Pros & Cons
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- Easy to navigate apps on all platforms
- Browser extension displays phishing alerts
- Smartwatch compatibility
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- Substantial price increase since last year
- Lacks digital legacy options
- Masked emails are paid add-ons
AgileBits 1Password Specs
| Actionable Password Strength Report | |
| Fill Web Forms | |
| Import From Browsers | |
| Multiple Form-Filling Identities | |
| Product Category | Password Managers |
| Product Price Type | Direct |
| Secure Password Sharing | |
| Two-Factor Authentication |
1Password is one of the most polished password managers available, with attractive apps for nearly every platform and built-in tools that help keep your accounts secure. However, it's only available through a paid subscription, and a recent price increase makes it harder to justify 1Password's comparison with similarly capable competitors, leading us to lower the score by half a point since our last review. While 1Password still offers a strong overall experience, rivals like NordPass and Proton Pass now offer features such as email masking, emergency access, and generous free plans, making them better values for many users, and our Editors' Choice winners.
How Much Does 1Password Cost?
1Password's annual Individual subscription price is increasing by about 33%, from $35.88 to $47.88, effective March 27. The Family plan is also more expensive now, increasing from $59.88 to $71.88. The monthly subscription price for an Individual account is $4.99. Family plan subscribers who are paying month-to-month will pay $7.99.
The increase is a surprise because, historically, 1Password's pricing has been very consistent. A 1Password representative told PCMag's Michael Kan that the price hike "ensures we can continue investing in innovation, infrastructure, privacy, and world-class security to keep customers safe and make 1Password even more effortless to use."
(Credit: Internet Archive/PCMag)So what's included in the more expensive 1Password subscription? The Individual plan still allows you to autofill and store an unlimited number of passwords and sync them across an unlimited number of devices. You can also share links to items in your vault with anyone, even if they don't use 1Password. You get 1GB of encrypted storage, Travel Mode (more on that later), plus the ability to autofill, create, and store notes, identities, and payment cards. If you sign up for a FastMail account, you can also create and manage masked emails in your browser with 1Password. You also get to use 1Password's Watchtower feature, which flags old, weak, and reused passwords so you can update them. 1Password’s Family plan includes all of the features noted above, and adds support for 5 additional accounts, unlimited vault sharing, and admin-controlled access.
A new addition since our last review is phishing scam prevention: a pop-up warning from the browser extension when you attempt to paste your vault credentials on a suspicious website. It's a helpful update, but the company already offered a similar function before the price increase. 1Password will not autofill your credentials when you click a link whose URL doesn't match the one saved in your vault.
There are also new features that business administrators may find useful, like 1Password's Secure Agentic Autofill, which allows your browser-based AI agents to use your credentials, and access to Comet, a Perplexity-powered browser. This review, like our other password manager reviews, focuses on 1Password's benefits for individuals and families, rather than its capabilities or value for companies.
Although 1Password offers a 14-day trial, it doesn't have a permanently free version. The company provides a free web-based password generator and a separate username generator, but there's no free tier for 1Password. Competitors like Bitwarden, LogMeOnce, and Proton Pass offer fully functional free tiers.
NordPass costs $35.88 for an annual subscription and includes helpful extras like 24/7 live customer support, emergency access, and in-app generated masked emails, unlike 1Password. Pass costs $35.88 annually, but the company also offers a free app that syncs unlimited credentials across unlimited devices and 10 hide-my-email aliases that can be used on all platforms, unlike 1Password.
I'm not pointing any of this out to bash 1Password, or to say that it's a bad value. After all, it's not the first or only big password management company to raise prices this year. Bitwarden's premium tier jumped from $10 to $19.80 in January, but since the subscription price was still lower than most of the competition, the company boosted the amount of file attachment storage offered from 1GB to 5GB, and Bitwarden offers a totally free, feature-filled app as an alternative, the increase didn't make the same kinds of waves online as 1Password's recent price hike.
I think 1Password is a valuable password manager, as I note in the sections below about the app's functionality. However, it's more expensive than all but one of the four-star apps on our best password manager list, and doesn't offer perks for personal subscribers that justify the higher price.
Getting Started With 1Password
1Password has Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows apps, browser extensions for Brave, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari, and even a command-line version. You can also use 1Password on your Apple Watch.
