Bitwarden, 1Password, Proton Pass and others compared
This password manager comparison looks at seven apps on the criteria that matter to a freelancer or a team of two to 20: whether there is a usable free plan, the price per user of the team plan, whether the code is open, whether audits are published, and whether an administrator can recover a colleague’s account. All facts come from the providers’ own sites, checked on November 10, 2026.
Best password manager for a small team: how the main apps compare
There is no single best password manager, but there is usually a best one for your situation, and three questions settle most cases: do you need a free plan, do you need an administrator, and how much do you trust a company you cannot check? This page compares seven dedicated apps on those questions, as part of our guide to choosing a password manager. All prices are in US dollars as shown on each provider’s site on November 10, 2026; Bitwarden’s business pricing page and 1Password’s business pricing page are typical of the format.
Blue Hat Web earns no commission from any of these providers, and the order of the table below is not a ranking.
Seven apps on five criteria
| App | Usable free plan | Team plan, per user per month, billed annually | Source code | Published audits | Admin can recover an account |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitwarden | Yes, unlimited devices | Teams $4; Enterprise $6 | Open source | Yes, yearly list | Enterprise plan only |
| 1Password | No; 14-day trial | Teams Starter Pack $24.95 per month for up to 10 members; Business $8.99 | Not open source | Through its Trust Center since November 2025 | Yes |
| Proton Pass | Yes, unlimited devices | Essentials $1.99 (minimum three users); Professional $4.99 | Open source | Yes: 2023 and 2026 | Yes, except for members set as “private” |
| Dashlane | No; ended September 2025 | Omnix Password Management $8, according to its pricing page | Client code “source available” | Through its Trust Center | Yes, if enabled in advance |
| Keeper | Limited: one mobile device, 10 records | Not readable on its site when we checked | Not described as open source | Certifications; reports not public | Through a vault transfer policy |
| LastPass | Limited: one type of device | Not readable on its site when we checked | Not described as open source | Certifications; reports not public | Not checked |
| NordPass | Limited: one active session | Not readable on its site when we checked | Not described as open source | Cure53 audit mentioned, reports on request | Only the account owner can approve |
Bitwarden: the open, low-cost default
Bitwarden is the app most often recommended for small budgets, and the facts support it: a free plan with unlimited devices, a free organization for sharing with one other person, open source code, and a yearly list of independent audits that included a 2025 cryptography review by ETH Zurich. Its Teams plan costs $4 per user per month billed annually. The limit for a small team is account recovery by an administrator, which Bitwarden reserves for its Enterprise plan at $6. It raised its personal plan prices in January 2026.
1Password: no free plan, strong team features
1Password’s model is different: no free plan, a polished app on every platform including Linux, and a Secret Key added to your password. For a small team, its Teams Starter Pack covers up to 10 members for a flat $24.95 per month billed annually, with extra seats up to 20 members at $4.99 each; administrators can recover a member’s account. 1Password raised its business prices on June 30, 2026 for new customers and July 30, 2026 for existing ones. Its code is not open source, and its penetration test reports are now shared through its Trust Center.
Proton Pass: the cheapest team plan we found
Proton Pass offers the most generous free sharing (two vaults, three people each), open source apps, and audits by Cure53 in 2023 and Recurity Labs in 2026. Its Essentials plan, at $1.99 per user per month billed annually with a minimum of three users, was the lowest team price we found. Note that its personal plans show a first-year price that renews higher: Pass Plus renews at $35.88 a year.
Dashlane: paid only, and browser-based on computers
Dashlane dropped its free plan in September 2025 and monthly billing for all plans. Since October 1, 2025, it works on computers only through its browser extension. Its business offer is now called Omnix; the pricing page’s own FAQ gives $8 per user per month billed annually for password management. It cannot yet share passkeys.
Keeper, LastPass, and NordPass: fewer published details
All three have business plans, certifications, and apps for the main platforms, but their prices are loaded by scripts that we could not read, so we do not quote them. Keeper requires Windows 11 on Windows computers. LastPass’s 2022 incident, in which encrypted customer vaults were copied, is described on our page about password manager safety. NordPass accounts in its US data center cannot share items with accounts in its EU data center.
Which one for which situation
- A freelancer on a budget, several devices: Bitwarden Free or Proton Pass Free.
- Two or three people sharing logins, no budget: Bitwarden’s free organization (two people) or Proton Pass shared vaults (three per vault).
- A team of three to 20, lowest cost: Proton Pass Essentials or Bitwarden Teams.
- A team that needs account recovery without an enterprise plan: 1Password Teams Starter Pack or Proton Pass.
- A team that wants to verify the code it relies on: Bitwarden or Proton Pass.
The full price picture
Introductory prices, renewal prices, and minimum user counts change the real cost. Our page on what a team plan really costs per year works through an example for a team of eight.
Sharing in practice
The way each app shares logins, and what happens when someone leaves, matters as much as the price. See how sharing works in the main apps.