The best free password managers in 2026

"Best free password manager" used to be a question with an awkward answer. LastPass gutted its free tier in 2021 and locked free users to one category of device. Dashlane capped its free plan at 25 passwords on a single device, then retired it entirely in September 2025. The advice that circulated through 2022 was a shrug and a warning: free tiers are bait, budget ten dollars a year or accept the risk.

That advice is out of date. In 2026, two open-source products give away unlimited passwords on unlimited devices, and both Apple and Google ship genuinely competent managers with every phone and laptop they sell. The free tiers of 2026 beat the paid tiers most people were recommending in 2022. What moved is the paywall itself: instead of capping passwords, free plans now cap the extras, and the most common cap is on storing two-factor codes.

This guide covers what free actually gets you from each contender, with limits verified as of November 2026, and where the remaining gaps are.

What a free password manager must do to count

A free tier that cripples the basics is not a free product; it is a trial. Four requirements separate the two:

• Real encryption. AES-256 or equivalent, with keys derived on your device. The vendor's server should hold ciphertext it cannot read, so a server breach reveals nothing usable.
• Autofill. Copying passwords by hand from a vault is how people drift back to reuse. Browser and app autofill is the entire point of the category.
• Import and export. A manager without export is a roach motel for your credentials. You must always be able to leave.
• Cross-device sync, at least basic. One-device "sync" was LastPass's death spiral. A phone-only vault is a single point of failure.

Password count is not on this list, because the serious free tiers have stopped capping it.

Bitwarden Free: the benchmark

Bitwarden is the product every other free plan gets measured against, and in 2026 it still earns the position. The free tier stores unlimited passwords and passkeys across unlimited devices, with apps for every major browser, desktop, and mobile platform. The code is open source and independently audited, sync is end-to-end encrypted, and export works on the free plan.

The free limits are features, not storage. Storing TOTP seeds inside the vault requires Premium, now $19.80 a year after the January 2026 price change, up from the famous ten dollars. File attachments and hardware-key login for the vault also sit behind Premium. The top free password manager, if you want one answer with no asterisks on the basics.

KeePass: the free password keeper that never expires

KeePass is the original free password keeper, open source since 2003, and it will be free forever for a structural reason: it is a file format, not a service. Your entire vault is one encrypted .kdbx database on your disk. Nothing syncs unless you make it sync — you drop the file into the cloud storage of your choice and the apps open it from there.

The ecosystem does the heavy lifting. KeePassXC is the maintained cross-platform edition for Windows, macOS, and Linux, with TOTP support built in. Strongbox and KeePassium cover iOS, KeePassDX covers Android. The tradeoff is effort: sync conflicts are your problem, and autofill is less polished than the cloud products. For people who want zero accounts, zero servers, and zero trust extended, nothing else matches it.

Proton Pass Free

Proton Pass comes from the Swiss company behind Proton Mail, and its free tier is generous: unlimited logins, notes, and credit cards, across unlimited devices, with end-to-end encryption and open-source apps. The caps are 10 hide-my-email aliases, two vaults, and — the one that matters here — three two-factor items. TOTP storage past three accounts requires a paid plan.

As a password manager, the free plan is complete. As a combined password-and-2FA app, it is a demo.

Apple Passwords

If your household runs on Apple devices, you already own a good manager. Apple Passwords, a standalone app since iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, syncs through iCloud Keychain with end-to-end encryption, autofills in Safari and apps, handles passkeys, and stores verification codes for free — the only major built-in that does not charge for TOTP storage.

The reach now extends past Apple hardware. iCloud for Windows ships a Passwords app with extensions for Chrome and Edge, and it generates verification codes there too, as Apple's support guide documents. The caveats are the flip side of the convenience: it is Apple-first, there is no Android or Linux client, and export is a CSV from the Mac app. It counts as free in the sense that it comes with hardware you already bought.

Google Password Manager

Google Password Manager is the password saver built free into Chrome and Android. It syncs through your Google Account, autofills in Chrome and Android apps and in Chrome on iPhone, runs Password Checkup against breached credentials, and handles passkeys. On Android and in Chrome, you can turn on on-device encryption so the synced copy is not readable from your Google account alone.

The limits are structural, not numeric. There is no desktop app outside Chrome, no iOS app, and no TOTP storage — codes live in the separate Google Authenticator app, whose sync is not end-to-end encrypted. The lock-in question is real: your passwords are exactly as safe as your Google account, and leaving means a CSV export and re-enrolling passkeys by hand. As a zero-effort default it is still far better than no manager at all.