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)To use 1Password, visit the website and create an account with a strong master password. The first time you open your vault, 1Password greets you with a pop-up showing your Secret Key. Hyphens separate this massive string of 34 letters and digits into seven blocks of varying sizes. Keep track of this; you'll need this key when you add a new device or browser extension.
To help you manage your Secret Key, 1Password prepares a download link for your Emergency Kit, a PDF containing your account email, Secret Key, and space to write down your master password. Print or save the document, enter the master password, and either stick it in a fireproof lockbox, store it digitally in a secure location, or do both. You can download your Emergency Kit at any time from your account page.
After saving your Secret Key and other documents, navigate to your account management page to set up a recovery code, which lets you regain access to your account if you forget your password or lose the Secret Key PDF. You can regain access by verifying your identity with the code sent to the email you used to sign up. for 1Password.
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)I liked 1Password's setup guide and think the autofill tutorial is particularly useful for people new to password managers. If you sign up for the Families plan, 1Password will set up a private vault and a separate, shared vault for other people. Vaults are a place to organize your passwords and credentials at the highest level. For instance, you may want to create separate vaults for your work and personal credentials to keep them separate.
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)If you're switching from another password manager to 1Password, importing your existing passwords is the easiest way. 1Password can import passwords from your iCloud account and from the Brave, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari browsers. The app can also import from other 1Password accounts, as well as competitors like Dashlane, KeePass, LastPass, and RoboForm. If your old password manager isn't on the list, you can upload a CSV containing your credentials to 1Password instead. I like that 1Password also walks customers through adding passwords from physical notebooks and spreadsheets.
Data Privacy
Before I test every app, I send a list of questions to the password management company inquiring about its privacy and security practices. Here are the questions and 1Password's responses:
Has your company ever had a security breach? If so, when? Please provide dates. What was exposed in the breach?
1Password has never had a security breach.
What unencrypted information does the password manager store in user vaults?
All 1Password vault data is end-to-end encrypted with AES-256-GCM symmetric keys. Encryption extends beyond just usernames and passwords to also include things like vault names, item titles, stored URLs, notes, and more – meaning someone who obtains encrypted vault data would have no way to guess what’s inside.
Encryption takes place on-device using secrets that only users have. No vault data is stored unencrypted, and 1Password team members do not have access to any of the data users store in their vaults.
What is the company's policy regarding selling or sharing customer data with third parties?
1Password does not sell or share customer data with third parties.
A representative provided a link to the company's policy regarding law enforcement requests. To summarize, 1Password cooperates with law enforcement when it receives requests. The company cannot decrypt your logins, passwords, or other saved items stored in your vaults.
1Password's answers to the questions above match the company's privacy policy. I encourage you to read privacy policies (especially for social media apps) to learn more about how companies collect, sell, or store your data.
Authentication and Security
(Credit:1Password/PCMag)After signing in and setting up your vault, it's time to enable multi-factor authentication (MFA). You can access this menu by opening the web vault, clicking Manage Account, then clicking More Actions in the left menu. Choose Manage Two-Factor Authentication. You can verify your identity using an authenticator app or a hardware security key.
1Password can autofill time-based one-time passwords (TOTPs) for other services that support MFA, but you shouldn’t use it to manage your 1Password login. As 1Password says, doing so "would be like putting the key to a safe inside of the safe itself."
It's a good time to take a look at the Security section of the 1Password account menu. That's where you can determine how you'd like to lock and unlock your vault using a specific browser, computer, or mobile device. I like that 1Password lets you set the security level for each device. The highest level is Strict, which means you'll enter your password or multi-factor authentication method each time you open the app, to Balanced, which keeps 1Password unlocked for up to 8 hours on desktops, and 10 minutes on mobile, or Convenient, which only locks and unlocks the app when you lock or unlock your computer or device.
Watchtower
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)Watchtower checks your vault for reused or weak passwords, and can let you know which logins support MFA and remind you to set it up if you haven't already. Expiration alerts notify you when a credit card in the vault has expired or is about to expire.
NordPass, Dashlane, and Proton Pass all include data breach monitoring for your email addresses and usernames, along with the usual password hygiene tools. 1Password's system is a bit different. Enabling “Check for vulnerable passwords” in 1Password's Settings menu triggers Watchtower alerts when a website in the vault is compromised. It also links to detailed reports on the breach, which are helpful but not as comprehensive as those from the competition.
