{"slug": "bitwarden", "name": "Bitwarden", "category": "security", "category_name": "Security and passwords", "description": "Open-source password and passkey manager with cloud sync and self-hosting options.", "recommenders": 37, "commenters": 72, "warners": 12, "score": 29.849, "rising": 9.13, "first": "2025-11-06", "latest": "2026-10-24", "why": "HN commenters like it for syncing passwords and passkeys across devices, for being open source and auditable, and for self-hosting through Vaultwarden.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 37, "neutral": 24, "compare": 0, "warn": 13}, "spark": [0, 3, 2, 1, 0, 2, 4, 2, 7, 1, 4, 11], "listed": true, "loved": ["Passkey support", "Self-hosting"], "caveat": "Price and ownership", "short_quote": "I personally use bitwarden on my chrome profile across Windows Mac Linux and android and think it's great. Highly recommended.", "icon": true, "domain": "bitwarden.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://bitwarden.com/", "pricing": "freemium", "aliases": ["Bitwarden"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters like it for syncing passwords and passkeys across devices,", "cites": [{"id": 784175776, "item_id": 49010986, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010986", "by": "qlte", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "that\u2019s exactly how I use all my passkeys with Bitwarden. They sync to any device I have Bitwarden installed on", "excerpt": "> Passkeys should be allowed to be synced between devices and stored on password managers in the cloud. I am making my own password manager for my personal use, but have not delved into passkeys. They are, that\u2019s exactly how I use all my passkeys with Bitwarden. They sync to any device I have Bitwarden installed on when added on one device.", "context": "", "use_case": "syncing passkeys across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}, {"id": 761905104, "item_id": 47619069, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47619069", "by": "mattlondon", "date": "2026-04-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I personally use bitwarden on my chrome profile across Windows Mac Linux and android and think it's great. Highly recommended.", "excerpt": "No mention of password managers yet? One of the major benefits is the password manager can do a quick, simple, completely deterministic check on the domain before providing the password. That would have stopped this dead in its tracks without relying on the human just happening to notice. I personally use bitwarden on my chrome profile across Windows Mac Linux and android and think it's great. Highly recommended. Of ", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gone (Almost) Phishin'"}, {"id": 796076704, "item_id": 49754794, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49754794", "by": "AdamJacobMuller", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use passkeys extensively with BitWarden and I love it", "excerpt": "> When storing passkeys in a password manager like Bitwardenor KeePassXC, you end up fighting the platform Very odd. I use passkeys extensively with BitWarden and I love it to the point where it's my preferred way of securing things at this point. The fact that the website presents the question to BitWarden in a structured way (what website, what username) means that I never fight with selecting the right account to ", "context": "macOS with Brave/Firefox and iOS", "use_case": "passkey manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't like passkeys"}]}, {"text": " for being open source and auditable,", "cites": [{"id": 770997920, "item_id": 48187370, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48187370", "by": "aussieguy1234", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "BitWarden being open source and auditable is one of the main reasons I use it", "excerpt": "If the price ever became unresaonable i'd host my own VaultWarden instance. I'm sure if BitWarden ever went closed source, it would be forked and maintained by the community and that most would migrate to the open source solution. BitWarden being open source and auditable is one of the main reasons I use it, no hidden backdoors from them or three letter government agencies.", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}, {"id": 770895408, "item_id": 48180963, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48180963", "by": "flossly", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use BitWarden because I'd never trust a password manager with close source clients.", "excerpt": "I use BitWarden because I'd never trust a password manager with close source clients. Before BitWarden I used a local manager: BitWarden made my life easier. The web interface I'd never use: I have no guarantee that my passphrase does not leave my computer. Same for the import feature: this also requires the passphrase to be sent to their servers. Needless to say I move to the next ethical e2ee password manager if Bi", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}]}, {"text": " and for self-hosting through Vaultwarden.", "cites": [{"id": 800550048, "item_id": 50034378, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034378", "by": "Arrowmaster", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bitwarden was the no nonsense choice because it just worked.", "excerpt": "I specifically moved away from KeePassXC to Bitwarden with self hosted vaultwarden because the Linux desktop experience and mobile syncing was so terrible. While I love KeePassXC, using it on an immutable Linux distro where everything needs to be Flatpak means the browser extension doesn't work because it doesn't support Flatpak'd browsers back when I switched. Auto type is a security nightmare and is not an option. ", "context": "immutable Linux distro user", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "KeePassXC", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 793022368, "item_id": 49563898, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49563898", "by": "wookmaster", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched from 1password to locally hosted Bitwarden(Vaultwarden) 6 months ago and I don't miss anything.", "excerpt": "You'll have to add some actual reasoning to this, I switched from 1password to locally hosted Bitwarden(Vaultwarden) 6 months ago and I don't miss anything.", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted password management", "switched_from": "1Password", "story": "1Password Replied to My Disappointment"}, {"id": 784167728, "item_id": 49010483, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010483", "by": "seemaze", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use bitwarden[0]. It covers all cases and devices in question.", "excerpt": "I use bitwarden[0]. It covers all cases and devices in question. As a bonus, I self host using the open source vaultwarden[1] server implementation, which is packaged in alpine linux. [0] https://bitwarden.com/ [1] https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden", "context": "", "use_case": "passkeys and passwords across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is recent price hikes and private-equity ownership,", "cites": [{"id": 800559568, "item_id": 50034973, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034973", "by": "ffsm8", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the bigger issue ive with this is the doubling of the price right from the get-go.", "excerpt": "i dont know how many years ive been a subscriber -- the oldest email ive got from them is switching my email 8 years ago, and i know for certain i used it on another email before that... but emails on that previous domain were never long lived, so theyre gone. anyway, the bigger issue ive with this is the doubling of the price right from the get-go. with private equity on the steering wheel, i suspect this will keep ", "context": "long-time subscriber", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 800546864, "item_id": 