Pros & Cons
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- Free
- Email alias options
- Dark web monitoring
- Password hygiene alerts
- Smooth form filling
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- Paywalled secure link sharing
Proton Pass Specs
| Actionable Password Strength Report | |
| Digital Legacy | |
| Fill Web Forms | |
| Import From Browsers | |
| Multiple Form-Filling Identities | |
| Product Category | Password Managers |
| Product Price Type | List |
| Secure Password Sharing | |
| Two-Factor Authentication |
Proton Pass is a password manager from Proton, a company with a stellar reputation for VPN and email services. The free version of its password manager is excellent. It includes syncing unlimited passwords across all your devices, creating email aliases, checking your credentials for weak or reused passwords, and filling in your credit card and personal information on websites using the app's form-filling features. The premium plans offer even more helpful features, such as additional storage, secure link sharing, and data breach monitoring. All of this, plus a top-notch user interface and smooth performance, earns Proton Pass our Editors' Choice award for free password managers.
How Much Does Proton Pass Cost?
The free version of Proton Pass includes unlimited credit card, passkey, and password storage across unlimited devices, password hygiene monitoring, and the ability to create up to 10 email aliases.
Proton Pass Plus costs $4.99 per month ($59.88 annually) before discounts. If you want a lower rate, spring for the yearly subscription at $35.88. With Proton Pass Plus, you get all the free tier's perks as well as an unlimited number of email aliases, mailboxes for your email aliases, the ability to generate multi-factor authentication (MFA) codes in the mobile app, the option to create multiple vaults, vault sharing for up to 10 users, file attachment storage, secure link sharing, dark web monitoring, detailed information about your account security, and the ability to enroll in Proton Sentinel (more on that feature later).
Though the non-discounted monthly price puts Proton Pass Plus on the upper end of password manager paid plans, the yearly plan is on par with other password managers' annual rates. For example, NordPass only offers yearly rates now, and though the first year's price is $23.88, that rate increases to $35.88 per year afterward. 1Password's monthly rate for a personal premium plan is $3.99, or $47.99 per year; you can also sign up for an annual plan and pay a familiar amount, $35.88.
That said, I encourage you to try before you buy, and that goes for everything. Use a free version of an app, or take advantage of a free trial period before committing to a year or longer. I like that Proton offers a fully functional free app, a monthly service tier, and an annual plan.
If you want your family to be a part of the same password management ecosystem, check out Proton Pass Family. The plan is $6.99 per month, but it drops to $4.99 per month or $59.88 if you buy a year of service up-front. A Family account nets you all of the features included with a Plus account and adds support for up to six accounts, plus an admin panel for the Family account owner.
You can access the entire Proton ecosystem from the Proton Pass app, which adds a lot of value. The Proton suite of privacy and utility services includes free versions of Proton Calendar, Docs, Drive, and Mail, as well as the highly rated Proton VPN. Check out the Proton Unlimited plan if you're looking for premium versions of these services.
Getting Started With Proton Pass
(Credit: Proton/PCMag)If you already have a Proton account, you can go to your account page to add a Proton Pass subscription to your account. If you are new to the Proton ecosystem, sign up for a Proton account using your email address and create a strong, unique password.
To get started with Proton Pass, I suggest downloading your appropriate browser extension first. You can watch the helpful tutorial video on YouTube while your vault loads and familiarize yourself with the user interface by exploring the web vault, which opens in a new window. Proton Pass offers browser extensions for Brave, Chrome, Edge, and Firefox, a web-based vault, and apps for Android, ChromeOS, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows.
(Credit: Proton/PCMag)Proton Pass can import from many competing password management apps and browsers. If your old credential storage app isn't on the list, you can always upload a .csv containing your logins to your Proton Pass vault. I didn't have any issues while importing the test credential lists.
Data Privacy Questions
Before evaluating each password manager, I sent the company questions about its data privacy and security practices. Proton's responses are in italics below.
Has your company ever had a security breach? If so, when? Please provide dates. If applicable, what data was exposed in the breach?
Proton has never been subject to a successful security breach.
What unencrypted information does the password manager store in user vaults?
The only unencrypted information Proton Pass stores in users vaults is email alias addresses. Through Proton Pass, users can sign up for apps and services using an email alias to protect their primary address and identity. These aliases are not encrypted, as our systems need to know which inbox to forward the emails to.
What is the company's policy regarding selling or sharing customer data with third parties?