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Masked Emails
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)Masked email lets you create unique email addresses for your logins across the web. It effectively lets you avoid junk and spam emails in your actual inbox. It's also helpful for figuring out which companies are leaking, selling, or sharing your contact information. You can toggle masked emails on and off in 1Password. Because the feature is a collaboration with privacy-focused email provider Fastmail, it requires a Fastmail membership (starting at $6 monthly).
If you want temporary email access baked right into your password management app, check out Proton Pass' Email Alias feature or NordPass's email masking feature. Both are pretty easy to use. While Email Alias is available with a free Proton Pass subscription, NordPass's email masking is only available with a premium account.
Travel Mode
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)1Password's Travel Mode hides vaults on your device when you're on the go. This is helpful if you get stopped for inspection during a border crossing or robbed. If 1Password is in Travel Mode, anyone with access to your device (and your account password) won't see your credentials. It's a very valuable feature, and I hope other password managers adopt a similar feature.
To use Travel Mode, before you leave for your trip, head over to your 1Password vault portal and toggle on the Safe for Travel button for the vault that contains the passwords you'll need while you're away from home. After that, click Turn on Travel Mode from your main account page. Any vaults you haven't marked as Safe for Travel will not be accessible to you or anyone else until you turn off Travel Mode. Since you can only have one vault with a Personal account, you'll need a Families account to create additional vaults.
Hands On With 1Password
I tested 1Password using the Chrome browser extension, iOS app, and web vault. All the apps are easy to use, and the interfaces are similar across platforms.
Capture and Replay
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)1Password displays a circular icon in any username or password entry fields you encounter online, and it saves each entry as you create it. You can click the icon to get 1Password’s menu to appear beneath those fields if needed.
1Password updates an existing login entry with the password if you press the button after entering just the username. From 1Password’s browser extension menu, you can also select identities or credit cards and generate a new password.
On sites where you've saved login credentials, 1Password shows you recommended credentials once you place your cursor in the entry fields. Just click on the correct login to fill out the fields.
As mentioned earlier in the review, 1Password offers phishing prevention alerts that pop up when you attempt to copy and paste your credentials into form fields on a website whose URL doesn't match the one stored in your vault. 1Password will not autofill credentials on websites that don't match the URL in your vault, either.
Passkeys
1Password allows you to create and store passkeys in your vault. To create a passkey using 1Password, visit a website that uses passkeys, sign in using a username and password, and 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. 1Password will store it in your vault.
Password Generator
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)With just one click, you can create a Smart Password that's 20 characters long, including numbers, letters, symbols, and mixed case. If you want to make your password a little longer, choose Random Password from the dropdown menu.
I created the bizarre but memorable statement above using 1Password's web-based generator. The Memorable Password option creates a password of English words separated by hyphens. You can create passwords up to 15 words long and choose from various separators, including spaces, periods, commas, underscores, numbers, and symbols. You can also generate a PIN up to 12 digits long.
Password Sharing and Emergency Access
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)You can share your login information with anyone, even people who don't use 1Password. To share a password or another item from your vault, click the Share button in the options menu. You can then generate a link that expires after one view, 1 hour, 1 day, 7 days, 14 days, or 30 days. You choose whether the link is available to anyone or only to specific people. If you choose the Anyone option, click Sharing History to view who else has shared your link.
1Password does not include a mechanism for passing your account to someone after your demise, a feature sometimes referred to as password inheritance or digital legacy. In the Families plan, 1Password lets you designate several family organizers, so in theory, there's always someone who can recover the account, but this isn't quite the same as an inheritance feature. Bitwarden, Dashlane, Keeper, and NordPass all include options to give a trusted heir access to a personal vault in emergencies.
Storage and Form Filling
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)Like Dashlane, Keeper, and most other password managers, 1Password lets you store personal information to fill out web forms. You can create any number of identities, including personal data, address information, and various internet contact details. 1Password can save this data for you as a new credential when you enter it on websites, too. Another cool feature: when family or friends visit and need to use your Wi-Fi, 1Password lets you generate a QR code they can scan so you don't have to give up your home network's password.
Most products offer to fill in your data when you navigate to a web form. I tested 1Password’s autofill capabilities across various websites, and the Chrome browser extension filled in blank fields effortlessly.
You can also set expiration dates for all items in your 1Password vault, from credit cards to passwords. It's a helpful way to remember to change your payment card numbers before they expire, or to update your passport. To set up alerts for expiration dates, tap the Edit button at the top of a credential or identity entry in your vault, then Add More, then select Date. You can set an expiration date and request a Watchtower alert about the expiration up to 9 months before the date.
