1Password vs Bitwarden: free plan, price and polish

These two sit at opposite ends of one trade. Bitwarden gives you a full password manager for nothing and charges little for the extras, while 1Password charges from the first day and tries to earn it with finish and a longer feature list. This comparison is about whether that finish is worth the difference to you.

The two at a glance

The free plan and the trial

Bitwarden’s pricing page says every account, paid or not, gets unlimited passwords and unlimited devices, along with browser, mobile and desktop apps, passkey management and a password generator. That makes the free tier a working password manager and not a countdown. 1Password’s personal page lists only Individual and Families, each with a 14-day free trial, and a review states that 1Password has no free edition.

Whether the trial asks for a card is worth settling before you sign up. The pricing page says you can try either plan free for 14 days before choosing one, and it does not say whether payment details are requested at the start. One review says no credit card is required for the trial, yet the same review tells readers to cancel before the trial ends, so I would read the sign-up screen before relying on either statement.

The Bitwarden free plan has edges. A review lists sharing for two users and two collections, text-only Bitwarden Send and a breach report limited to usernames, while the built-in authenticator, emergency access and file attachments sit with Premium. The Premium card on the official page agrees on the paid list. My Bitwarden review goes through these limits one by one.

Features and polish

The case for 1Password rests on extras. Both reviews credit it with Travel Mode, which takes the vaults you choose off your devices before a border crossing, and with a Secret Key that works alongside the master password. Its pricing page also names Watchtower alerts for weak and compromised passwords and storage for items such as SSH keys and API tokens.

Bitwarden answers with openness and reach. Its code is open source, it offers self-hosting where 1Password does not, and a review credits it with more browser options, including Vivaldi and Tor, and a command-line tool. That same review says 1Password has no command-line tool, but the download list on 1Password’s own page includes one, so that gap does not hold up.

On polish, one review gives 1Password the win. Its interface looks modern on most platforms, import is simpler, and it offers to save a new login straight away, although that can miss some logins. The review calls Bitwarden’s interface stripped down and says autofill felt clunky and did not work every time. The other review calls ease of use a tie, with small layout complaints about both and a more feature-rich Bitwarden extension.

1Password has gaps of its own. The first review says its interface is not consistent across platforms and that you cannot share passwords from a browser extension, so you have to use the web app. Moving between the two is also lopsided: Bitwarden can import from a longer list of managers, while 1Password’s import list leaves out Bitwarden, so moving from Bitwarden into 1Password means a CSV file.

Storage is a place where the sources disagree. The two pricing pages list 1GB per user at 1Password and 5 GB personal on Bitwarden’s paid plans, expandable for a fee. The reviews do not match the page for Bitwarden, putting it at 1GB in one and up to 2 GB in the other, so I rely on the pricing pages.

Security and privacy

The basics are level. One review says both use AES-256 encryption and zero-knowledge architecture, and both support multifactor sign-in and biometrics. On two-step login for the free tier the sources do not line up: one review says free Bitwarden users get email and authenticator apps only, while the official page lists advanced two-step login as a core feature of every account.

The audit record differs in shape. CyberInsider says 1Password publishes independent audits from 2015 onward, mostly by Cure53, and holds SOC 2 Type 2 certification. It says Bitwarden was audited by Cure53 in 2018, lists assessments from 2018 to 2021 and is SOC Type 2 and SOC 3 certified. The same review says 1Password passed penetration tests from 2023 to 2025. Even so, it gives the security round to Bitwarden for open-source transparency, and I see why: a recent audit is a snapshot, and open code can be checked by anyone.

On data collection, both collect a username, email address, IP address, payment methods and device details, and the review found that 1Password collects slightly less. Jurisdiction is a wash. 1Password’s page lists a Toronto, Ontario address, the review places Bitwarden in Santa Barbara, California, and it notes that both countries belong to the Five Eyes alliance.

On breaches, one review reports no known breach or hack at either company. That is one source’s research and not a guarantee, so I put more weight on the design, which keeps vault contents unreadable to the company, than on a clean record.

Support

Neither offers live chat or a phone line to regular personal users, according to CyberInsider. 1Password gives you a help center with guides in six languages, a chatbot, email, X and community forums. Bitwarden gives you a knowledge base, a learning center with video guides, weekly live question sessions, email, social media and a forum.

