Comparison — from the record, 2026-08-30
Proton Pass vs 1Password: one has a free tier, one bills everyone in dollars
OUR PICK
Our pick: Proton Pass — a genuinely free tier, and a paid step at €4.99 that is billed in local currency rather than dollars.
Proton Pass publishes a plan priced at zero on its own page — not a trial — so the cost of trying it is nothing and the cost of staying on it can remain nothing. Its paid tier is €4.99. 1Password has no free tier at all: $2.99 is the price from the first day.
The other way: 1Password is the better answer if you want the most established option with the widest team and developer tooling, and if paying in dollars is not a problem for you. Its Families plan at $4.49 is also the cheaper family option of the two.
How to read this page: every number below was read from the vendor’s own public pricing page on the date shown, and the pages are re-checked daily. Currencies differ because that is what each vendor showed an EU visitor. Some links on this page are affiliate links — if you subscribe through one we earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Per
our method, that never changes a number or a verdict. Source links always point to the vendor’s plain page.
The two pricing pages, side by side
These two are not quoted in the same currency. Proton Pass is priced in EUR and 1Password in USD, as each page showed it to us. Figures below are what each vendor charges, not a conversion — ranking them against each other depends on the rate your bank applies, and paying in a foreign currency usually adds a fee on top.
Proton Pass — USD, read 2026-08-30
Prices as this vendor showed them to a visitor in the United States — USD. A reader elsewhere may be quoted a different figure — we publish what we were served, never a conversion.
| Plan | Price | Contacts | What the page says |
|---|
| Proton Free | Free | | |
| Pass Plus | $4.99/mo | | |
| Pass Family | $6.99/mo | | |
| Proton Unlimited | $12.99/mo | | |
Source: https://proton.me/pass/pricing · read 2026-08-30 (UTC) · Two separate pages: personal plans at proton.me/pass/pricing and business plans at proton.me/business/pass/pricing. Both carry a Monthly / Yearly switch that opens on Yearly, so the figures shown first are the discounted per-month equivalents with the twelve-month total printed underneath. Proton also sells Pass inside Proton Unlimited, which bundles Mail, VPN, Drive and Calendar for one price — so on this page a password manager and a five-product suite sit in the same table. Read in a browser on the date shown above with the switch clicked both ways on both pages. Prices returned in euros from an EU address.
What this vendor quotes in each market, as its own page printed it — not one price converted three ways.
| Plan | United States
USD · 2026-08-30 | United Kingdom
GBP · 2026-08-30 | EU
EUR · 2026-08-30 |
|---|
| Proton Free | $0 | £0 | €0 |
| Pass Plus | $4.99 | £3.99 | €4.99 |
| Pass Family | $6.99 | £5.59 | €6.99 |
| Proton Unlimited | $12.99 | £10.39 | €12.99 |
1Password — USD, read 2026-08-30
Prices as this vendor showed them to a visitor in the United States — USD. A reader elsewhere may be quoted a different figure — we publish what we were served, never a conversion.
| Plan | Price | Contacts | What the page says |
|---|
| Individual | $2.99/mo | | |
| Families | $4.49/mo | | |
Source: https://1password.com/pricing/personal · read 2026-08-30 (UTC) · 1Password splits its pricing across three separate pages — Personal, Business and Enterprise — each with its own ladder, and a Monthly / Annually switch on the first two. The switch opens on Annually. The headline personal figures it shows are promotional: the page's own small print reads 'Promotions are limited time discounts available for new 1Password customers only for the first year', and the higher price beside each is struck through in the markup. The standing annual rates are therefore $3.99 and $5.99 per month, not $2.99 and $4.49. Enterprise publishes no price. All figures read in a browser on the date shown above with both switches clicked and all three pages visited.
1Password quotes USD worldwide — identical figures from our United States, United Kingdom and EU readers, read 2026-08-30.
What the record says
The decision here is unusually clean, because one of these has a free tier and the other does not. Proton Pass publishes a plan priced at zero on its own pricing page. 1Password publishes a trial, which is a deadline. If you want to store passwords without paying, only one of these is in the running.
For paid use the entry figures are €4.99 and $2.99 respectively. Proton's is the higher number in this market, and it buys a vault from a Swiss company whose clients are open-source, sold alongside its mail and VPN. 1Password's buys the option most teams already standardised on.
There is a second difference the record makes visible: 1Password quotes dollars to every market we read, while Proton Pass quotes local currency. A UK reader is charged £3.99 by Proton and $2.99 by 1Password — and that second figure is dollars, so a UK card also pays whatever conversion the bank applies.
For a household, compare the family tiers rather than the individual ones: €6.99 against $4.49. That is the honest comparison for anyone buying for more than themselves, and it is a different ordering from the single-user question.
Beyond the price tag
Free tier
Proton Pass publishes one — a plan priced at zero, not a trial. 1Password does not; its free access is a time-limited trial, so $2.99 is the price from day one.
The paid ladders
Proton Pass: €4.99, €6.99, and €12.99 which bundles Proton's mail, VPN and storage. 1Password: $2.99 and $4.49.
What currency you are billed in
Proton Pass quotes local currency: £3.99 to a UK reader and €4.99 in the eurozone. 1Password quoted dollars in every market we read — $2.99, $2.99 and $2.99 are the same dollar figure.
For a family
Proton Pass Family is €6.99; 1Password Families is $4.49. This is the comparison that matters for a household, and it does not necessarily match the single-user ordering.
Questions people actually search
Is Proton Pass really free?
Yes — it publishes a plan priced at zero on its own pricing page, which is a tier rather than a trial. The paid step up is €4.99.
Does 1Password have a free plan?
No. It offers a trial, which ends. The entry price is $2.99 from the first day.
Which is cheaper?
For paid use in this market, 1Password at $2.99 against Proton Pass at €4.99. For free use, only Proton Pass is available at all. For a family, compare €6.99 against $4.49.
Am I charged in my own currency?
By Proton Pass, yes in the markets we read. By 1Password, no — it quoted dollars in the United States, the United Kingdom and the eurozone alike, so a non-US card also pays its bank's conversion.
THE VERDICT, ONE MORE TIME
Our pick: Proton Pass — a genuinely free tier, and a paid step at €4.99 that is billed in local currency rather than dollars.
Proton Pass publishes a plan priced at zero on its own page — not a trial — so the cost of trying it is nothing and the cost of staying on it can remain nothing. Its paid tier is €4.99. 1Password has no free tier at all: $2.99 is the price from the first day.
Both ladders were read from Proton's and 1Password's own pricing pages in the market this edition covers, on the dates shown beside each table. Figures marked for another country were read from that country on the same day. Nothing is converted between currencies. The method →
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