Best password managers
Read from each vendor's own page on the dates shown. Watch the qualifier column: this category leans hard on first-year promotional rates that renew higher, and the comparisons linked from each row spell out which price survives year one. Every figure below was read from the vendor's own pricing page on the date beside it. The ordering is cheapest entry price first — a basis you can check rather than a ranking you have to trust.
What “best” means on this page
“Best” is not a mood — it is whichever axis you actually care about, measured. Our record can say which tool is cheapest to start, whose free plan is real, who bills local currency and whose prices just moved; it cannot say which tool fits your work, which is what the full comparisons are for. Cheapest never means best — it means cheapest. Each verdict below names its axis, and every tool links to its own site so you can check us against the source. No vendor paid for any position.
Entry at £1/mo — the lowest published paid plan in this set. Cheap is a fact, not a verdict; the profile below says what you get for it.
site ↗pricing ↗Showed us different money in different countries on the same day — measured, not assumed. The profiles carry the figures.
Tool by tool
NordPasssite ↗pricing ↗
A password manager from the NordVPN company, with personal, family and business plans. Paid plans start at £1/mo (Premium); a free plan exists. The ladder we hold runs 2 paid tiers, topping out at £1/mo (Family). It bills by country — entry $1/mo to a US reader and €1/mo in the eurozone, from our same-day reads.
Proton Passsite ↗pricing ↗
A password manager from Proton, sold on its own and bundled with the wider Proton subscription. Paid plans start at £3.99/mo (Pass Plus); a free plan exists. The ladder we hold runs 3 paid tiers, topping out at £10.39/mo (Proton Unlimited). It bills by country — entry $4.99/mo to a US reader and €4.99/mo in the eurozone, from our same-day reads.
Side by side
| Tool | Paid from | Free plan | Currency | Read | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NordPass | £1/mo | Yes | GBP | 2026-08-29 | page |
| Proton Pass | £3.99/mo | Yes | GBP | 2026-08-29 | page |
Billed in another currency
These tools are in the same category but did not show us a price in GBP on our last read — they quote the currency shown. We list them rather than convert: a converted figure is not a price anyone is charged.
Bitwardensite ↗pricing ↗
An open-source password manager for individuals and teams, which can also be self-hosted. Paid plans start at $1.65/mo (Premium); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 2 paid tiers, topping out at $3.99/mo (Families). We read the same $1.65/mo in every market we check, so this vendor does not price by country. It quotes USD here rather than local currency, so your bank sets the conversion. The headline monthly figures collect once a year — billed annually — and the free tier is a real plan.
1Passwordsite ↗pricing ↗
A password manager for individuals, families and teams, with shared vaults and secrets management for developers. Paid plans start at $2.99/mo (Individual); no free plan is published. The ladder we hold runs 2 paid tiers, topping out at $4.49/mo (Families). We read the same $2.99/mo in every market we check, so this vendor does not price by country. It quotes USD here rather than local currency, so your bank sets the conversion. No free tier — a trial only — so the entry price is the price from day one.
| Tool | Paid from | Free plan | Currency | Read | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitwarden | $1.65/mo | — | USD | 2026-08-29 | page |
| 1Password | $2.99/mo | — | USD | 2026-08-29 | page |
How to choose in this category
- Per-user pricing multiplies by your whole household or team — the family plan is often the honest comparison.
- Most headline figures here are annual-billed; the money leaves once a year.
- Free tiers in this category are real but capped in different places — read what each one withholds.