50034179, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034179", "by": "Cort3z", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I was so happy with bitwarden. Been a premium subscriber for many years.", "excerpt": "I hate this. So much software I love keeps doing this. redis, docker, now bitwarden. I was so happy with bitwarden. Been a premium subscriber for many years. I have helped convert many people, including whole companies, to use this. Now they are doing us such a disservice. We need a completely free, no-nonsence, alternative. I wonder if it is possible to do a ipfs/torrent version without a central authority to perman", "context": "premium subscriber who converted companies", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 770897152, "item_id": 48181072, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181072", "by": "evanjrowley", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "discovering a long history of memory leak problems in the GitHub issue tracker", "excerpt": "Lately I've been scrutinizing Bitwarden after discovering a long history of memory leak problems in the GitHub issue tracker. It's an extention I use with all of my browsers. It seems to use an unusually high amount of RAM on Safari and I suspect it's why RAM just never stops growing in MS Edge. Overall it's not a problem for me if Bitwarden wants more money, but I have to draw the line at replacing top leadership wi", "context": "", "use_case": "browser extension", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}]}, {"text": " with others noting a slower, more bloated UI and flaky browser and passkey integration.", "cites": [{"id": 770897200, "item_id": 48181075, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181075", "by": "xweb", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Now it is bloated white space, slow, standardized UX elements like any SaaS built by AI.", "excerpt": "Thank you for this post/link. I have been side eyeing Bitwarden since they started ensh*ttifying the desktop UX last year to make it more like everything else and take up too much space. It had been working perfectly well for browser autofill - super fast and staying out of the way. Now it is bloated white space, slow, standardized UX elements like any SaaS built by AI. Will check out Vaultwarden, Proton Pass, Keepas", "context": "", "use_case": "browser autofill", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}, {"id": 743221184, "item_id": 46451324, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46451324", "by": "fao_", "date": "2025-12-31", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The newest release of bitwarden absolutely sucks.", "excerpt": "> I would also recommend Bitwarden for those who want a better UI experience. The newest release of bitwarden absolutely sucks. The images that they're using look AI-generated (specifically, there's some weird stuff around line thickness, colour and shading that, as the spawn of two artists, I do not believe a competent artist/designer would make), but also the images are just pixellated and grainy on my 1080p screen", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "On privacy and control"}, {"id": 770978881, "item_id": 48186180, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48186180", "by": "kjuulh", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I moved from BitWarden back then because their browser integration was quite poor.", "excerpt": "At this point it is too high of a risk to store my password elsewhere. I've been screwed over by dashlane, lastpass, potentially bitwarden now, I am with 1password now, but I've had my passwords in all these places, and I've had to change them each time, probably missing a few. I like 1password, it is by far the highest quality product I've used in this category. I moved from BitWarden back then because their browser", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}, {"id": 800553441, "item_id": 50034590, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034590", "by": "mpern", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Bitwarden was very flaky in that regard", "excerpt": "FWIW I moved to Proton Pass after I read the blog post months ago. The switch was seamless except for passkeys (had to enroll new ones; back then I only found a tool to convert Proton Pass passkeys to Bitwarden, but not the other way around) For me, Pass works much better, especially passkeys on Android. Bitwarden was very flaky in that regard, Proton Pass \"just works\". I use Pass for personal logins and sharing fami", "context": "", "use_case": "passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Passkey support", "summary": "Stores passkeys that sync across devices and handles passkey sign-up flows smoothly in the browser.", "quotes": [{"id": 796076704, "item_id": 49754794, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49754794", "by": "AdamJacobMuller", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use passkeys extensively with BitWarden and I love it", "excerpt": "> When storing passkeys in a password manager like Bitwardenor KeePassXC, you end up fighting the platform Very odd. I use passkeys extensively with BitWarden and I love it to the point where it's my preferred way of securing things at this point. The fact that the website presents the question to BitWarden in a structured way (what website, what username) means that I never fight with selecting the right account to ", "context": "macOS with Brave/Firefox and iOS", "use_case": "passkey manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't like passkeys"}, {"id": 784272352, "item_id": 49017022, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017022", "by": "dizhn", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the Bitwarden extension picked up the flow and everything was ridiculously easy.", "excerpt": "I didn't know the answer to any of these either and don't have a hardware key (I thought this was required for a long time) but one day I just clicked add a passkey on a site and the Bitwarden extension picked up the flow and everything was ridiculously easy. Now I also do get how it works, having used it on a few sites. Highly recommend.", "context": "", "use_case": "storing passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}, {"id": 784175776, "item_id": 49010986, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010986", "by": "qlte", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "that\u2019s exactly how I use all my passkeys with Bitwarden. They sync to any device I have Bitwarden installed on", "excerpt": "> Passkeys should be allowed to be synced between devices and stored on password managers in the cloud. I am making my own password manager for my personal use, but have not delved into passkeys. They are, that\u2019s exactly how I use all my passkeys with Bitwarden. They sync to any device I have Bitwarden installed on when added on one device.", "context": "", "use_case": "syncing passkeys across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}]}, {"label": "Self-hosting", "summary": "Can be self-hosted with the open-source Vaultwarden server.", "quotes": [{"id": 800550048, "item_id": 50034378, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034378", "by": "Arrowmaster", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bitwarden was the no nonsense choice because it just worked.", "excerpt": "I specifically moved away from KeePassXC to Bitwarden with self hosted vaultwarden because the Linux desktop experience and mobile syncing was so terrible. While I love KeePassXC, using it on an immutable Linux distro where everything needs to be Flatpak means the browser extension doesn't work because it doesn't support Flatpak'd browsers back when I switched. Auto type is a security nightmare and is not an option. ", "context": "immutable Linux distro user", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "KeePassXC", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 793022368, "item_id": 49563898, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49563898", "by": "wookmaster", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched