Ask HN: What password manager do you recommend to friends and family?

17 points by october_sky ↗ HN
I realize those of us working in tech have our own tastes or specialized tools for password managers. But what do you recommend for friends and family to use?

36 comments

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I would prefer LastPass
Last pass MUST be avoided. It is closed sourced and has been exposed to hacks before
Been a Dashlane user for three years and would highly recommend it.
Finally! Someone besides me here who would recommend Dashlane. For some reason, it is always missing from these threads on HN.

Been a user for 3-4 years now, and would definitely recommend it.

KeePass. It's on every platform and is free.
1Password. Secure, good UX, syncs effortlessly on all my devices.
Bitwarden, pretty much my whole family and circle of friends uses it. Great UX, mobile apps, security, and not expensive at all.
For most users in the Apple ecosystem, iCloud keychain is an excellent, extremely well-integrated solution. I recommend it to all of my friends and family.
Bitwarden for its open source approach, security review, apps for ALL platforms and it’s crazy cheap. Has been my daily driver for the past 2 years.
I wanted to write almost the exact same list. :) Such an awesome product, highly recommended!
Bitwarden.

Personally, I use KeePass with Syncthing but pay for a Bitwarden Family account for my spouse and family members.

I migrated from LastPass, to Enpass, and finally to KeePass. Bitwarden basically checks all the boxes for me, but I prefer to control my own data without having to run and maintain the Bitwarden server for the rest.

Bitwarden also has an option to install it on your own server
1Password, no contest.
Chromes builtin password manager. I trust that google has smart people who will do a good job of securing my passwords and my families. It has its problems but with its auto generated passwords and almost all services I use having two factor , I feel it’s a good choice
I don't trust cloud based password stores. So I use pass which uses gpg encryption for your passwords.

https://www.passwordstore.org

GitHub has a good tutorial on generating your own gpg key: https://help.github.com/en/articles/generating-a-new-gpg-key

Using this you can encrypt your files. I store my gpg files in on a git forge. This way, I load my gpg key, clone the repo into ~/.password-store and voila! I can use my asswords/secrets across devices. It even has a utility for Android.

Besides that, I use Emacs a lot so I use helm-pass package to streamline my password discovery and copy-to-clipboard actions without exposing the password in plain view.

I wish I had your friends and family’s comfort with using GPG keys.
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KeePass

It's cross-platform/FOSS and does not relay on cloud.

Combining it with Keepass Tusk increases the usability for non-techs too.
I am using 1Password for my family. I am the only "tech" guy. Others had a hard time getting onboarded and learning to use.
I do not recommend any in particular because we are all different. All I can say is that I enjoyed using Authy.
I’ve used 1Password for the last 3 years and it works like a charm.
I really love KeePass. I don't feel comfortable with 3rd party cloud services. There are also apps for Android and iOS to work with KeePass databases. It's everything easy.
I love the keepass ecosystem, but would never recommend it to family who isn't very computer literate, and the iOS offerings are poor, with kypass being the only full functioning one, and it's closed source and a little buggy. I worry a little bit about using it to manage my passwords.
Isn't an irony to worry about 'closed source' in Apple's iOS?