I like that 1Password gives you 1GB of cloud storage; it's a reasonable amount for most people, though other password managers are beefing up their cloud storage offerings. Bitwarden gives premium subscribers 5GB of storage, while NordPass offers 3GB. Keeper subscribers can pay $9.99 annually for 10GB of storage.
Mobile Apps
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)I tested 1Password's iOS app. Both the Android and iOS apps offer full access to all your logins and other saved data. It's very easy to set up your 1Password vault on an iPhone. I recommend doing so by opening the web vault in a browser window, visiting your account page, and scanning the QR code to sign in on your other device.
You can also use your phone's MFA method (biometrics, passcode, or password) to access your 1Password vault. During the latest testing, I had to enter my master password in addition to my device passcode to unlock my vault whenever I wanted to enter a password in 1Password for iOS, which was a bit annoying. I toggled the unlock settings on and off a few times on my device, and even with Balanced security settings enabled, I still had to enter my password. On mobile, Convenient unlock mode is not an available option.
You can hide or reorder your preferred credentials on the home screen and pin items from your vault for quick access. For example, if you need fast, frequent access to a credit card number stored in your vault, just press and hold the field until the option to pin the item to your home screen appears. Once pinned, the (hashed) credit card number appears at the top of your screen, and you can copy it to your device's clipboard with a tap.
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)A new addition to 1Password is Nearby Items, which lets you assign a location to credentials or other items in your vault so they appear in your mobile app when you're near those locations. This could be helpful if you need to remember an access code to enter a physical storage facility or another building, or if you always need to use a password when logging in at the office.
To use this feature, open the edit menu for a credential on your desktop or mobile device, then tap the Location button and drop a pin on an Apple or Google map, or enter a physical address manually. When you're near that location, and 1Password notifications are enabled on your device, you'll be prompted to open that credential.
Business Plans
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)Business customers have several 1Password plan options. Small business owners should check out the 1Password Teams Starter Pack, which includes many of the features of the premium business password manager, such as vault sharing and access to Watchtower. The monthly cost is $19.95 for up to ten team members if you commit to a year of service up front. Otherwise, the 1Password Teams package costs $24.95. Businesses seeking integrations with other software and single sign-on capabilities can set up a 1Password Business account, which starts at $7.99 per person per month for the annual plan, and $9.99 per employee, per month for the month-to-month plan.
1Password’s business tools include vault reporting and Watchtower features that allow administrators to monitor security issues and employees' vault activity. The domain-level breach reports let administrators see if any company email addresses appear in data breach lists
Like Dashlane and Zoho Vault, 1Password Business supports single sign-on. Business accounts also include integrations with popular software such as Azure AD, Google Workspace, and Okta. As mentioned above, Teams accounts do not include single sign-on (SSO) capabilities or support for integrating with other business software such as Okta or OneLogin.
Each employee has access to a vault and can share individual passwords with other employees or outsiders using a private link. You can control access by setting the expiration to 1 view, 1 hour, 1 day, 7 days, 14 days, or 30 days.
The business plans include Guest Accounts, which are helpful if your company needs to share passwords temporarily with contractors, consultants, or other non-employees. Guest Accounts can only access a single vault at a time. Each 1Password business account also includes a free Families account for every employee to encourage healthy password habits. When employees leave the company, they can unlink the Families account and continue the subscription at their own expense.
Customer Support
Individual or Family account holders can visit the 1Password support website and community forums to ask questions via an AI-powered chatbot or send messages to the 1Password support team. Don't want to troubleshoot via articles or banter with a bot? All subscribers can get support by emailing support+security@1password.com. 1Password does not offer phone support for non-business plan subscribers.
Is Deleting Your 1Password Account Easy?
(Credit: 1Password/PCMag)I didn't have any trouble canceling my trial Family subscription. If you have a paid subscription and want to cancel it without deleting your data, you can do so from the Billing menu. Canceling your subscription freezes your account, so you can't add new passwords, fill in forms, invite new family or team members, or edit items, but you can still view all your credentials.
If you want to completely delete your account, visit your 1Password account page on the web, scroll to the bottom, and click Permanently Delete Account to start the process. In testing, account deletion was quick and painless. Before shutting down your account, save your credentials as a 1Password file and a CSV file.