from 1password to locally hosted Bitwarden(Vaultwarden) 6 months ago and I don't miss anything.", "excerpt": "You'll have to add some actual reasoning to this, I switched from 1password to locally hosted Bitwarden(Vaultwarden) 6 months ago and I don't miss anything.", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted password management", "switched_from": "1Password", "story": "1Password Replied to My Disappointment"}, {"id": 784167728, "item_id": 49010483, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010483", "by": "seemaze", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use bitwarden[0]. It covers all cases and devices in question.", "excerpt": "I use bitwarden[0]. It covers all cases and devices in question. As a bonus, I self host using the open source vaultwarden[1] server implementation, which is packaged in alpine linux. [0] https://bitwarden.com/ [1] https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden", "context": "", "use_case": "passkeys and passwords across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}]}, {"label": "Cross-device sync", "summary": "Works across many operating systems and merges changes from multiple clients without manual effort.", "quotes": [{"id": 761905104, "item_id": 47619069, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47619069", "by": "mattlondon", "date": "2026-04-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I personally use bitwarden on my chrome profile across Windows Mac Linux and android and think it's great. Highly recommended.", "excerpt": "No mention of password managers yet? One of the major benefits is the password manager can do a quick, simple, completely deterministic check on the domain before providing the password. That would have stopped this dead in its tracks without relying on the human just happening to notice. I personally use bitwarden on my chrome profile across Windows Mac Linux and android and think it's great. Highly recommended. Of ", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gone (Almost) Phishin'"}, {"id": 800554768, "item_id": 50034673, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034673", "by": "philsnow", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "what brought me to bitwarden was being able to make changes on two clients and merge the results cleanly", "excerpt": "I used to use gnupass and its variants (including passforios on mobile), but what brought me to bitwarden was being able to make changes on two clients and merge the results cleanly / usefully without needing to do anything manually at all. How does this work with keepassxc? Does it depend on your file syncing primitive?", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "pass", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 784167728, "item_id": 49010483, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010483", "by": "seemaze", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use bitwarden[0]. It covers all cases and devices in question.", "excerpt": "I use bitwarden[0]. It covers all cases and devices in question. As a bonus, I self host using the open source vaultwarden[1] server implementation, which is packaged in alpine linux. [0] https://bitwarden.com/ [1] https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden", "context": "", "use_case": "passkeys and passwords across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}]}, {"label": "Open source", "summary": "Users trust it because the clients are open source and auditable.", "quotes": [{"id": 770997920, "item_id": 48187370, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48187370", "by": "aussieguy1234", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "BitWarden being open source and auditable is one of the main reasons I use it", "excerpt": "If the price ever became unresaonable i'd host my own VaultWarden instance. I'm sure if BitWarden ever went closed source, it would be forked and maintained by the community and that most would migrate to the open source solution. BitWarden being open source and auditable is one of the main reasons I use it, no hidden backdoors from them or three letter government agencies.", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}, {"id": 770895408, "item_id": 48180963, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48180963", "by": "flossly", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use BitWarden because I'd never trust a password manager with close source clients.", "excerpt": "I use BitWarden because I'd never trust a password manager with close source clients. Before BitWarden I used a local manager: BitWarden made my life easier. The web interface I'd never use: I have no guarantee that my passphrase does not leave my computer. Same for the import feature: this also requires the passphrase to be sent to their servers. Needless to say I move to the next ethical e2ee password manager if Bi", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}, {"id": 784455392, "item_id": 49028462, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49028462", "by": "trollbridge", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Take a look at Bitwarden (GPL3) and GitLab (MIT).", "excerpt": "Take a look at Bitwarden (GPL3) and GitLab (MIT). A handful of enterprisey things aren\u2019t included. Nearly everyone just pays them to run it (myself included - I self host GitLab and still pay them!).", "context": "", "use_case": "example of open source licensing model", "switched_from": "", "story": "Launch HN: Screenpipe (YC S26) \u2013 Power your agents by your 24/7 screen recording"}]}, {"label": "Big Tech alternative", "summary": "A common pick for people moving away from iCloud, Apple Passwords or Google.", "quotes": [{"id": 803488960, "item_id": 50218060, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50218060", "by": "thatonehack", "date": "2026-10-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Instead of iCloud I use WebDav, CalDav, Bitwarden and NextCloud.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve never used iCloud. I hate Apple but I hate Google more. Instead of iCloud I use WebDav, CalDav, Bitwarden and NextCloud. Contacts, calendar, passwords and photos that I control. I recommend the same to others but I can count on one hand who has actually gone away from iCloud into such a setup.", "context": "iPhone user avoiding iCloud", "use_case": "passwords", "switched_from": "iCloud", "story": "Today, we hacked what we'd set out to hack: the iPhone"}, {"id": 799833600, "item_id": 49989600, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49989600", "by": "akg_67", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Exported all my passwords from Apple Password Manager to BitWarden.", "excerpt": "Interesting read, your experience gave me some ideas to reduce dependency on Apple ecosystem. A few questions: 1. \"Don't use safari\" Why? 2. Is there an alternative to \"Find My\" that I can use with AirTag? Some of the things, I have done since this experience: - Exported all my passwords from Apple Password Manager to BitWarden. Also, now I better understand why my wife was keeping her passwords in a notebook (no ser", "context": "reducing Apple dependency", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "Apple Password Manager", "story": "Ask HN: My Apple ID is locked for a week, Apple is a single point of failure"}, {"id": 800834368, "item_id": 50052148, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50052148", "by": "dfabulich", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "May I recommend Bitwarden?", "excerpt": "Passkeys are stored in your password manager, too. You'll only lose access to your passkeys if Google is your password manager and you get locked out of your Google account. So, if you don't trust Google, use another password manager. (May I recommend Bitwarden?) The advantage of passkeys is that no one can trick you into giving your passkeys to the wrong person. Every time this comes up, people say \"I don't need tha", "context": "", "use_case": "password and passkey manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are a trap"}]}, {"label": "Phishing protection", "summary": "Autofill only offers a login on the matching domain, which helps block phishing.", "quotes": [{"id": 801475872, "item_id": 50092242, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50092242", "by": "zck", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The password manager (I use Bitwarden, but there are others) can check the site you're trying to log in to, and only autofill passwords that are for that site.", "excerpt": "> There is nothing to prevent you from entering your super secure u quiet password on the wrong site if you get phished. Replying only to this part, using a password manager with autofill solves this problem. The password manager (I use Bitwarden, but there are others) can check the site you're trying to log in to, and only autofill passwords that are for that site. I don't have to do any work to differentiate exampl", "context": "", "use_case": "autofill passwords, phishing protection", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are not a trap"}, {"id": 761905104, "item_id": 47619069, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47619069", "by": "mattlondon", "date": "2026-04-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I personally use bitwarden on my chrome profile across Windows Mac Linux and android and think it's great. Highly recommended.", "excerpt": "No mention of password managers yet? One of the major benefits is the password manager can do a quick, simple, completely deterministic check on the domain before providing the password. That would have stopped this dead in its tracks without relying on the human just happening to notice. I personally use bitwarden on my chrome profile across Windows Mac Linux and android and think it's great. Highly recommended. Of ", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gone (Almost) Phishin'"}, {"id": 801561808, "item_id": 50097613, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50097613", "by": "Telaneo", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "If you use it with Bitwarden, the phishing resistance passkeys tout is something you already mostly get", "excerpt": "> Who's providing the ability to ban software? The people who wrote the spec. If the spec didn't care about what software was being used to handle passkeys, they wouldn't have written in the ability for whatever you're authenticating to to know that. The spec is bad and the people who wrote it should feel bad. > In practice I'm aware of more 'lock in' behavior in the form of restricting which TOTP client is accepted ", "context": "", "use_case": "TOTP codes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are not a trap"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Price and ownership", "summary": "Long-time users worry about a doubled price, private-equity control and licensing changes.", "quotes": [{"id": 800559568, "item_id": 50034973, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034973", "by": "ffsm8", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the bigger issue ive with this is the doubling of the price right from the get-go.", "excerpt": "i dont know how many years ive been a subscriber -- the oldest email ive got from them is switching my email 8 years ago, and i know for certain i used it on another email before that... but emails on that previous domain were never long lived, so theyre gone. anyway, the bigger issue ive with this is the doubling of the price right from the get-go. with private equity on the steering wheel, i suspect this will keep ", "context": "long-time subscriber", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 800546864, "item_id": 50034179, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034179", "by": "Cort3z", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I was so happy with bitwarden. Been a premium subscriber for many years.", "excerpt": "I hate this. So much software I love keeps doing this. redis, docker, now bitwarden. I was so happy with bitwarden. Been a premium subscriber for many years. I have helped convert many people, including whole companies, to use this. Now they are doing us such a disservice. We need a completely free, no-nonsence, alternative. I wonder if it is possible to do a ipfs/torrent version without a central authority to perman", "context": "premium subscriber who converted companies", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 770897152, "item_id": 48181072, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181072", "by": "evanjrowley", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "discovering a long history of memory leak problems in the GitHub issue tracker", "excerpt": "Lately I've been scrutinizing Bitwarden after discovering a long history of memory leak problems in the GitHub issue tracker. It's an extention I use with all of my browsers. It seems to use an unusually high amount of RAM on Safari and I suspect it's why RAM just never stops growing in MS Edge. Overall it's not a problem for me if Bitwarden wants more money, but I have to draw the line at replacing top leadership wi", "context": "", "use_case": "browser extension", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}]}, {"label": "Slower UI", "summary": "Recent redesigns are described as bloated and slow, and some note latency compared with 1Password.", "quotes": [{"id": 770897200, "item_id": 48181075, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181075", "by": "xweb", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Now it is bloated white space, slow, standardized UX elements like any SaaS built by AI.", "excerpt": "Thank you for this post/link. I have been side eyeing Bitwarden since they started ensh*ttifying the desktop UX last year to make it more like everything else and take up too much space. It had been working perfectly well for browser autofill - super fast and staying out of the way. Now it is bloated white space, slow, standardized UX elements like any SaaS built by AI. Will check out Vaultwarden, Proton Pass, Keepas", "context": "", "use_case": "browser autofill", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}, {"id": 743221184, "item_id": 46451324, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46451324", "by": "fao_", "date": "2025-12-31", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The newest release of bitwarden absolutely sucks.", "excerpt": "> I would also recommend Bitwarden for those who want a better UI experience. The newest release of bitwarden absolutely sucks. The images that they're using look AI-generated (specifically, there's some weird stuff around line thickness, colour and shading that, as the spawn of two artists, I do not believe a competent artist/designer would make), but also the images are just pixellated and grainy on my 1080p screen", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "On privacy and control"}, {"id": 792961456, "item_id": 49560091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49560091", "by": "SanjayMehta", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Importing was truly super easy, but bitwarden has some kind of latency issue compared to 1p", "excerpt": "I switched to bitwarden a couple of years ago when 1password locked down on their subscription model. I don't do subscriptions, I prefer paying for upgrades which I need. Importing was truly super easy, but bitwarden has some kind of latency issue compared to 1p on the same machine and the same browser. 