Proton never monetizes or sells user data. Our only revenue source is user subscriptions. Our overriding policy is to collect as little user information (personal data included) as possible to ensure a private user experience when using Proton's services. We do not have the technical means to access the content of encrypted emails, attachments, files, calendar events, passwords, or notes.
How does your company respond to requests for user information from governments and law enforcement?
Proton cannot access or share the contents of users’ emails, files, calendars, passwords, or other personal data. We only disclose the limited user data we possess when legally required by a valid, binding order from competent Swiss authorities. All requests are reviewed for compliance with Swiss law and are challenged when their validity is in doubt or when there is a public interest to do so; in such cases, we do not comply until all legal remedies are exhausted. Under Swiss law, subjects of judicial procedures have to be notified of such procedures, although such notification has to come from the authorities and not from the company. Aggregate statistics on data requests are published in our transparency reports.
Proton's answers to our questions match the messaging in the company's privacy policy. I encourage anyone in the market for a new password manager to browse privacy policies to learn more about how companies collect, sell, or store user data.
Authentication and Security
(Credit: Proton/PCMag)Once you have signed in to your vault, you should set up multi-factor authentication. Proton Pass lets you authenticate with an authenticator app or a hardware security key.
Auto-locking your account locks access to your vault after a predetermined period and requires a six-digit PIN or an extra password to unlock. In testing, the feature worked as described.
Another interesting privacy feature is the ability to view a detailed list of login attempts for your account, including device information, ISP details, and the approximate location of the device attempting to access your account. Security event details are available only to paid account holders.
Email Aliases
(Credit: Proton/PCMag)Like other temporary email alias providers, Proton allows you to create a new email address that you can use to sign up for products and services. It's handy when you don't want to enter your email address in a form and risk receiving junk email for the rest of your life (Apple users get a similar email-forwarding function with an iCloud+ subscription and iCloud Mail).
You can also create email inboxes for your Proton-generated email aliases, which is very helpful. This allows you to reply to emails to confirm the addresses without giving up your real email address. I had no trouble logging into websites using a Proton-generated email address.
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Keep in mind, these email addresses are meant to be used as throwaways, and Proton does not encrypt this data in your password vault. SimpleLogin founder and head of Proton Pass, Son Nguyen Kim, said, "Stored email aliases themselves are not encrypted, as they need to remain visible for email forwarding to function properly, but all other data stored in the password vault is encrypted."
With that in mind, I don't recommend using the same email alias for all of your important accounts, but luckily, you can make a lot of them. Proton Pass Plus accounts get unlimited aliases, while free accounts can create up to 10 email alias addresses.
Pass Monitor
(Credit: Proton/PCMag)Pass Monitor is Proton's security center. A password hygiene section identifies weak or reused passwords in your vault. Plus subscribers can add their Proton email addresses, hide-my-email aliases, and up to 10 other non-Proton email addresses for dark web monitoring.
The data breach history report is an interesting feature. You can get a full rundown of all the data breaches that exposed information related to your email address. To test the feature, I used an old email address that's long been relegated to a junk mail catch-all. Surprisingly, it's been included in 20 known data breaches since 2010. It was also very helpful to see which information was exposed in each breach. Other password managers, such as Bitwarden and NordPass, include detailed information in their data breach monitoring sections.
Proton Sentinel
Proton's website claims the Sentinel program uses AI and humans to monitor your account for suspicious login activity. If a login attempt seems suspicious, Sentinel will let you know. It's a helpful paid feature for people who may be high-security targets (government officials and journalists are a couple of examples), though it's probably not necessary for most users.
Hands On With Proton Pass
I tested Proton Pass using the web vault, the iOS app, and the browser extensions for Firefox and Google Chrome. The apps are all good-looking, easy to use, and perform smoothly in testing.
(Credit: Proton/PCMag)Credential Capture and Replay
I was able to create and store new passwords for accounts using my real email addresses and Proton's email aliases. Each time, Proton Pass filled in the email address in the appropriate field and generated a password with a single click. I could also auto-fill my existing passwords on websites without any trouble.
Password Generator
With Proton Pass, you can generate a random password up to 64 characters long or a memorable passphrase. The password history list is a welcome sight, too.
Passkey Support
You can create and store passkeys using Proton Pass on all platforms. To create a passkey, visit a website that uses passkeys. Sign in using a username and password, then set up a passkey in your account settings menu. After completing the passkey setup, log out of the website, return to the sign-in screen, and choose "Sign in with passkey."
