1Password is the best password manager we've tested, and they bring plenty of value to the table with their families plan. With their reliability, robust security and fantastic interface, we’re wondering how we managed to live without them. Learn more.
1Password to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them.
Sorry folks, couldn’t resist that LOTR reference.
If you chanced upon this article, you’re probably considering getting a password manager either for yourself or for your family.
Pros of 1Password
Cons of 1Password
1Password Plans & Pricing
How Does 1Password Compare Against Competition?
Verdict
Well, since we’ve made it our mission to empower businesses small and large worldwide with the tools they need to achieve dizzying heights of success, we took it upon ourselves to do a detailed review on 1Password, and share with you our thoughts on one of the most eligible password managers in town.
But first, how about a little introduction?
1Password was founded in Toronto, Canada all the way back in June 2005 by co-founders David Teare and Roustem Karimov. Nobody really knows what went on in their minds when they decided to start AgileBits (which is the company they used to develop 1Password) but we sure are glad they had the foresight to create something as useful as this password manager.
Having been in business for over 15 years, 1Password is an outlier in a sea of generic startups. They claim to have been profitable from day 1, which we found very impressive because it’s not something many companies can claim to have achieved.
They also grew their business the traditional way, none of that fancy venture capital funding all the hipster companies use to grow their beards these days.
In 2012, 1Password brought Jeff Shiner on as CEO, and he helped the company grow from just 20 employees to having over 174 today. Shiner also took 1Password’s direct to consumer business model and started offering services to businesses, which brought the already profitable company even more success.
Recently, the company decided to open up their doors to venture capital funding, a good 15 years after starting off their business.
As an already successful company, there is no way rookie numbers will bring any sort of benefit to the firm, so they went all-in and emerged triumphant announcing a sweet $200 million in Series A funding led by Accel, the firm’s largest single investment in a round of funding.
September 2021 Update: Word’s in that they’ve just received a second round of funding from another impressive batch of tech giants, upping them another $100 million!
So if a company like Accel is able to trust 1Password enough with a decent chunk of funding, do you think we as customers should trust 1Password with our data?
We sure think so.
Throughout the years, there have been plenty of data breaches from tech giants, some even involving established password managers like LastPass. As a matter of fact, most password managers out there have had some sort of data breach over the years.
1Password is one of the only password managers we’ve come across that has NEVER had their data breached before.
Even if some ne’er do well successfully gets through 1Password’s considerable defences, there is no way they’ll be able to read your data due to the security measures the company employs to protect your information.
We’ll be elaborating about this later on in this review.
For now, let’s look at how 1Password managed to rock our world!
1Password made it really easy for new users to sign up, set-up and use their software. Not once did we feel lost or annoyed at the process.
After signing up, 1Password will provide you with your secret key via a pop-up. Stash this code somewhere safe, because they don’t keep a copy of it – if you lose it, it’s completely irrecoverable and they can’t help you log into your account.
Some of us might not know what to do with our secret key, and 1Password is thoughtful enough to give you ideas on how to store it safely.
After registering your account, you should see the 1Password UI. It’s simple, straightforward enough for the general public to use without asking for help. You’ll also be prompted to install the desktop app.
Clicking on the “Get The Apps” button will lead you to a page where you can download 1Password for your PC. Since I use a Windows based PC, I clicked on “1Password for Windows”.
Once the exe file is downloaded and launched, you’ll need to key in your master password to continue.
Once you’ve sorted that out, you should have full access to your vaults and all of 1Password’s features. But for now, nevermind that. We’re going to follow the onscreen instructions and download the app for our devices.
Installing the app on my Android phone was easy enough through the Play Store. The app asked for the secret key, which I was too lazy to retrieve so I tried scanning the setup code with the app, which in my humble opinion is the more convenient way to do things.
The app will then ask you if you want to turn on biometric unlock, autofill and accessibility – I highly suggest you allow 1Password to do all this, as it enhances the entire experience.
Now that you’ve done this, all of your logins and passwords are securely synced between your devices! Hurrah!
Importing passwords and logins to the vault proved to be quite easy. Not exactly child’s play, but it shouldn’t be an issue to anyone who’s used a computer in the past 5 years or so.