1p was always a smooth and unobtrusive experience, you will be extremely aware of BW's presence.", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "1Password", "story": "1Password Replied to My Disappointment"}]}, {"label": "Passkey glitches", "summary": "Some report flaky passkeys on Android, sites bypassing or blocking Bitwarden, and browsers without passkey support.", "quotes": [{"id": 800553441, "item_id": 50034590, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034590", "by": "mpern", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Bitwarden was very flaky in that regard", "excerpt": "FWIW I moved to Proton Pass after I read the blog post months ago. The switch was seamless except for passkeys (had to enroll new ones; back then I only found a tool to convert Proton Pass passkeys to Bitwarden, but not the other way around) For me, Pass works much better, especially passkeys on Android. Bitwarden was very flaky in that regard, Proton Pass \"just works\". I use Pass for personal logins and sharing fami", "context": "", "use_case": "passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 741774768, "item_id": 46360923, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46360923", "by": "godelski", "date": "2025-12-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I had a bug with bitwarden where every passkey wanted to load from the macbook instead of bitwarden.", "excerpt": "A few weeks ago I had a bug with bitwarden where every passkey wanted to load from the macbook instead of bitwarden. I ended up being locked out of a few accounts that didn't have OTPs as a fallback. Mostly inconsequential stuff like Twitter. I love passkeys, but they're still kinda hard to use. There's several sites that wont let you enroll multiple ones and it's easy for systems to step on each other like the afore", "context": "", "use_case": "passkey storage", "switched_from": "", "story": "Things I learnt about passkeys when building passkeybot"}, {"id": 801456288, "item_id": 50091018, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50091018", "by": "YakBizzarro", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "For example, you can't use bitwarden", "excerpt": "Counterexample: the swisspass. It's a private service from the swisspost, and they whitelist webauthn providers. For example, you can't use bitwarden https://community.bitwarden.com/t/follow-up-on-bitwarden-passkey-creation-blocked-by-swiss-post/92119/ So the danger is there today, not in the future, since I'm already cut out today from the service, unless I use some hack", "context": "", "use_case": "passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are not a trap"}]}, {"label": "Browser extension", "summary": "Some find browser integration weak, including no automatic password generation on sign-up and memory leaks.", "quotes": [{"id": 770978881, "item_id": 48186180, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48186180", "by": "kjuulh", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I moved from BitWarden back then because their browser integration was quite poor.", "excerpt": "At this point it is too high of a risk to store my password elsewhere. I've been screwed over by dashlane, lastpass, potentially bitwarden now, I am with 1password now, but I've had my passwords in all these places, and I've had to change them each time, probably missing a few. I like 1password, it is by far the highest quality product I've used in this category. I moved from BitWarden back then because their browser", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}, {"id": 767864753, "item_id": 47991547, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47991547", "by": "sshine", "date": "2026-05-02", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Bitwarden's browser clients are antiquated", "excerpt": "I switched to self-hosted Vaultwarden a couple of years ago because of all the bad choices of Mozilla (I was using Firefox Sync and wanted something else badly). Sadly, Bitwarden's browser clients are antiquated (they don't auto-generate and save passwords as I sign up, I kind of have to create them manually ahead of time, and if anything botches in the signup, e.g. a server-side password validation rule), I now have", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager browser client", "switched_from": "", "story": "I Do Not Recommend Bitwarden"}, {"id": 770897152, "item_id": 48181072, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181072", "by": "evanjrowley", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "discovering a long history of memory leak problems in the GitHub issue tracker", "excerpt": "Lately I've been scrutinizing Bitwarden after discovering a long history of memory leak problems in the GitHub issue tracker. It's an extention I use with all of my browsers. It seems to use an unusually high amount of RAM on Safari and I suspect it's why RAM just never stops growing in MS Edge. Overall it's not a problem for me if Bitwarden wants more money, but I have to draw the line at replacing top leadership wi", "context": "", "use_case": "browser extension", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}]}, {"label": "Sharing UX", "summary": "Sharing through organizations is seen as unintuitive, and the overall UX is called a bit fiddly.", "quotes": [{"id": 792751522, "item_id": 49546970, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49546970", "by": "teekert", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I really didn't like how you share credentials in BitWarden (through organizations)", "excerpt": "I really enjoy Proton Pass (but I have a paid subscription so I have passmail aliasses as well). I've been going full passkeys recently, no issues yet. Before this I used Vaultwarden, but I was always a bit afraid of the self-hosting (of something this critical), and I really didn't like how you share credentials in BitWarden (through organizations), Proton Pass is much more intuitive with just straight up sharing of", "context": "", "use_case": "password sharing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Advice on Migrating from 1Password?"}, {"id": 752682721, "item_id": 47042670, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47042670", "by": "umairnadeem123", "date": "2026-02-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bitwarden (good balance, cheaper, can self-host if you want, but UX is a bit more fiddly)", "excerpt": "For \u201cfamily members who struggle with tech\u201d, I\u2019d optimize for: - cross-device autofill that Just Works - account recovery you can actually manage (but not so weak it defeats the point) - sharing a small set of household logins cleanly In practice that usually means either: 1) 1Password Families (best UX/recovery/sharing, paid), or 2) Bitwarden (good balance, cheaper, can self-host if you want, but UX is a bit more fi", "context": "", "use_case": "family password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Which password manager do you use / would you recommend?"}]}, {"label": "App crashes", "summary": "One user left after the app crashed on login on a new iPad.", "quotes": [{"id": 766037712, "item_id": 47877357, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47877357", "by": "post-it", "date": "2026-04-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the impetus was Bitwarden crashing on login on my new iPad", "excerpt": "I've dramatically decreased my reliance on third-party packages and tools in my workflow. I switched from Bitwarden to Apple Passwords a few months ago, despite its worse feature set (though the impetus was Bitwarden crashing on login on my new iPad). I've also been preferring to roll things on my own in my side projects rather than pulling a package. I'll still use big, standalone libraries, but no more third-party ", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden CLI Compromised in Ongoing Checkmarx Supply Chain"}]}], "who": [{"by": "thatonehack", "context": "iPhone user avoiding iCloud", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50218060", "date": "2026-10-24"}, {"by": "mnahkies", "context": "Pays for premium to support the project", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035035", "date": "2026-10-10"}, {"by": "Arrowmaster", "context": "immutable Linux distro user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034378", "date": "2026-10-10"}, {"by": "akg_67", "context": "reducing Apple dependency", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49989600", "date": "2026-10-07"}, {"by": "AdamJacobMuller", "context": "macOS with Brave/Firefox and