Ask HN: Recommended password manager for personal(non-techie) use?

5 points by trollsund 8 years ago | 13 comments

I'm looking for an easy to use password manager, with support for Mac, Windows and Android(Linux would be a +).

While I was talking with my girlfriend the other night, she was baffled at the idea of having a password manager - something I(wrongly) assumed people knew about. So what would you recommend to a non-techie friend/relative?

Further, while I would love to selfhost, opening ports is problematic at the moment - so that is unfortunatly out of the question for the time being.

bradknowles 8 years ago |

The things I don’t like about LastPass:

1. It only runs in a browser. Sure, you can store non-browser stuff in there, but it still requires a browser.

2. You’re locked into using only their chosen backend. There is no other way to share data.

Personally, I use 1Password. They give you an app that is separate from the browser, although they also give you browser integration if you want that. They also let you choose between multiple different back end distribution mechanisms, although they offer you the ability to use their backend if you want.

whois 8 years ago |

DON'T use LastPass. I just found this thread after posting a similar one (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15962172).

LastPass is super buggy, and their support is like a broken record, sending basic debugging steps day long (Like "have you tried re-installing the extension and rebooting"). And on top of all that, you have to trust a single company to keep your data secure, on the cloud, where anyone could hack it.

Right now I'm trying out Enpass but am looking for others.

fuball63 8 years ago |

I like keepassX, which is cross platform, offline, and simple to use.

auxym 8 years ago | |

Same here, and I put my very much non technical girlfriend on it, too. We keep the database on dropbox and it allows us to access our passwords on any device (Windows, Linux, Android, Web app).

trollsund 8 years ago | | |

So, how do you handle new devices? Get the Dropbox pass from another device, log in, then load the database in KeePassX?

dukeflukem 8 years ago |

I use keepass and dump it in Dropbox. I don't think it takes much tech chops. You log into keepass as you would a site then grab the passwords you need.

jlarky2012 8 years ago |

I use LastPass because I can access it on mac/linux/windows and android. I especially like it on andorid in terms on usability, since you can set up fingerprint login

shervinafshar 8 years ago | |

Worth mentioning the security incident involving LastPass user data back from 2015: https://blog.lastpass.com/2015/06/lastpass-security-notice.h...

ecesena 8 years ago |

I’m slightly biased here, but I think you shouldn’t distinguish non-techies from yourself. Mostly because you’re secure only if they are secure, and in addition you can learn a lot about their issues if you’re using the same products.

Can I ask you what are you using, if anything, and why you’re not ok recommending that? (I’m genuinely interested, I’m working on a pass manager that’s born in a very tech niche and we’re expanding to less tech people.)

trollsund 8 years ago | |

The reason I distinguish non-techies from myself is that while I know my way around a command line, can compile stuff, debug to some extent etc, they/she can't. The same goes for my parents, and hers, as well as our siblings, uncles, aunties cousins etc. So while I may be ok using some application that requires some configuration and setup, the rest aren't.

Currently I'm not using anything, so it will be a case of eating my own dogfood(so to say). Whatever I'll recommend is the one I'll be using. As to why I'm not using anything - eh, a combination of laziness and faith in my own password rule.

matt_the_bass 8 years ago |

My wife and I use LastPass for our personal stuff. I use 1Password at work. Both have pros and cons. Both have a good web interface. Both are easy to use.

aashu_dwivedi 8 years ago |

I really like Bitwarden, it's opensource, has a clean interface and it's free.

whois 8 years ago | |

Could you tell me a little bit about Bitwarden? Any glaring cons that you could think of right out of the gate? How is fill on mobile?

I'm really liking it so far (After ~1 minute of research). An open source password manager with a CLI (coming soon https://github.com/bitwarden/cli), what's not to love?!