Bitwarden Review 2024

In this Bitwarden review, we’ll take a deep dive into the features, security, pricing, and user experience provided by this popular password manager.

We’ll help you determine whether Bitwarden password manager is the right choice for your needs and compare it with other leading solutions on the market. By the end of this Bitwarden review, you’ll have a clear understanding of what the product offers and whether it aligns with your requirements.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. What is Bitwarden?
2. Is Bitwarden Safe?
3. Bitwarden Plans & Pricing
4. How Does Bitwarden Work? Bitwarden Security Features
5. Bitwarden Compatibility and Ease of Use
6. How Does Bitwarden Compare Against Other Password Managers?
7. How to Set Up Bitwarden
8. Customer Support and Bitwarden Reviews from Users
9. Our Other Password Manager Guides
10. FAQs
11. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. What is Bitwarden?
2. Is Bitwarden Safe?
3. Bitwarden Plans & Pricing
Show Full Guide
4. How Does Bitwarden Work? Bitwarden Security Features
5. Bitwarden Compatibility and Ease of Use
6. How Does Bitwarden Compare Against Other Password Managers?
7. How to Set Up Bitwarden
8. Customer Support and Bitwarden Reviews from Users
9. Our Other Password Manager Guides
10. FAQs
11. References

What is Bitwarden?

Bitwarden is a popular, open source password manager that helps users securely store, manage, and share login credentials and sensitive information. Founded in 2016 by Kyle Spearrin, Bitwarden is based in Santa Barbara, California.

Bitwarden is known for its commitment to open-source software, which means that its source code is available for public scrutiny. This enhances the platform’s security and trustworthiness, as the community can audit the code and contribute to its development.

It’s an affordable password management solution and includes a free plan, making it an accessible solution for a wide range of users.

Is Bitwarden Safe?

Bitwarden is considered to be a safe and secure password manager. The company employs strong encryption methods, such as AES 256-bit encryption and the PBKDF2 SHA-256 algorithm for secure password storage, ensuring user data is protected even if the company’s servers are compromised.

Bitwarden’s open-source architecture additionally ensures transparency, enabling community auditing and further enhancing the platform’s security.

Bitwarden has never reported any major security breaches or leaks at any point in its history. The company maintains a responsible disclosure policy and works with security researchers to identify and promptly address any potential vulnerabilities.

Bitwarden also undergoes regular third-party security audits to ensure the integrity of its infrastructure and software.

Bitwarden Plans & Pricing

Bitwarden offers a range of plans to suit the needs of individuals and businesses, with pricing options for different budgets and requirements. The company provides a generous free plan, as well as affordable premium plans.

Let’s take a closer look at the Bitwarden pricing structure and the features included at each subscription level.

Can I Get Bitwarden For Free?

You can get Bitwarden for free by signing up for their free plan, which is one of the most generous on the market. The plan provides storage for unlimited passwords, access to Bitwarden apps on all your devices, secure password generation, and two-factor authentication support.

When comparing Bitwarden free vs premium plans, the main differences lie in the advanced features and extended sharing capabilities.

Bitwarden offers a seven-day free trial for its Families and business plans so you can test the features and functionality before committing to a subscription. Additionally, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee if you change your mind.

How Does Bitwarden Work? Bitwarden Security Features

Bitwarden has a range of security features to protect your data and ensure your passwords remain safe. In this section of our Bitwarden review, we’ll take a closer look at how Bitwarden works and explore the security features that make it a trusted choice for individuals and businesses alike.

Bitwarden Encryption and Infrastructure

In addition, secure PBKDF2 key derivation and salted hashing are used to protect the master password. Hashing ensures the master password is never transmitted or stored in plain text, while salting adds random data to make it much more difficult to reverse engineer the master password hash.

Bitwarden’s infrastructure is hosted on Microsoft Azure, a top-tier cloud platform with state-of-the-art physical and digital security.

As Bitwarden is open source, security researchers can audit the password manager and quickly identify any potential vulnerabilities so they can be patched. This transparency helps strengthen the overall security of the Bitwarden platform.

Bitwarden’s Password Generator

Bitwarden’s password generator helps users create strong, unique passwords. The generator allows you to customize its settings, with passwords running up to 128 characters and including or excluding uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.

