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Before writing this I went and checked the numbers against the pricing pages themselves, and a lot of what gets repeated about free password managers turns out to be wrong. One widely copied claim is that Bitwarden caps its free plan at two devices. Another is that its Premium tier costs about $48 a year.
Neither matches what Bitwarden publishes. The free plan says unlimited devices, unlimited passwords, and Premium is listed at $1.65 a month. The $48 figure is the Families plan, which covers six people. Somewhere along the chain of articles copying each other, a family price became an individual price.
So this is less a ranking than a correction, with the actual free-tier terms as of 19 August 2026 and a note on where the real paywall sits.
What the Free Plans Actually Include
Taken from each provider’s own pricing page rather than from other roundups.
| Free plan | Devices | Items | Passkeys | Built-in 2FA codes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitwarden | Unlimited | Unlimited passwords | Yes | No, Premium only |
| Proton Pass | Unlimited | Unlimited logins, notes, cards | Yes | No, Plus only |
| 1Password | No free plan at all | Paid only | Yes | Included, but paid |
Somewhere along the chain of articles copying each other, a family price became an individual price.
The Real Paywall Is the Authenticator
Both free plans hand you unlimited passwords on unlimited devices. What both hold back is the integrated authenticator, the feature that generates your six-digit two-factor codes inside the vault.
That is the honest upgrade trigger. Not storage, not device count, not password quantity. If you want your 2FA codes filled in automatically alongside your passwords, you pay. Bitwarden lists that under Premium at $1.65 a month; Proton puts it in Pass Plus.
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Whether You Should Want That Feature Is Debatable
Here is the part the upgrade prompts do not mention. Putting your two-factor codes in the same vault as your passwords means one master password now unlocks both factors. The second factor stops being a separate thing an attacker has to obtain.
Plenty of security-minded people deliberately keep them apart, using a standalone authenticator app so a compromised vault does not hand over everything at once. Plenty of others accept the tradeoff because convenience is what keeps them using 2FA at all, and 2FA in one basket beats no 2FA.
What Free Genuinely Does Not Give You
Setting the authenticator aside, three real gaps remain on the free tiers.
Emergency access
The feature that lets a trusted person recover your vault if something happens to you sits on paid plans. For a shared household this is often the thing that actually justifies paying, and it gets discussed far less than device counts.
File attachments
Storing scanned documents alongside credentials is a paid feature almost everywhere. Free plans handle text, not files.
Advanced vault health reporting
Free plans warn about weak and reused passwords. The deeper breach-exposure reporting is generally paid.
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What is careless is upgrading for the convenience without noticing that you changed your threat model at the same time.
Choosing Between the Two Free Options
They are closer than any roundup will admit, because both cover the actual job completely. A tiebreaker, if you want one:
| Pick | If |
|---|---|
| Bitwarden | You want the longest track record, open-source code, and the cheapest path to paid later |
| Proton Pass | You want email aliases bundled in, or you already use Proton Mail |
The bigger risk is not picking the wrong one. It is picking neither and staying on reused passwords for another year because the comparison felt like homework. Either of these, set up today, moves you further than an optimal choice made next spring.
If you are auditing your free-tier services generally, the same pattern of misquoted limits shows up in storage too, which I went through in Best Cloud Storage Services Compared.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bitwarden free really unlimited?
Unlimited devices and unlimited passwords, per Bitwarden’s own pricing page as of August 2026. The commonly repeated two-device cap does not appear there. Check the page yourself before acting on any figure, including this one.
Is a free password manager safe enough?
The encryption on these free tiers is the same as on their paid tiers. You are paying for features, not for stronger protection. The weak point in practice is your master password and whether you enabled two-factor login, both of which are free to get right.
Does 1Password have a free plan?
No. It offers a trial, then it is paid. Any article comparing “1Password free” to other free plans is describing something that does not exist.
Should I keep 2FA codes in my password manager?
It is a tradeoff rather than a rule. Storing them together is more convenient and means one compromise exposes both factors. Keeping them in a separate authenticator app is safer and more friction. Choose knowingly.
Plan details above were taken from the Bitwarden and Proton pricing pages on 19 August 2026. Pricing and free-tier terms change without notice, so verify against those pages before relying on any number here.