I’ve been using 1Password for many years, but with the latest update, I think it’s time to move.
I went onto their “family” service with the launch of version 6 as I hoped it would help my wife keep her passwords in order and secure, though I still kept my Primary vault synchronised with Dropbox and accessible on all my devices. However, with the advent of version 7, AgileBits have removed that option. This means I will be dependent on being on-line to their servers—and I have been in situations where I’ve had no internet but needed to access other data stored securely in my Primary vault—and also have to learn a new password to access their servers, which I had to create when I joined the “family” service, but have never actually had to use.
So, does anyone know of an equivalent secure password and data “wallet”, which allows one to synchronise the data between devices using a Dropbox, iCloud or similar account,
I’ve used both the Secrets service—which uses iCloud—and the Lastpass service which uses its own servers. Both will let you do what you want, I think. I rather prefer the Lastpass service because I loathe iCloud, but YMMV.
I’ve used Lastpass for many years, sharing with my partner, and currently use the family tier of their service. I spent a lot of time trying various passsword manager when first choosing, with the criteria of robust sync (thus precluding the more paranoid among us, who think passwords and clouds should never mix) along with support of any browser and device, and a reasonable price. At the time with a Google phone, Lastpass was the best set of features for the most reasonable price ($1 per month), and sync across multiple devices always worked flawlessly. Lastpass has the best 2-factor authentication of any service for a long time (arguably still better than the alternatives, though the gap has closed). This was important for me especially when travelling a lot etc. Lastpass has a native macOS client, however the browser is still my dominant interface. For many years, LP had the best password auditing features (how many passwords are weak, repeated, on online leaked lists etc), but other tools have caught up I think.
Lastpass was purchased by LogMeIn, a company who seems to be deeply loathed by many customers, and there was an exodus of users at that time, as there was with a recent price increase ($1 per month to $2 per month). But Lastpass is still IMO reasonably priced compared to the alternatives, and is still well regarded in comparative reviews. It does have an “offline” mode, where the binary blob of your database is accessed but not synced.
Dashlane — very nice aesthetic design but a limited buggy extensions that only worked in certain browsers. I’m sure they’ve improved since I tested, but nothing to stand out IMO.
1Password — has always been far too expensive IMO, by far the nicest UI on macOS, but a more limited feature set and poorer compatibility across OSes.
I am seriously thinking however of switching to Bitwarden — this is one of the few password manager whose source code is fully open, and a company that seems to be tightly focussed on openness as a security feature.
I imported from Lastpass and used it for a week a few months ago — browser extensions are really good, and the client was OK. I’ve already paid for Lastpass for this year, but the ease of switching to Bitwarden for testing made me confident it would be a viable route. A 5-person families account is only $1 per month, and for 2-person sharing it is free. And if you are paranoid, you can even self-host on your own server! Not sure about its offline mode though. As a new user, I’d probably choose Bitwarden.
Thanks all for your very helpful responses. I shall have a look at them—apart from Dashlane, which I investigated for a friend but wasn’t too impressed. I’ll also wait to see if anyone else chips in. I don’t have to move quickly.
I can see about migrating all the stuff in my Primary vault to my Personal vault on their server, but it still doesn’t solve the offline issue. I was using my 17" MBP and needed to look up a licence code for an app I’d just installed, which I’d entered in 1Password on my 13" MBP, only to discover it wasn’t there on the 17". That was when I discovered it was no longer Sync’ing the Primary vault through Dropbox.
I’m a bit confused… the stand-alone clients can still use Dropbox, and you can share a dropbox folder with another dropbox account. I never wanted to move to their server, so I’ve stuck with the clients + dropbox, though I haven’t upgraded recently… is there something about the latest releases that prevents you from transitioning back to individual client licenses and sync all your vaults using dropbox?
I’ve been using keepass for a very long time but recently I’ve been having some issues with syncing it across devices. Thats when I came across Bitwarden. No hassles and easy to use. I recommend that you try it.
Much belatedly, thanks again to all who have answered.
Having looked at all your suggestions, I’ve decided to stay with 1Password for the moment, and have spent time copying all the logins and other data I need into my personal vault on their server. Any new ones, I will create in there too, but keep my local “Primary” vault as another backup.
@rdale, I know it’s weird but it will no longer sync to Dropbox:
It’s worth raising a support ticket with AgileBits.
All of my data in 1Password is stored locally and syncs. 1Password works better now than at anytime since I first started using it several years ago. I wouldn’t dream of switching.
Am I right in thinking that in your supreme Nomsense, you haven’t changed to the subscription-based “1Password for Families”? I did that so I could get my wife’s passwords organised, and use the shared vault for passwords that we need to share. Sadly, she has never got into it, and there is no point in trying again until I have the chance to sort out why her Late 2011 13" MBP runs like a snail on Temazepam.
But to your comment, I did contact AgileBits support about it a while back, and got a terse reply saying, “You shouldn’t be using a Primary Vault”!
Anyway, I’ve done the transfers, which also allowed me only to copy the ones I use regularly, but lets me keep the rarely used ones in the Primary vault which I can access on this main computer.
Hello. I’m using 1Password 7 (Version 7.2.2) with a Family subscription. I tested my setup and found that I was able to create a standalone vault and then sync it with Dropbox. This ensures that a copy of my data is available both locally and in the cloud. It might be worth noting that my copy of 1Password was bought directly from AgileBits. Let me know if you need any help setting this up. I’m more than happy to help.
Unfortunately, since the introduction of subscription licenses for 1Password, AgileBits customer support has gone from bad to worse. . . Tech support reps on the official 1Password forum and the Reddit subforum administered by AgileBits pressure people with standalone licenses to switch to the subscription license. The pressure can be subtle or not-so-subtle but it means that getting a straight answer to a simple question can require multiple attempts.
Prior to and after upgrading to 1Password 7 I needed help with several different questions. Each time, what should have taken one response from tech support (or at the most two if I had a follow-up question) became a long drawn-out affair. At least questions posted to the forums receive a relatively fast reply. Over the years I have found contacting 1Password support directly to have one of the slowest response times I have ever experienced from a commercial software company.
I have decided to stick with a standalone license because I do not need the “features” that come with a subscription account. There are only two of us and we do not sync 1Password data with multiple Macs or iOS devices. When I calculated the cost of a family subscription vs. a standalone license with 1Password installed on 2 Macs, I found that I would be spending substantially more. For example, we went 5 years before upgrading from v. 6 to v.7. That’s $60 vs. $300. We are recently retired so we are managing our modest financial resources for the long-haul.
It is still possible to sync 1Password 7 using Dropbox as well as other options. We enjoy the same functionality with our standalone license that we have always had for the past 10+ years using 1Password.
I highly recommend “Take Control of 1Password” 4.0 by Joe Kissell published by Take Control Books. The $14.99 ebook has tons of useful information which I find easier to access and understand than what I find on the 1Password website and its support forums. (Do an Internet search for promo codes as Take Control Books often has discounts as well as an annual 50%-off sale around Thanksgiving and other sale events.)
I don’t understand why AgileBits continues to offer a standalone license while being openly hostile to customers who choose the option. But with a reported customer base of 15 million people, I understand the financial motivation behind getting its current and future customers on board with subscription licenses. I simply think that there is insufficient added value for people in our position to pay $60 annually for a mature platform with a few added features that we will never use. If AgileBits should ever do away with standalone licenses we will be among the first long-time customers to make the switch to another password manager.