The review calls 1Password’s edge slight and says neither service is exemplary. On the other side, Bitwarden’s own page promises email support at all hours for everyone, with priority for paid users, a point the review does not weigh.

Pricing

Prices from the 1Password and Bitwarden pricing pages, checked June 2026.

The 1Password prices are a promotion for new customers who subscribe directly on 1Password.com, for the first year with annual billing, and the page says it is not available through app stores. After that the regular rates apply: $3.99 a month for Individual and $5.99 for Families. Security.org’s table gives the regular Individual rate as $47.88 for the year and the Families rate as $71.88.

In yearly terms, $2.99 × 12 = $35.88 for the first year at 1Password Individual, against $19.80 for Bitwarden Premium, a gap of $16.08. At the regular rate the gap grows to $47.88 – $19.80 = $28.08, so the renewal is where 1Password becomes expensive by comparison.

Families is closer. Bitwarden charges $47.88 a year for up to six users, and 1Password Families is $4.49 × 12 = $53.88 in the first year, or $6.00 more. At the regular $71.88 the gap is $24.00. Bitwarden also covers one more person, since the 1Password page lists five seats.

Two reviews list $4.99 a month for 1Password Individual on monthly billing, which the pricing page does not show. Review prices also lag. One still lists Bitwarden Premium at $10 a year and Families at $40, and Security.org quotes $10 in its summary but $19.80 in its own table. I use the official figures, which match that table. Bitwarden’s page shows no month-to-month price and no renewal price, so the checkout screen is where to confirm both.

1Password’s page says you can pay by ACH direct debit from an eligible US bank account, by credit card or with a gift card, which is wider than the cards-only list in one review. That review also says there is no refund once the trial runs out, which is a good reason to set a reminder before day 14.

How they scored

Core features: 1Password 9.0, Bitwarden 8.5. Watchtower, Travel Mode and the Secret Key add up to a more finished paid product, and both reviews credit 1Password with more extras. Bitwarden gives away a full vault, but its authenticator, health reports and emergency access are paid, so it sits half a point behind. 1Password stops at 9.0 because it has no free plan and no self-hosting.

Ease of use: 1Password 8.5, Bitwarden 7.5. One review found 1Password’s interface and import smoother and Bitwarden’s autofill clunky, and the other called it a tie. I side with the first on daily use but keep the edge to one point, because the other review sees no gap, 1Password’s login capture can miss and its apps vary by platform. Bitwarden’s score is the one from my Bitwarden review.

Privacy and data: 1Password 8.5, Bitwarden 9.0. Both use the same cipher and zero-knowledge design. 1Password collects slightly less data and has the more recent audit record, but Bitwarden’s open code and self-hosting let anyone check it or run it themselves, and I weigh that a little higher.

Value: 1Password 6.5, Bitwarden 9.0. A free plan and a $19.80 Premium leave little to argue with. 1Password has no free plan and a first-year price that rises to $3.99 a month, so it costs more at every step. The extras justify part of that difference but not all of it.

Support: 1Password 8.0, Bitwarden 6.5. Neither has live chat or phone support for personal accounts. 1Password’s chatbot, forums and multilingual guides earn a slight edge in the review, and I score it a step further because a chatbot the review calls responsive is the help I would rather have in the moment than an email form.

Weighted by the method described on How I test, 1Password lands on 8.2 and Bitwarden on 8.3, a gap small enough that the choice comes down to whether you value polish or price.

Which one I would pick

Bitwarden fits you if you want a free vault that covers the basics, if price matters, or if open source code and self-hosting matter to you. Premium at $19.80 a year is how you add the authenticator and health reports, and a plainer interface is the trade-off.

1Password fits you if you want the smoother app, Travel Mode and a Secret Key, and you accept paying from day one. Put the renewal date in your calendar, because the first-year price of $2.99 a month goes up to $3.99.

If you cannot decide, I would start with Bitwarden’s free plan, since it costs nothing and can import directly from 1Password, then use the 1Password trial if the interface bothers you. My Bitwarden review covers what the free plan leaves out, which is the part to weigh against the trial.

FAQ

Sources

• 1Password, pricing page
• Bitwarden, pricing page
• Security.org, Bitwarden vs. 1Password
• CyberInsider, 1Password vs Bitwarden
• synthbid, Bitwarden review
• How I test