Stop trying to come up with clever, cryptic passwords that you struggle to keep in your head. With a secure and easy-to-use password manager, you can manage your login credentials across all your devices, keeping your passwords safe and automatically filling in forms and syncing your data across Windows, MacOS, Android phones and iPhones and iPads.
Simply, a password manager is an encrypted digital vault that stores the login information you use to access websites, apps and other services. Besides keeping your credentials and sensitive data safe, a password manager can generate unique, strong passwords to ensure you aren't reusing your them across your services. Withalltherecentnewsofsecuritybreaches and identity theft, using unique passwords can go a long way to ensuring if one site gets hacked, your stolen password can't be used on other sites.
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And with a manager, you don't have to remember the various pieces of login information, such as credit-card information or shipping addresses. With just one master password -- or in some cases a PIN or even your fingerprint -- you can autofill a form or password field. Some also feature online storage and an encrypted vault for storing documents.
Fortunately, almost all of our top password managers can sync across all of your Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices. A few even let you authenticate on iOS or Android with your fingerprint. 1Password is one of the best password managers for Mac, all thanks to the great features it comes preloaded with. It stores all of your login data in an encrypted and secure form, thus there are almost no chances of getting your confidential data stolen. Dashlane for Mac. The best way to manage passwords, protect yourself online and save time on the web.
All our best password manager picks come in free versions, which usually lets you securely store passwords for one device (although our pick for best free manager can be used across multiple devices). Our picks also feature subscription options that let you sync your log-in information across all your devices, share credentials with trusted family and friends and get access to secure online storage. And if transparency is important to you, several of our picks are open-source projects. We also look at what a password manager is and the basics of how to use one.
Note that these services are independently chosen by our editors. CNET may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.
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Some of our other picks have a free option, but most lock you to just one device if you don't pay up. The free version of LastPass stands out by giving you the ability to store passwords, user log-in info and credentials and sync all of it wherever you want -- across desktop, mobile and browsers.
You can also share a login item with another person. For $36 a year, you can purchase the Premium version to share passwords, log-ins, memberships and other items with trusted emergency contacts, multifactor authentication through YubiKey and fingerprint and 1GB of encrypted storage.
And with a $48 annual subscription, you can sign up for the Families plan that gives you six individual accounts, shared folders and a dashboard interface for managing the accounts and keeping an eye on your account's security.
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If you're looking for a trusted password manager app to keep your log-in information private and secure, 1Password is up to the task, letting you access your accounts and services with one master password. It's available for Windows, MacOS, Android, iOS, Linux and Chrome OS.
The nicely designed manager lacks a free version, but you can try for free for 30 days before signing up. An individual subscription runs $36 a year, and comes with 1GB of document storage and optional two-factor authentication for additional protection. A travel mode lets you remove your 1Password sensitive data from your device when you travel and then restore it with one click when you return.
On Macs, you can use Touch ID to unlock 1Password, and on iOS devices, you can use Face ID too. For $60 a year, you can cover a family of five, sharing passwords, credit cards and anything else among the group. Each person gets their own vault, and it's easy to control who you share information with and what they can do with it.
You can also create separate guest accounts to share Wi-Fi connection passwords, for example, or home alarm codes with guests.
Other free and paid options worth considering
Both LastPass and 1Password are solid, affordable password keepers, and in a straw poll of CNET staffers, they were about neck-and-neck in use -- though the latter may include some taking advantage of the 1Password for Journalism initiative that offers free service to us hacks. But if you find neither of our two recommended password managers works quite how you want, a handful of other apps are worth considering. These all have free versions available.
Bitwarden
Bitwarden is a lean, open-source software password manager that can store and autofill your passwords across your devices and popular browsers -- including Brave and Tor -- for free. It lacks some of the bells and whistles of our picks, but for $10 a year, you can add 1GB of encrypted file storage.
Dashlane
Dashlane provides a simple and secure way to manage your passwords and keep other log-in information stored. Just for managing passwords, we like it as much as our picks, but the free version limits you to one device and 50 passwords, and the Premium subscription is $60 a year, more than similar plans from 1Password and LastPass.
Keeper
Keeper is another password service than helps you manage login info on Windows, MacOS, Android and iOS devices. A free version gives you unlimited passwords on one device. The step-up version costs $25 to $30 a year and lets you sync passwords across all your devices. For $60 a year, you can get 10 GB of secure file storage.
KeePassXC
KeePass, another open-source software, started on Windows and has been ported over using the same code base to other platforms, including MacOS, Android and iOS. On the plus side, it's totally free and endorsed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. On the other side, it's really for advanced users only: It takes a bit of fiddling to get all the independently built versions of KeePass to work together.
Password Manager Basics
Still need more info on what password managers are, and why they're better than the alternatives? Read on.
How does a password manager work?
To get started, a password manager will record the username and password you use when you first sign in to a website or service. Then the next time you use visit the site, it will autofill forms with your stored user login information. For those websites and services that don't handle automatic filling, a manager lets you copy the password to paste into the password field.
If you're stuck picking a good password, the manager can generate a strong password for you and watch that you aren't reusing any across services. And if you use more than one device, you want a manager that is available across all your devices and browsers, so you can access your passwords and login information -- including credit-card and shipping information -- from anywhere through the manager app or its browser extension. Some provide secure storage so you can store other items too, such as documents, say an electronic copy of your passport or will.
Take note: Many password managers keep the master password you use to unlock the manager locally and not on a remote server. Or if it's on a server, it's encrypted and not readable by the company.
