Table of contents
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AI-generated summary
Using a password manager in 2021 is non-negotiable! You can always use the one built into your browser, but you’ll be tied to it — often for a very long time, because once you’ve saved hundreds of passwords, migrating becomes nearly impossible: it just takes too long.
A long time ago I wrote an article about Lastpass ; back then it cost roughly the same as a Bitwarden annual subscription — €15/year — but since then the price has doubled to €30/year.
Ergonomics 🤏
Dashlane handles auto-fill pretty well: when a login field gets focus, a list of options pops up so you can pick the right one. With Bitwarden you have to click the extension icon to choose the right login.
On the interface side, there’s no contest — Dashlane looks nicer and is more intuitive. But is that really a deciding factor for a tool you’ll barely ever open?
Winner: Dashlane
Price 💸
The deciding factor for most of us. And on this point Bitwarden is unbeatable at €10 a year, against four times the price at Dashlane!
On the family plan, the gap narrows — €40 a year versus €60 for Dashlane.
Winner: Bitwarden
Features 🛠
On the paid plan (which I can only recommend), Dashlane includes a VPN.
Changing a password directly from within Dashlane is a great service — but only when a site supports it, and not many do.
Checking for compromised passwords and email addresses is a standard feature in both apps, but when combined with Dashlane’s password changer it becomes trivially easy to update a password after a data breach.
Sending text or files securely is a new Bitwarden feature that Dashlane doesn’t have.
The ability to self-host your credentials on your own infrastructure is a real strong point for Bitwarden.
Winner: neither
Family 👨👨👦
You can share data between family members, provided they have an account and you’re on a family plan (up to 6 members).
Bitwarden lets you share with a single account if you don’t have a family plan.
Neither competitor pulls ahead on this one.
Winner: neither
Security 🔐
Bitwarden has the advantage of being Open Source, meaning anyone can look at how it’s written — which is generally a good sign.
As I mentioned above, Dashlane lets you change your password directly from within the app; however, to be able to do that, the password is known to Dashlane — which is pretty mediocre from a security standpoint. To offer a very marketing-friendly feature, Dashlane chooses to compromise on security, which is a shame going forward, because security is the number-one criterion for choosing a tool like this.
Winner: Bitwarden
In conclusion and time to choose
So which one do I pick? For me, honestly, Bitwarden is clearly the better option — in terms of security credentials it’s Open Source (Firefox is too, go install it!). It costs €10 a year to store ultra-sensitive data, which is really not expensive at all. You can self-host your data.
In short, you get the idea: Bitwarden ticks every box, no need to look elsewhere. Dashlane barely saves face with better ergonomics, but that’s not everything — especially for this type of tool.
