For years, 1Password has been the gold standard among password managers, the kind of product that security-conscious professionals and families adopted without much deliberation. But the company’s latest round of price increases — its second in roughly two years — is testing the loyalty of even its most devoted users. The individual plan now costs $4.99 per month (billed annually), up from $2.99, while the family plan has climbed to $6.99 from $4.99. For a category of software that many consumers once obtained for free, the new pricing is prompting a serious reassessment.
As Digital Trends reported, the increases represent a significant jump that puts 1Password at the premium end of the password manager market. The publication noted that while 1Password remains a strong product, the price hikes have opened the door for competitors that offer comparable features at lower cost — or even for free. The timing is notable: it arrives as consumers are already feeling the squeeze from rising subscription costs across software, streaming, and cloud storage services.
Why 1Password Is Raising Prices — and Why Users Are Frustrated
1Password has justified its pricing by pointing to continued investment in features, security infrastructure, and enterprise-grade capabilities. The company has expanded significantly into the business market in recent years, landing contracts with major corporations and adding features like passkey support, developer tools, and advanced access management. But individual and family users — the customer base that helped build the brand — are increasingly asking whether those enterprise-focused improvements justify paying more for what is, at its core, a tool for storing and auto-filling passwords.
The frustration is compounded by the fact that 1Password abandoned its one-time purchase model years ago in favor of subscriptions. Long-time users remember when a single license purchase granted perpetual access to the software. The shift to recurring billing was already a sore point; now, with prices climbing further, some users feel they are being gradually priced out of a product they helped popularize. Online forums and social media platforms, including X (formerly Twitter), have seen a notable uptick in posts from users announcing their intention to switch.
The Competitive Field Has Never Been Stronger
What makes 1Password’s price increase particularly risky is the quality of the alternatives now available. Bitwarden, an open-source password manager, has emerged as the most frequently cited alternative. Its free tier offers unlimited password storage across unlimited devices — a combination that 1Password has never matched. Bitwarden’s premium plan costs just $10 per year, a fraction of 1Password’s new annual rate of roughly $60. As Digital Trends highlighted, Bitwarden’s transparency as an open-source project gives it a trust advantage among security-minded users who want to verify the code protecting their credentials.
Proton Pass, from the Swiss privacy company Proton AG, is another rising contender. Proton has built a reputation on its commitment to privacy through products like ProtonMail and ProtonVPN, and its password manager carries that same ethos. Proton Pass offers a free plan with unlimited logins and devices, and its paid tier — bundled with other Proton services — undercuts 1Password significantly. NordPass, made by the team behind NordVPN, also offers competitive pricing and has been steadily improving its feature set, including support for passkeys and secure file storage.
Apple, Google, and the Built-In Threat
Perhaps the most formidable competition comes not from dedicated password manager companies but from the platform giants themselves. Apple’s Passwords app, introduced as a standalone application in iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia, has matured into a capable tool that handles password storage, passkey management, two-factor authentication codes, and Wi-Fi password sharing. For users already embedded in the Apple hardware family, the app is free, pre-installed, and tightly integrated with Safari and system-level autofill. Google’s Password Manager, similarly, is built into Chrome and Android, offering cross-platform access at no cost.
These built-in solutions have limitations — Apple’s offering works best within its own hardware lineup, and Google’s manager is tightly coupled to the Chrome browser — but for the majority of consumers who operate primarily within one platform, they are increasingly sufficient. The existence of these free, competent alternatives makes it harder for any paid password manager to justify premium pricing without offering something distinctly superior. 1Password’s Watchtower feature, which monitors for compromised credentials and weak passwords, is one such differentiator, but competitors have added similar monitoring capabilities in recent months.
The Passkey Transition Adds Complexity
The password manager market is also being reshaped by the ongoing transition to passkeys, a passwordless authentication standard backed by the FIDO Alliance and supported by Apple, Google, and Microsoft. Passkeys use cryptographic key pairs instead of traditional passwords, and they are stored on-device or synced through platform accounts. As passkey adoption accelerates — with major services like Amazon, PayPal, and GitHub now supporting them — the fundamental value proposition of a password manager is shifting. If fewer services require passwords, the argument for paying $60 a year to manage them becomes harder to sustain.
1Password has been proactive in adding passkey support, and the company has positioned itself as a universal passkey manager that works across platforms, unlike Apple’s or Google’s solutions, which are tied to their respective accounts. This cross-platform passkey management could prove to be a meaningful selling point for users who operate across Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. But it remains to be seen whether that capability alone is enough to retain users who are watching their subscription spending more carefully than ever.
What Power Users and Families Should Consider
For individual users evaluating their options, the decision often comes down to how much they value cross-platform compatibility, advanced features, and independent security audits. 1Password continues to score well on all three fronts. The company undergoes regular third-party security audits, its apps are polished and well-maintained across every major platform, and features like Travel Mode — which removes sensitive vaults from devices when crossing international borders — remain unique in the market.
Family plans add another layer of consideration. 1Password’s family plan supports up to five users and includes shared vaults, which are useful for managing household accounts like streaming services, utilities, and financial logins. At $6.99 per month, however, it now costs nearly $84 per year. Bitwarden’s family plan, by comparison, costs $40 per year for up to six users. For families that do not need 1Password’s more advanced features, the savings are substantial over time. According to Digital Trends, Dashlane also remains a viable option, though its own pricing has crept upward in recent years, with its premium plan now running $4.99 per month.
The Broader Subscription Fatigue Problem
1Password’s price increase does not exist in isolation. It is part of a broader pattern across the software industry, where companies that once competed on value are now testing how much their user bases will tolerate. Adobe, Microsoft, Google, and countless smaller software firms have all raised subscription prices in the past 18 months, often citing inflation, increased development costs, and the integration of artificial intelligence features. Password managers are not immune to this trend, but they occupy a uniquely sensitive position: users entrust them with their most private credentials, and switching costs — while not insurmountable — involve migrating potentially hundreds of stored logins, secure notes, and payment details.
That switching friction is real, and 1Password is likely banking on it. Exporting data from one password manager and importing it into another has become easier in recent years, with most major services supporting standard CSV exports and direct import tools. But the process still requires time, testing, and a willingness to learn a new interface. For busy professionals and non-technical family members, inertia is a powerful force. Still, every price increase chips away at that inertia, and the gap between what 1Password charges and what competitors offer for free — or nearly free — is now wide enough that many users will make the switch.
Where the Market Goes From Here
The password manager market is entering a period of significant realignment. The combination of rising prices from established players, improving free alternatives from platform giants, and the gradual adoption of passkeys is creating pressure from multiple directions. Companies like 1Password will need to demonstrate ongoing, tangible value to justify their premium positioning — whether through superior cross-platform passkey management, advanced security monitoring, or enterprise features that trickle down to consumer plans.
For now, users have more viable options than at any point in the past decade. Bitwarden offers an open-source, budget-friendly path. Proton Pass appeals to privacy purists. Apple and Google provide built-in convenience at no additional cost. And 1Password, despite its higher prices, remains a polished and feature-rich option for those willing to pay. The market is healthy, competitive, and — for consumers willing to shop around — more affordable than 1Password’s new price tag might suggest.