open code and self-hosting.
Switching between them is easy: both import each other’s export files.
Strengths at a glance
1Password does better at:
- autofill on complex, multi-step login and checkout pages;
- app design that feels identical on every platform;
- extras such as Travel Mode, link sharing with non-users and developer tools;
- a guided setup that suits less technical family members.
Bitwarden does better at:
- price — a free plan with unlimited devices and a very cheap Premium tier;
- transparency, with open-source code anyone can review;
- self-hosting for organisations that want full control of their data;
- a command-line client and encrypted Send links for technical users.
How we compared them
We compared both managers using their official documentation, published audit reports, current plan pages and public security history, and scored each with the same weighted criteria for every manager, explained in our methodology. Prices are list prices at the time of our last update; promotions and renewals can differ.
Frequently asked questions
Is 1Password more secure than Bitwarden? Not meaningfully. Both use strong, audited, zero-knowledge encryption; 1Password’s Secret Key and Bitwarden’s open code are different routes to the same goal.
Can I move from one to the other? Yes. Export your vault, import it into the other app, check a few important logins and then delete the export file.
Which is better for families? Bitwarden is cheaper; 1Password is easier for less technical relatives to use every day.
Real-world scenarios
A student with a laptop and a phone. Bitwarden’s free plan covers both devices with no limits, and Premium is one of the cheapest upgrades available. 1Password has no free plan, so it only makes sense if the polish is worth a monthly fee to you.
A family with mixed devices and less technical relatives. Both have family plans. 1Password’s apps are easier for children and grandparents to use, and family organisers can recover a member’s account. Bitwarden’s Families plan costs less and covers six people.
A developer or IT professional. Bitwarden’s open-source code, command-line client and official self-hosting make it the natural fit. 1Password also has strong developer tools, including an SSH agent and a command-line client, so the choice comes down to whether you want to host the server yourself.
A small business. 1Password’s admin console is the easier one to hand to a non-technical manager. Bitwarden Teams costs less per user, and Enterprise adds SSO and directory sync.
Switching from one to the other
Both managers import each other’s export files. Export your vault, import it into the new app, then open a few important logins to check that usernames, passwords, 2FA secrets and notes came across correctly. Passkeys may not move with a standard export, so check those accounts and create new passkeys if needed. Finally, delete the export file — it contains your passwords in plain text — and remove the old browser extension so the two don’t compete to fill forms.