You can also choose to avoid potentially ambiguous characters, which can make it harder to reproduce passwords.

In addition, the generator can suggest usernames and create passphrases for you. This flexibility ensures you can create passwords that meet the various requirements of different sites and services.

Bitwarden Auto-Fill

Bitwarden’s auto-fill feature is a convenient and secure way to streamline the login process across devices and platforms. Bitwarden can enter your saved credentials whenever you need via the browser extension or mobile app, authenticated with your master password, biometric data, or a PIN.

The feature also supports more complex login scenarios, such as multi-page login forms and sites that require additional fields like PINs and security questions.

This makes it fast and easy to use strong, unique passwords for each account, as you no longer need to remember or manually enter them every time you log in.

One other benefits of this feature is that it reduces the risk of phishing attacks. If you automatically enter your credentials on legitimate sites, you minimize the chances of accidentally entering your password on a fraudulent website or having your details scraped by keyloggers.

Bitwarden Authenticator

Bitwarden Authenticator is a built-in two-factor authentication (2FA) tool that generates time-based one-time passwords (TOTPs) for your Bitwarden account and any other services that support TOTP 2FA.

It provides an extra layer of security by requiring a one-time code and your master password when logging in. The codes are generated on your device rather than being sent via more vulnerable methods like SMS or email, saving you having to use tools like Google Authenticator.

Password Sharing

Bitwarden offers a secure and convenient way to share passwords and other sensitive information. By prompting users to compare and verify fingerprint phrases during the sharing process, Bitwarden ensures that end-to-end encryption is properly established and the server connection remains secure.

This helps to maintain the integrity of encrypted data and protects against potential tampering by malicious third parties. Bitwarden also enables granular control over shared items, allowing users to grant read-only access when sharing passwords.

For business users, team members can securely share access to company social media accounts, website logins, and other resources without the need to distribute passwords through insecure channels like email or chat.

Administrators can also easily manage shared items, add or remove team members, and monitor access to shared data through the Bitwarden organization dashboard.

Bitwarden Send

Bitwarden Send is a secure way to share encrypted data, such as files or text, with anyone, even if they don’t have a Bitwarden account. The data is protected with end-to-end encryption, ensuring only the intended recipient can access the contents of the message.

When a recipient clicks on the shared link, they’re directed to a secure Bitwarden page to access the file or message. If a password has been set, the recipient must enter it before viewing the data.

To further secure the message, you can set a deletion date for permanent removal of the shared data, an expiration date for link deactivation, and a maximum access count for the number of times the link can be used.

The feature does limit the maximum file size that can be shared. On desktop, the limit is 500 MB per file, while the limit is 100 MB on mobile.

Bitwarden Passkeys

Bitwarden also includes support for passkeys, an authentication method designed to replace traditional passwords. Passkeys offer a secure and convenient way to sign into online accounts using public key cryptography and user verification.

When signing in with a passkey, the user’s device generates a unique, cryptographically secure key pair. The public key is shared with Bitwarden, while the private key is securely stored on the user’s device. This key pair is then used to authenticate the user.

One of the benefits of using passkeys with Bitwarden is you no longer need to remember complex passwords or deal with password reset procedures. Instead, you can simply use biometric authentication to securely sign into your Bitwarden account.

Multifactor Authentication and Master Password Emergency Access

Bitwarden provides a range of multifactor authentication (MFA) options to enhance your account’s security. You can enable two-factor authentication with popular authenticator apps like Google Authenticator, Authy, or FreeOTP, for example, which generate time-based one-time passwords (TOTP).

Email-based two-factor authentication is also available, where a unique code is sent to a registered email address for verification.

For users seeking the highest level of security, Bitwarden supports hardware security keys, such as YubiKey, SoloKeys, and Nitrokeys. These physical devices use the FIDO2 WebAuthn standard and provide a tamper-proof way to authenticate logins.

Fingerprint, face ID, and other biometric methods can also be used to quickly and securely access your Bitwarden vault without having to enter the master password. This feature is available on iOS and Android devices, as well as on desktop computers with compatible biometric scanners.

In case of an emergency, such as user incapacitation, Bitwarden’s emergency access feature allows trusted emergency contacts to be designated who can request access to the vault. A waiting period can be set before access is granted, providing time to deny the request if it was made in error.

