Bitwarden: This free password manager has few restrictions— and little polish

Sync unlimited passwords across devices.

- MICHAEL ANSALDO

Most free password managers are only free up to a point. Typically, they restrict the number of passwords that can be saved or devices that can be synced for free users. Bitwarden bucks that trend, letting you save unlimited vault items and sync your vault across all your devices without spending a penny. There’s also a paid version that includes extra but not trivial security features, which costs only $10 a year. There are some tradeoffs for that affordability: Bitwarden isn’t as polished or turnkey as some of its more well-known competitors, and we ran into some issues using its browser extension. But overall, it’s a good option for users on a budget, and the best option among free password managers (go.pcworld. com/bfre).

SETTING UP BITWARDEN

To start using Bitwarden, you first have to register an account. You’ll be asked to enter your email and create a master password. This password has to be strong enough to safeguard all your other passwords but simple enough to remember so you don’t get locked out of your vault. Bitwarden helps with the first part by rating your master password as weak, good, or strong as you create it. It not only looks for password length and a good mix of letters, numbers, and characters—it will also ding you for passwords using easily crackable phrases like “ABC123,” even if they meet all the length and character-mix requirements.