iOS", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49754794", "date": "2026-09-18"}, {"by": "Cider9986", "context": "moved from iOS to GrapheneOS", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49373801", "date": "2026-08-20"}, {"by": "schmichael", "context": "manages many family accounts", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49008397", "date": "2026-07-22"}, {"by": "0x457", "context": "Linux and Apple user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46303473", "date": "2025-12-17"}], "tags": ["self-hostable", "for families", "for Linux users", "cross-platform", "for leaving iCloud"], "use_cases": ["password manager", "password management", "passkey storage", "passkey manager", "passwords", "passkeys"], "compared": [{"slug": "vaultwarden", "name": "Vaultwarden", "co": 21, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "1password", "name": "1Password", "co": 12, "switched_from": 2, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "keepassxc", "name": "KeePassXC", "co": 8, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 3}, {"slug": "lastpass", "name": "LastPass", "co": 6, "switched_from": 3, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "apple-passwords", "name": "Apple Passwords", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 2}, {"slug": "proton-pass", "name": "Proton Pass", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "keepass", "name": "KeePass", "co": 5, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "pass", "name": "pass", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49007374", "title": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain", "mentions": 9}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48163389", "title": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden", "mentions": 9}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50033407", "title": "Bitwarden Dual License Model", "mentions": 8}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50088935", "title": "Passkeys are not a trap", "mentions": 6}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49753211", "title": "I don't like passkeys", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50048312", "title": "Passkeys are a trap", "mentions": 2}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 3, "warn": 2}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"warn": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 2, "warn": 1}, "2026-05": {"warn": 4, "neutral": 5, "recommend": 4}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 7, "neutral": 4, "warn": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 5, "recommend": 4}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 11, "warn": 3, "neutral": 6}}, "quotes": [{"id": 803488960, "item_id": 50218060, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50218060", "by": "thatonehack", "date": "2026-10-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Instead of iCloud I use WebDav, CalDav, Bitwarden and NextCloud.", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve never used iCloud. I hate Apple but I hate Google more. Instead of iCloud I use WebDav, CalDav, Bitwarden and NextCloud. Contacts, calendar, passwords and photos that I control. I recommend the same to others but I can count on one hand who has actually gone away from iCloud into such a setup.", "context": "iPhone user avoiding iCloud", "use_case": "passwords", "switched_from": "iCloud", "story": "Today, we hacked what we'd set out to hack: the iPhone"}, {"id": 801561808, "item_id": 50097613, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50097613", "by": "Telaneo", "date": "2026-10-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "If you use it with Bitwarden, the phishing resistance passkeys tout is something you already mostly get", "excerpt": "> Who's providing the ability to ban software? The people who wrote the spec. If the spec didn't care about what software was being used to handle passkeys, they wouldn't have written in the ability for whatever you're authenticating to to know that. The spec is bad and the people who wrote it should feel bad. > In practice I'm aware of more 'lock in' behavior in the form of restricting which TOTP client is accepted ", "context": "", "use_case": "TOTP codes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are not a trap"}, {"id": 801557856, "item_id": 50097366, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50097366", "by": "smw", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use the bitwarden extension in chrome and chrome never asks me to store a passkey, bitwarden does.", "excerpt": "What are you talking about, I use the bitwarden extension in chrome and chrome never asks me to store a passkey, bitwarden does.", "context": "", "use_case": "passkey storage", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are not a trap"}, {"id": 801542400, "item_id": 50096400, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50096400", "by": "jmbwell", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Face ID handles it for both iCloud Keychain and Bitwarden", "excerpt": "So in my own experience, the same tool I use for TOTP is the one I use for passkeys, suggesting it\u2019s at least possible for passkeys to be as frictionless as TOTP. On the rare occasion I\u2019m logging into a device that isn\u2019t mine, that doesn\u2019t have my password manager on it, scanning a QR code from a device that does have my password manager on it has been enough to get me in. Without sharing any secrets with the foreign", "context": "", "use_case": "passkeys and TOTP", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are not a trap"}, {"id": 801475872, "item_id": 50092242, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50092242", "by": "zck", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The password manager (I use Bitwarden, but there are others) can check the site you're trying to log in to, and only autofill passwords that are for that site.", "excerpt": "> There is nothing to prevent you from entering your super secure u quiet password on the wrong site if you get phished. Replying only to this part, using a password manager with autofill solves this problem. The password manager (I use Bitwarden, but there are others) can check the site you're trying to log in to, and only autofill passwords that are for that site. I don't have to do any work to differentiate exampl", "context": "", "use_case": "autofill passwords, phishing protection", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are not a trap"}, {"id": 801456288, "item_id": 50091018, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50091018", "by": "YakBizzarro", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "For example, you can't use bitwarden", "excerpt": "Counterexample: the swisspass. It's a private service from the swisspost, and they whitelist webauthn providers. For example, you can't use bitwarden https://community.bitwarden.com/t/follow-up-on-bitwarden-passkey-creation-blocked-by-swiss-post/92119/ So the danger is there today, not in the future, since I'm already cut out today from the service, unless I use some hack", "context": "", "use_case": "passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are not a trap"}, {"id": 801439905, "item_id": 50089994, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50089994", "by": "testudovictoria", "date": "2026-10-14", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "later added a passkey through Bitwarden on my work laptop", "excerpt": "> Some sites, once connected via passkey, make it all but impossible to connect in another way. That's the issue I had with Okta a few years back. I used a password then later added a passkey through Bitwarden on my work laptop. Bitwarden hadn't yet implemented passkeys for mobile. I went to authenticate through Okta on my work phone. It prompted me for the passkey. Since mobile passkeys didn't exist, I got stonewall", "context": "", "use_case": "storing passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are not a trap"}, {"id": 800849024, "item_id": 