There isn’t a tutorial or any sort of guide, so we’ve decided to step up and show you how it’s done.
Search for your name in the upper right corner, click and you’ll see a dropdown menu. Hit “Import”.
1Password will ask you to choose which app to import your login data from. For the purpose of this review, we went with Chrome but feel free to click on whichever app you previously used.
After clicking on “Chrome”, we were met with the following screen.
This basically means you’ll have to download your CSV data from Chrome manually. Don’t know how to do it?
No worries, we’ve got your back.
See the three little buttons below? Click it and in the drop-down menu, hit “Settings”.
After that, hit “Passwords” then click on the three small buttons again, then hit “Export Passwords”.
Next, download the CSV file into your desktop. Locate the file and drag it to the 1Password interface, and 1Password will do the rest of the work for you.
Congratulations, you’ve successfully imported your login data into the system! Like we’ve mentioned, it’s not as easy as a fully automated importing process, but it’s not exactly rocket science either.
One of the ways to keep your data safe from scummy scammers is to enable 2FA (short for 2-factor authentication), especially if you’re dealing with highly sensitive sites like banking portals with your mobile phone.
We’re pleased to discover that 2FA is available with 1Password, but for some reason, they’re not exactly forthcoming with how to set it up.
First, you’ll need to login to 1Password. Once you’ve done that, go to “My Profile”, click on “More Actions” then “Manage Two Factor Authentication”.
Hit “Set Up App” and you’ll be presented with a pop up with a QR code. Scan that code with an authenticator app like Google Authenticator.
The authenticator will provide you with a 6-digit passcode. Key in that passcode in the next screen to proceed.
After that, you’re done! 2FA is now set up for your 1Password account.
With a name as awesome as the Watchtower, you’d expect this feature to be uber-cool… and it doesn’t disappoint!
The Watchtower feature basically crawls the web to check if any of your logins have been previously compromised. If your logins or passwords have been breached before, it’ll appear as vulnerable and you’ll be given a prompt to update those passwords.
It’ll also tell you if your passwords have been reused, used on unsecured websites, or just plain weak, just like your biceps (do you even lift, bro?).
While we found this feature infinitely useful in warning us about compromised data, we thought they could be a bit more helpful in fixing those data breaches. We wish that there was a quick & easy way to change the passwords of all the vulnerable reused logins, but alas, there isn’t any.
We’ll discuss more about this in the cons section.
A password manager’s job is just to help you remember your login details, but if they decide to do a little extra, we’d be more than happy with the extra service.
1Password went above and beyond just being a password manager. They provided us with categories to store all our private data so we don’t need to worry about remembering every single important thing. Better yet, everything that’s stored is conveniently accessible to you through your devices!
Aside from logins, you get:
Sharing truly is caring, and with the 1Password Families plan (which is what we’re using, which we also recommend as it provides the best value) you can share 1Password with up to 4 other users.
You’re really only supposed to be sharing with family members only, but I don’t see why you can’t gift an extra slot to a friend as a birthday gift or something.
If you have concerns about the people you share the account with having access to your vaults, fret not.
Each person has access to their own private vault and their own private vault only, so no one can see each other’s passwords and logins. Privacy is ensured, security is maintained, everyone is happy.
On top of account sharing, you can use 1Password on ALL of the devices you own. We’re talking about your laptop, your desktop, your work desktop, the iPhone, the spare iPhone, the upstairs iPad, downstairs iPad, and the janky iPad that’s dedicated for the toilet only.
They’re all synced too, so once you store a login on one device, it’s synced to ALL devices for that sweet sweet convenience.
1Password just about knocks it out of the park with their impressive security measures. We’re serious – with the kind of defences they’ve set up, you’re protected from just about everything. Let’s take a look.
The first time we reviewed 1Password, we complained that there was no way to share passwords or notes with folks that weren’t already a 1Password user.
Well – that’s now all changed!
We’re real happy to see that their Family and Business plans now include a secure sharing option that allows you to temporarily invite a ‘guest’, AKA someone who isn’t already using 1Password.