Dashlane and 1Password: no free tier left

Two names to clear out of the way. 1Password has never had a permanent free tier; it offers a 14-day trial and then a subscription. Dashlane did have a famous free plan, capped at 25 passwords on a single device, and retired it on September 16, 2025. Any guide recommending "the free version of Dashlane" in 2026 was written before that date.

The field compared

Manager	Passwords	Devices	Sync	2FA code storage	Open source	Export
Bitwarden Free	Unlimited	Unlimited	Encrypted cloud	No (Premium, $19.80/yr)	Yes	Yes
KeePass	Unlimited	Any you set up	Manual, your file	Yes, built in	Yes	The database is the export
Proton Pass Free	Unlimited	Unlimited	Encrypted cloud	3 items	Yes (apps)	Yes
Apple Passwords	Unlimited	Apple devices, Windows via iCloud app	iCloud Keychain	Yes, free	No	CSV from Mac only
Google Password Manager	Unlimited	Chrome, Android, Chrome on iOS	Google Account	No (separate app)	No	CSV via takeout
Dashlane Free	Ended Sept 2025	—	—	—	No	—

The 2FA gap in most free tiers

The pattern is visible in the table but worth saying plainly: password storage went free, and two-factor storage did not. Bitwarden locks TOTP behind Premium. Proton Pass caps it at three items. Google Password Manager does not store codes at all. Apple is the exception, and only if you are all-in on its hardware.

The old advice was to keep your codes inside your password manager for one-stop convenience. The free-tier reality of 2026 argues for the other design: passwords in a password manager, codes in a dedicated 2FA vault. The two factors stay separated, so one compromised vault does not hand over both halves of your login.

That split is exactly what we build, so weigh it accordingly. 2FA by DependsiT is not a password manager — it is a web-based vault for the second factor only. Secrets are encrypted in the browser before anything is uploaded: PBKDF2 with a salt derives your key, HKDF separates that key per purpose, AES-256-GCM does the encryption, and the server stores ciphertext it cannot decrypt, with Argon2id protecting login. It speaks TOTP, HOTP, and Steam Guard with per-key options, runs as an installable PWA, and generates codes offline. The free tier covers 100 folders and 100 entries, with Yearly at $24 and Lifetime at $99 if you outgrow it. The guest generator needs no account at all: paste a Base32 secret, an otpauth:// URI, a QR image, or a Google Authenticator export, and watch the code tick, with nothing stored and nothing sent.

Pair it with any manager above and you have full free coverage. Details are on the features page, and pricing keeps the free tier free. For a wider view of where authenticator apps stand this year, see the best TOTP apps in 2026.

Frequently asked questions

Is a free password manager safe?

The serious ones, yes. Bitwarden and Proton Pass use the same encryption on free and paid accounts; the limits are features, not cryptography. KeePass encrypts locally, and you pay nothing, ever. The real risks in free tiers are lock-in and capped 2FA storage, not weak encryption. Test the export function before you commit to any manager.

What is the best free password manager for iPhone?

Apple Passwords is the zero-effort answer: it is already on the device, syncs encrypted through iCloud, and stores verification codes free. For cross-platform reach, Bitwarden's free tier covers iOS, Android, desktop, and browser with unlimited passwords, and Proton Pass Free is equally unlimited while adding email aliases. All three are solid picks for a free password manager on iOS; the deciding factor is which other devices you own.

Is Google Password Manager free?

Entirely. It costs nothing, is built into Chrome and Android, and has no password or device cap. The costs are structural: no apps outside the Google ecosystem, and no 2FA code storage. It is a reasonable default for someone who lives in Chrome and a poor fit for anyone who switches platforms often.

Can I use two password managers?

Yes, and it is more common than it sounds. The cleanest arrangement divides by function: passwords in one manager, 2FA secrets in another, which keeps the two factors separated. If both install browser extensions, autofill can collide, so pick one tool per job. Export formats let you consolidate later.

Do free password managers store TOTP codes?

Some do, most do not, and the pattern changes yearly. Apple Passwords stores verification codes free. KeePassXC has TOTP built in. Proton Pass Free allows three 2FA items. Bitwarden requires Premium, and Google Password Manager does not support code storage at all. If 2FA storage matters to you, check that specific limit before choosing, or pair a free password manager with a dedicated authenticator.