50053064, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50053064", "by": "palata", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the master password of my Bitwarden account is a single point of failure", "excerpt": "I am not sure I completely understand. > so a Yubikey passkey is very quickly a single-point-of-failure It is a single point of failure when there is one. As soon as you use two, then it's not a single point a failure anymore, is it? The counter argument I usually read is: \"Yeah but it is not practical, because you need 3 yubikeys: the first 2 with you, that you enroll everywhere, and one in a safe. And every time yo", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are a trap"}, {"id": 800834368, "item_id": 50052148, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50052148", "by": "dfabulich", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "May I recommend Bitwarden?", "excerpt": "Passkeys are stored in your password manager, too. You'll only lose access to your passkeys if Google is your password manager and you get locked out of your Google account. So, if you don't trust Google, use another password manager. (May I recommend Bitwarden?) The advantage of passkeys is that no one can trick you into giving your passkeys to the wrong person. Every time this comes up, people say \"I don't need tha", "context": "", "use_case": "password and passkey manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys are a trap"}, {"id": 800595344, "item_id": 50037209, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50037209", "by": "lucideer", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "As a loyal Bitwarden user, I think this is great news.", "excerpt": "As a loyal Bitwarden user, I think this is great news. I love that Bitwarden exists, but as an \"open source\" project, it's always been a trad-corporate type code maintenance, rather than community-driven source contributions (exactly why we've seen things like Vaultwarden pop up) & that has generally just left all of their clients in that really awkward space where they're just good enough to be able to imagine their", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 800571680, "item_id": 50035730, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035730", "by": "j1elo", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use it on Android and it's always been a Bitwarden-specific pop-up that shows up on password fields.", "excerpt": "I use it on Android and it's always been a Bitwarden-specific pop-up that shows up on password fields. Maybe with accessibility mode it would work as you mention? Ok that's a new thing to test.", "context": "", "use_case": "Android autofill", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 800560560, "item_id": 50035035, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50035035", "by": "mnahkies", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Counter to many other commenters I personally prefer bitwarden over 1password, and certainly over lastpass and roboform, etc.", "excerpt": "Bitwarden is one of the few subscriptions I have in a patron sense - eg: I've never actually needed any of the premium feature's, but I chose to pay anyway as I felt that was a way to contribute to the long term viability of the project. I'm not immediately upset about the licensing change - I get the need to protect from low effort/value add reselling and things like that. I do still worry if this is a canary for fu", "context": "Pays for premium to support the project", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 800559568, "item_id": 50034973, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034973", "by": "ffsm8", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "the bigger issue ive with this is the doubling of the price right from the get-go.", "excerpt": "i dont know how many years ive been a subscriber -- the oldest email ive got from them is switching my email 8 years ago, and i know for certain i used it on another email before that... but emails on that previous domain were never long lived, so theyre gone. anyway, the bigger issue ive with this is the doubling of the price right from the get-go. with private equity on the steering wheel, i suspect this will keep ", "context": "long-time subscriber", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 800554768, "item_id": 50034673, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034673", "by": "philsnow", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "what brought me to bitwarden was being able to make changes on two clients and merge the results cleanly", "excerpt": "I used to use gnupass and its variants (including passforios on mobile), but what brought me to bitwarden was being able to make changes on two clients and merge the results cleanly / usefully without needing to do anything manually at all. How does this work with keepassxc? Does it depend on your file syncing primitive?", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "pass", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 800553441, "item_id": 50034590, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034590", "by": "mpern", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Bitwarden was very flaky in that regard", "excerpt": "FWIW I moved to Proton Pass after I read the blog post months ago. The switch was seamless except for passkeys (had to enroll new ones; back then I only found a tool to convert Proton Pass passkeys to Bitwarden, but not the other way around) For me, Pass works much better, especially passkeys on Android. Bitwarden was very flaky in that regard, Proton Pass \"just works\". I use Pass for personal logins and sharing fami", "context": "", "use_case": "passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 800550048, "item_id": 50034378, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034378", "by": "Arrowmaster", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bitwarden was the no nonsense choice because it just worked.", "excerpt": "I specifically moved away from KeePassXC to Bitwarden with self hosted vaultwarden because the Linux desktop experience and mobile syncing was so terrible. While I love KeePassXC, using it on an immutable Linux distro where everything needs to be Flatpak means the browser extension doesn't work because it doesn't support Flatpak'd browsers back when I switched. Auto type is a security nightmare and is not an option. ", "context": "immutable Linux distro user", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "KeePassXC", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 800546864, "item_id": 50034179, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50034179", "by": "Cort3z", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I was so happy with bitwarden. Been a premium subscriber for many years.", "excerpt": "I hate this. So much software I love keeps doing this. redis, docker, now bitwarden. I was so happy with bitwarden. Been a premium subscriber for many years. I have helped convert many people, including whole companies, to use this. Now they are doing us such a disservice. We need a completely free, no-nonsence, alternative. I wonder if it is possible to do a ipfs/torrent version without a central authority to perman", "context": "premium subscriber who converted companies", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Bitwarden Dual License Model"}, {"id": 800320321, "item_id": 50020020, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50020020", "by": "whitef0x", "date": "2026-10-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I run bitwarden along with a photos app on the server which is worth it to me", "excerpt": "I use pikapods so more like a managed VPS but I run bitwarden along with a photos app on the server which is worth it to me", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What do you run on a $5 VPS that's worth keeping online 24/7?"