It’s a dead simple process: you just log in to your account and input their email address. Once they accept your invitation, you add the guest into a vault and give them temporary access.
It’s just a secure and super useful way to share passwords on a day-to-day basis – for example, if you need to pass a password to a freelance client.
Important Note
You can only invite guests if you’re on their Family and Business plans, NOT the Personal plan. That’s still not an option, sadly.
You’ll get a limited number of guests, depending on your account type but you can also add on more guests for an extra cost.
The bad news: small businesses are a major target of slimy cybercriminals.
The good news: 1Password has a whole slew of features that companies are sure to find useful to protect their online security.
Here are some features on 1Password’s Business Plan we especially liked:
Oh – and all employees on your business plan will automatically get their own family plan! Sharing is caring.
So far, 1Password is really good… but it’s not good enough for us to blindly recommend it over other password managers. Here’s why.
Other password managers we’ve reviewed made autofill really efficient. Whenever there’s a login form, a little button will appear right next to the form and you just have to click it once, and the form will auto-populate. It’s literally a 1-click process. Next thing you know, you’re logged in.
1Password works a little differently. Whenever there’s a login form, you need to click on the extension button on the upper right-hand corner of your browser. Once you do that, you’ll have to click on your login details, THEN it’ll log in for you.
It’s essentially a 3 step process – go upper right, click once, click a second time. It’s not a big deal, but it can potentially be much more convenient.
Pro Tip
“Ctrl + \” brings up the extension, which then automatically logs you in. This shortens the process down to a single step, but it doesn’t always work.
Without a free plan, you are limited to sharing your secure notes only with people who are already on the plan.
This kinda sucks because if I want to share it with someone who is NOT on 1Password and has no intention to sign up, I’ll have to copy the password manually, share it via an unsecured method, and then change my passwords after I’m done.
It’s very inefficient and sorta grinds my gears a little bit.
Remember that bit about the Watchtower detecting to see if you have compromised passwords? If you look closely, you’ll notice that I have a whopping 72 passwords that are vulnerable.
Do you realize what a monumental task it is for me to log in to all 72 sites just to change my password? With the time and effort it takes to do that, I’m not surprised if people are just gonna leave those logins as is, which defeats the purpose of having a secure password manager in the first place.
We wish that 1Password provided us with a way to change all our vulnerable passwords with just a click, but I guess we’ll have to live with what we’re given.
1Password has two types of plans, one for Personal & Family and another for Team & Business.
We promised you a thorough review and we can’t exactly call this a thorough review without first comparing 1Password against the competition, can we?
Established in late 2019, NordPass is NordVPN’s foray into the password manager industry. How does it compare with 1Password?
Dashlane is another fantastic password manager out there. Let’s see how they stack up against 1Password.
Out of the many password managers we’ve reviewed, we find we just always keep coming back to 1Password. We’ve used it for years now, both for work and personal use, and the longer we use it, the more we’re convinced it’s the best password manager around.
It has a great track record, completely reliable, it’s never been hacked before, and it has the best security measures we’ve seen so far on a password manager.
Setting up was so easy and using it was really quite effortless.
Key features like 2FA, Watchtower, plentiful categories and unlimited device syncing were some of the few things we really welcomed into our lives and now find it really hard to live without.
It’s just that with everything they’ve got right, they’ll get that one teeny tiny thing wrong.
Take, for example, the Watchtower. It works great to tell me that I have password vulnerabilities, but offers no solution to fix them easily. Plus, it’s a shame they don’t have a free plan, although at least the 14-day trial exists.
The browser extension’s autofill also works a little less efficiently compared to the competition – taking 3 steps to auto-populate forms compared to a single click from the competition. UI is a little dated but still effective enough to use.
To wrap it all up, 1Password is one kickass password manager with a few kinks in their system. One of their strongest perks would be their price. The Family plan only costs $4.99 a month (billed annually), and you’re able to share it with 4 other users, which means it’ll only end up costing you $1 a month per user.
If you’re looking for a password manager that won’t let you down, offers up great value, and truly knows the industry – 1Password is definitely our top choice.
If you’re still on the fence – check out our best password manager list.
Key Features
Recommended For
Useability
Excellent
Overall Rating
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