What to look for when choosing a password manager  

What's the difference?

There’s a lot of password managers on the market and it can be hard to know where to start. Choosing a trusted brand is important and a quick search will show you the most common products used. Read the organic reviews to see which companies have the highest security standards. What that means is looking to see if they: 

• encrypt your stored passwords. You should be checking things like where your passwords will be stored. It should be somewhere where only you can decrypt them from – not even the password manager provider should have access to them
• provide two-factor authentication so you have a second layer of protection in addition to your master password
• monitor leaked public data, and whether you would be notified if one of your passwords were to be compromised and needed to be changed. 

There are also key features which not only make your life easier, but help you be more secure. Which of these are more important to you? This may help your decision.

For example, do they: 

• generate unique, randomised passwords? 
• automatically fill passwords into login fields? 
• work on mobile and desktop apps? 
• include web-browser extensions?
• support biometric logins or passkeys? 

Free vs. paid   

Paid versions of password managers usually offer more services than the free versions. Some free password managers provide most of the important features listed above but may lack the ability to sync passwords between devices. 

When choosing a password manager, consider the benefits and trade-offs between these options to balance utility and expense. The best choice is a password manager that is easy to use, so you will use it regularly. 

Often paid versions will use cloud-based storage and internet connections to sync stored passwords across all your devices. Although paid versions have an ongoing cost, these costs can be small and make services easier to use. 

Some mobile devices provide built-in password managers (such as Apple’s Passwords app, or Google’s Google Password Manager), however these options may be restricted to specific platforms or device ecosystems, limiting the way you can use them. While these options are still better than nothing, they aren’t as secure as the stand-alone password managers. If used, you need to ensure your device is secured.