Bitwarden Reports

Bitwarden’s Reports feature offers users a set of tools to assess and maintain the security of their password vault.

The Weak Passwords report analyzes your stored passwords and helps you identify weak, reused, or old passwords that may put your accounts at risk so you can take action and update them. The report also provides actionable recommendations to improve your overall password health.

Bitwarden also offers an Exposed Passwords report that cross-references your passwords against a vast database of known leaked passwords from past data breaches. To protect user privacy, this process is carried out securely, only using partial hashes of the passwords.

The Data Breach monitoring report, meanwhile, uses the Have I Been Pwned service to alert users if their personal information has appeared in known data breaches.

The Unsecured Websites report flags login items that use unencrypted connections, reminding users to opt for the more secure HTTPS protocol whenever possible. The Inactive 2FA report, on the other hand, identifies accounts where two-factor authentication is available but not being used.

Bitwarden Compatibility and Ease of Use

Bitwarden has a user-friendly interface and extensive compatibility across devices and operating systems. The password manager ensures users can access and store information with ease, regardless of technical expertise.

How Does Bitwarden Compare Against Other Password Managers?

To better understand how Bitwarden stacks up against its competitors, we compared it to some of the most popular password managers on the market.

Bitwarden vs 1Password

Bitwarden provides more affordable pricing than 1Password, starting at less than $1 per month, compared to 1Password’s $2.99 per month.

While 1Password lacks a free version, it compensates with advanced features such as a Travel Mode, which temporarily removes sensitive data from your devices when crossing borders. 1Password also has a strict no-refunds policy, while Bitwarden offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. See our 1Password vs Bitwarden guide for more detail.

Bitwarden vs Dashlane

While both Bitwarden and Dashlane provide a secure password management solution, Dashlane offers additional features like a built-in VPN.

Given this, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Dashlane is more expensive at $4.99/month, though users might also consider leading VPN providers like Surfshark. Dashlane is also only compatible with Linux and Chromebook via browser extensions.

Keeper vs Bitwarden

While Bitwarden’s free version supports unlimited devices, Keeper offers a limited free version only for mobile devices, making Bitwarden a more versatile choice for users who need to access passwords on multiple platforms.

Keeper is also more expensive at $2.92 per month compared to Bitwarden’s $0.83 monthly fee. Keeper doesn’t offer refunds but does provide a 30-day trial for users to test the service.

NordPass vs Bitwarden

NordPass is provided by NordVPN, which may appeal to users already familiar with its services. NordPass and Bitwarden have similar free versions, which both support unlimited devices. However, NordPass is more expensive at $1.69/month with its two-year plan.

Users seeking a more comprehensive security solution might consider a NordVPN Plus account, which includes the VPN service, the password manager, and tools to block malware, ads, and trackers for $3.99/month.

Customer Support and Bitwarden Reviews from Users

Bitwarden offers several support channels for users seeking assistance, including a contact form on their website, email support, and a community forum. While these channels are available 24/7, their round-the-clock availability doesn’t necessarily guarantee immediate responses from the support team.

Bitwarden reviews from users are generally positive, with a “Great” overall Trustpilot score of 3.9/5. Many Bitwarden users have expressed satisfaction with the password management solution, praising its security, affordability, and cross-platform compatibility.

The open-source nature of the software instills confidence in users, and the availability of essential features, even with the free version, is much appreciated.

A number of users also note that they’ve migrated from LastPass following various security issues that the password manager provider has reported in recent years.

User review from TrustPilot

In terms of criticism, setting up password sharing for families has reportedly proven confusing for some users, and the support team apparently hasn’t always been able to provide satisfactory solutions for these issues.

In some cases, users have reported difficulties adding passwords or accessing their vaults, leading to frustration.A few users have apparently also found themselves locked out of their accounts after connecting from countries that Bit warden deems suspicious.

Our Other Password Manager Guides

If you’re looking for the best password manager to suit your specific needs, our guides cover a wide range of scenarios and platforms to help you make the right choice for your needs.

• Best Password Managers
• Best Business Password Managers
• Best Password Managers for Android
• Best Password Managers for iPhone
• The Best Free Password Manager

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