This ensures your account stays secure in case of a data breach. It also means that if you forget your master password, there may not be a way to recover your account through the company. Because of that, a few password managers offer DIY kits to help you recover your account on your own. Worse case scenario, you start over with a new account and manually reset your passwords at each specific destination site and account and start again.
What makes for a secure password?
A good password should be a long string of capital and lowercase letters, numbers, punctuation and other nonalphanumeric characters -- something that's difficult for others to guess, but a snap for a password manager to keep track of. And despite what you may have heard, once you select a good password, you don't really need to change it periodically.
Best Password Manager 2018 For MacCan I use a web browser to manage my passwords and login information?
You can certainly use Chrome, Safari or Firefox to manage your passwords, addresses and other login data. You can even set up a master password to unlock your credentials within a browser. And while using an online browser's password tool is certainly better than not using a password keeper at all, you can't access your passwords and other login info outside of the browser, the browser isn't much help in generating strong passwords and you can't share login info with others you trust.
What about iCloud Keychain?
Through iCloud Keychain, you can access your Safari website usernames and passwords, credit card information and Wi-Fi network information from your Mac and iOS devices. It's great if you live in Apple's world. But if you venture outside and have a Windows or Android device or use the Chrome or Firefox browser, iCloud Keychain comes up short.
Originally published Feb. 16, 2018.
Update, Aug. 8, 2019: This story is frequently updated to reflect new picks, pricing and changes in the market.
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Best Password Keeper For Mac
Have you ever wished there was a program for your Mac that could keep all of your passwords in its memory and let you access them whenever you want? Well, there is not one but many tools that do the job of storing your passwords for your machine. It is quite hard to keep the passwords of all the websites you log into on your tongue, but using some of the password managers listed below, you can have all of your login data handy and use them at any time you want. So here are eight of the best password managers for your Mac.
1. 1Password
1Password is one of the best password managers for Mac, all thanks to the great features it comes preloaded with. It stores all of your login data in an encrypted and secure form, thus there are almost no chances of getting your confidential data stolen. Besides storing passwords, it lets you manage them efficiently by allowing you to select different icons for your logins, tag your details, and so on. The next time you want to log into a website, you just need to click a single button and it should fill-in all the details for you.
Not only does it store passwords, but it can keep your credit card details handy. If you go online for shopping, you can fill in the checkout form with a single click. It saves you time and the hassle of entering the information manually.
This is the perfect tool to have on your Mac for all your password management needs. Go ahead and check it out for yourself.
1Password costs $49.99.
2. DataVault Password Manager
If you didn’t like the 1Password Manager, there is another tool that does the same job. DataVault Password Manager, using its AES encryption method, encrypts your stored data making it unavailable to unauthorized users. To talk about the features, it has automatic backups, synchronization, file and folder view, and so on.
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It has an add-on that is available for the most popular web browsers available out there. Do give it a shot and let us know how it works for you.
Datavault Password Manager costs $7.99.
3. mSecure
Are you looking for a password manager that is easy to use and has a simple interface without a boatload of features? mSecure is what you should be looking at. While maintaining a clean, neat user-interface, the app aims to let you save your passwords securely and retrieve them whenever you want. It comes with a password generator that generates strong passwords for you. It syncs with various devices it is currently available for and works with Dropbox as well.
Best Password Manager 2018 For Mac
If you are an Apple fan and use the iCloud feature frequently, then you would be glad to know that the app syncs with your iCloud account as well. Meaning all your secure data is available to all of your iDevices.
mSecure costs $19.99.
4. Wallet
Think of Wallet as the wallet that you keep in your pocket. It lets you store your confidential information in a secure environment and access it anytime you want. While the app is similar to the other apps in terms of functionality, what makes it stand out in the crowd is the flexibility of use. It works across various platforms and supports Dropbox for backing up your data.
Wallet costs $19.99.
5. RoboForm
Actually, RoboForm should be the first app in the list of best password managers. However, ever since some other apps have made their way to the Mac and have gotten some great responses, the RoboForm has fallen down to number five. Regardless of how low it falls, it works tremendously awesome as it always has and has some of the great features you would expect from a password manager. It aims to make your Internet surfing experience faster by letting you fill in all the web forms you get on various websites easily and faster with the predefined data that you store in the app. It works across various platforms including Mac, Windows, Android, and iPhone.
If you’re new to using password managers and don’t want to spend any money before you actually realize the importance of them, these free apps should help you get started.
1. Pastor
Pastor is a simple application for Mac that lets you store your passwords as well as any serial keys in an encrypted form. You can even leave notes with your login credentials so you know what to use that specific password for the next time you launch the app. In case you are a bit weak at creating new passwords, the app has a password generator that automatically generates passwords for you to use on various websites.
2. LastPass
If you are looking for more than just storing your passwords, LastPass is what you should be looking for. While it lets you save passwords as well as any other confidential information, it lets you have profiles for various family members. Suppose you are on a shopping site and would like to use your father’s credit card to make the payment. You can simply click a single button and it should fill in the information that is attached with your father’s profile. It is as simple as that.
Password Manager Mac Os X3. KeePassX
An open-source application, the KeePassX works the same way as the apps mentioned above. Since it is released under the GNU license, the developers are free to add their own imaginations into the app. What this means to an end user is they can expect more features to hit the app every now and then. To talk about the features, it lets you store passwords, encrypt them with AES method, import and export your passwords and so on.
Conclusion
If you often forget passwords for your favorite websites or just don’t want the hassle of filling in forms manually, the apps above should help you do everything automatically. They’re all worth a try!
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