Form Filling and Storage
(Credit: Proton/PCMag)Proton Pass offers helpful storage options, making it an "everything manager" rather than just a password manager.
All customers can store basic contact information, such as a name, address, and phone number, in their vaults, but paid account holders can store file attachments and custom items, such as API keys, crypto wallet keys, medical records, and Wi-Fi network passwords, in Proton's encrypted vault. If the item you want to store doesn't fit in one of Proton's 14 templates, you can create your own, which is helpful. Previously, auto-filling credit card data in Proton Pass was available only to paid accounts, but after a recent update, free customers can autofill payment data, too.
The Proton Pass options are similar to the storage capabilities of other password managers, such as Dashlane, Keeper, and NordPass.
Sharing and Emergency Access
(Credit: Proton/PCMag)Proton Pass allows you to share vault items with others and determine whether they can view, edit, or become administrators for the entire vault. If you're an existing Proton Pass user, I suggest creating a separate vault to share individual credentials with others. You can set the vault's access level so the other person can edit, delete, or view logins. If you're on the Proton Plus or Family plans, you can create secure links to share data with anyone, including non-Proton Pass subscribers.
It's important to consider what happens to your data in the event of your demise. Like Bitwarden, Keeper, LogMeOnce, and NordPass, you can use Proton Pass to designate a person to take over your password manager vault if you die or are otherwise incapacitated. That way, someone you know and trust can shut down your social media accounts to prevent them from becoming so-called zombie accounts piloted by online scammers.
(Credit: Proton Pass/PCMag)Your designee needs to have a Proton Pass account to inherit your passwords. Enter their email address, and choose how long the person needs to wait for your approval to access your vault. You can grant your trusted recipient immediate access, so your approval isn't necessary. If you choose to set up a waiting period (up to 30 days), that can give you more time to approve or deny your designee's request for access to your passwords.
Mobile Apps
(Credit: Proton/PCMag)I checked out the mobile version of Proton Pass Plus using an iOS device. The easy-to-navigate user interface is basic but trendy. Like other modern password management apps, Proton Pass eliminates the need for a separate authenticator by integrating a 2FA code generator into the app.
I was able to download, install, and log in to the app without any issues. During testing, Proton Pass for iOS didn't have trouble capturing, creating, and filling passwords.
Proton Pass for Business
Proton Pass has three levels of password management for business users. Before any discounts, the Pass Essentials plan is $59.88 per person, per year when you sign up for the month-to-month plan. As with personal plans, paying a whole year up-front can save you some money. In addition to the free password manager features included in the Essentials tier, the plan also offers unlimited hide-my-email aliases, credit card storage, and a VPN connection for employees. In its marketing materials, Proton describes the Essentials service tier as best suited for small teams.
The next step up is Pass Professional, which costs $83.88 per year when you subscribe to the monthly plan. The Professional tier adds an activity log, MFA requirement for organization members, Pass Monitor reporting, SSO and SCIM support, a VPN connection for employees, and access to Proton Sentinel.
The Proton Business Suite is $179.88 per person per year and includes access to Proton's full product list, including Calendar, Drive, Mail, and VPN. Each employee also receives 1TB of cloud and mail storage and Proton VPN access on up to 10 company devices.
Businesses need quick human responses when it comes to customer service. I like that Proton Pass includes on-demand phone support for all levels of business password management, which both Dashlane and Keeper offer.
Customer Service and Cancellation Policy
Proton Pass does not have chat or phone support for non-business plan subscribers. Instead, customers can troubleshoot their issues on the support page or request help in the customer service section of the Proton Pass apps. If that doesn't solve the issue, help is available by email, too. Currently, Proton uses Zendesk to handle emailed support questions, but if you want to bypass a third party, you can email contact@proton.me.
Is Canceling Your Proton Pass Subscription Easy?
I didn't have any trouble canceling my Proton Pass Plus subscription. To do so, visit your Proton account page, scroll to the bottom, and click the Delete Account button.
If you cancel your account and have prepaid for an annual subscription, Proton will credit you for the unused days. This is a helpful policy for people who plan to use more Proton products in the future.
Final Thoughts
(Credit: PCMag Composite; Proton)
Proton Pass
Proton Pass is at the forefront of free password management, syncing unlimited passwords across all your devices while adding features such as credential hygiene management and email alias creation.