To make this list, apps had to:īe truly cross-platform. I was able to set a really high bar and only include the apps that cleared it. Either their security is lacking (or can't be verified), they're only available on a limited number of platforms, or they're just plain awful to use.īut because there are so many apps to choose from, we don't have to settle for bad-or even mediocre. For this article, I considered almost 40 of them, and-to be blunt-a lot of them are bad. There are dozens of password managers available. In terms of online security, they can be life-changing. A good password manager will automatically generate super strong passwords, fill them in for you when you go to log in to your online accounts, and even allow you to use additional security features like two-factor authentication, without having to worry about downloading extra apps or having your cell phone nearby. All you have to do is remember a single master password, and it takes care of the rest. Password managers take care of all that for you. And if you're anything like me, that's a lot of passwords.

If you can't trust that your carefully thought-up, long, complex password-because you do use a long, complex password, right?-is secret, the only way to stay secure online is to use a long, complex, and unique password for every single online account you have. 2021 set records for the amount of passwords and other sensitive data that was leaked by hackers. This is a big problem-and it's only getting bigger. There's a very good reason to believe that if you use the same password for all your accounts, it's been leaked online somewhere. Ideally, only you would know your password, but as data breach after data breach has shown, that can't be guaranteed. LastPass for people already using LastPass Freeĭashlane for a full internet security toolĪll someone needs to log in to most online accounts is a username (or email address) and password. So I spent a few days testing every viable password manager on the market, and here are the four best. It's safe to say, this is a category that I care a bit too much about.

I've advocated for them every opportunity I had, and even convinced some of my family members to start using them. As a tech journalist, I've been covering-and personally using-password managers for almost a decade.

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