}, {"id": 799833600, "item_id": 49989600, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49989600", "by": "akg_67", "date": "2026-10-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Exported all my passwords from Apple Password Manager to BitWarden.", "excerpt": "Interesting read, your experience gave me some ideas to reduce dependency on Apple ecosystem. A few questions: 1. \"Don't use safari\" Why? 2. Is there an alternative to \"Find My\" that I can use with AirTag? Some of the things, I have done since this experience: - Exported all my passwords from Apple Password Manager to BitWarden. Also, now I better understand why my wife was keeping her passwords in a notebook (no ser", "context": "reducing Apple dependency", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "Apple Password Manager", "story": "Ask HN: My Apple ID is locked for a week, Apple is a single point of failure"}, {"id": 799519201, "item_id": 49969950, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49969950", "by": "__aru", "date": "2026-10-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bitwarden for passwords. It's worked great for me so far", "excerpt": "Keepass is also a good alternative to Authy, caveat being you need some way to sync the db file between devices. I personally use Keepass for 2FA, Bitwarden for passwords. It's worked great for me so far, and I expect to stay with this setup for the foreseeable future.", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pixel 11 doesn't yet meet the GrapheneOS security standards and may be skipped"}, {"id": 796262421, "item_id": 49766401, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49766401", "by": "Frannky", "date": "2026-09-19", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Bitwarden machine secrets and a limited virtual card connected to my phone.", "excerpt": "I switched to oh-my-py and never looked back. I guess having an incentive to maximize (expensive) token usage, and LLMs degrading with higher context, isn't aligned with a user's best interest. Oh-my-py unlocks max capabilities at the smartest token usage, and you can change AI company and providers while still getting things done. Roles, advisor, and the ability to use Chinese models on international providers with ", "context": "", "use_case": "agent secrets", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Code now reads AGENTS.md if there is no Claude.md"}, {"id": 796118624, "item_id": 49757414, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49757414", "by": "abustamam", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Bitwarden as a passkey manager and it mostly works across devices.", "excerpt": "I like the idea of passkeys. And ive been seeing better support for them. I use Bitwarden as a passkey manager and it mostly works across devices. What's irritating is when the provider messes up passkey integration. As an example, recently Sony asked me to setup passkey. I did. But it skipped bitwarden somehow and went on my phone. I tried to login to my Playstation account on the computer and it directed me to cont", "context": "", "use_case": "passkey manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't like passkeys"}, {"id": 796118178, "item_id": 49757386, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49757386", "by": "hannasanarion", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "the 12 other sites that I have passkeys in bitwarden for", "excerpt": "Could be! I don't recall turning things like those on, I use firefox for features not privacy, and mostly leave stuff like that at their defaults, which I trust Mozilla + uBlock to filter the invasive trackers while leaving actually useful functionality, but it's possible I fiddled with it years ago and forgot. Some probably kinda strong counterevidence to that though is that this doesn't happen on all sites, only Am", "context": "", "use_case": "passkey storage", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't like passkeys"}, {"id": 796086016, "item_id": 49755376, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49755376", "by": "PennRobotics", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Kiwi Browser doesn't support passkeys even with Bitwarden on my device.", "excerpt": "The article was clear and reflects my own opinions: If you use an untrusted machine, you either revert to the least secure backup method (your master password in Bitwarden) or don't log in. If your phone is your trusted device and becomes lost/stolen and then replaced, you revert to the least secure backup method e.g. password, security questions, or even waiting to be manually verified. This can be problematic if yo", "context": "", "use_case": "password and passkey management", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't like passkeys"}, {"id": 796076704, "item_id": 49754794, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49754794", "by": "AdamJacobMuller", "date": "2026-09-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use passkeys extensively with BitWarden and I love it", "excerpt": "> When storing passkeys in a password manager like Bitwardenor KeePassXC, you end up fighting the platform Very odd. I use passkeys extensively with BitWarden and I love it to the point where it's my preferred way of securing things at this point. The fact that the website presents the question to BitWarden in a structured way (what website, what username) means that I never fight with selecting the right account to ", "context": "macOS with Brave/Firefox and iOS", "use_case": "passkey manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "I don't like passkeys"}, {"id": 793118706, "item_id": 49569919, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49569919", "by": "godelski", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bitwarden even supports FF Relay!", "excerpt": "I'll third this. A few years ago I set up both a website (cloudflare) and started using Firefox Relay (proxy email addresses, with a mozmail domain). I did it to make gmail less sticky and control spam[0]. Then last year I switched to fastmail and it was so easy because I just had to point somewhere else. Even if you keep Gmail I highly suggest people do this as it's helped with spam and gives me more control. Becaus", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gmail to end support for \"Send as\" for third-party addresses, such as @yahoo.com"}, {"id": 793022368, "item_id": 49563898, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49563898", "by": "wookmaster", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I switched from 1password to locally hosted Bitwarden(Vaultwarden) 6 months ago and I don't miss anything.", "excerpt": "You'll have to add some actual reasoning to this, I switched from 1password to locally hosted Bitwarden(Vaultwarden) 6 months ago and I don't miss anything.", "context": "", "use_case": "self-hosted password management", "switched_from": "1Password", "story": "1Password Replied to My Disappointment"}, {"id": 792961456, "item_id": 49560091, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49560091", "by": "SanjayMehta", "date": "2026-09-04", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Importing was truly super easy, but bitwarden has some kind of latency issue compared to 1p", "excerpt": "I switched to bitwarden a couple of years ago when 1password locked down on their subscription model. I don't do subscriptions, I prefer paying for upgrades which I need. Importing was truly super easy, but bitwarden has some kind of latency issue compared to 1p on the same machine and the same browser. 1p was always a smooth and unobtrusive experience, you will be extremely aware of BW's presence.", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "1Password", "story": "1Password Replied to My Disappointment"}, {"id": 792783456, "item_id": 49548966, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49548966", "by": "croon", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've been using Bitwarden for close to a decade now, and it still works", "excerpt": "I've been using Bitwarden for close to a decade now, and it still works, but given silent documentation changes and increasingly opaque communication following the CEO change, I started considering self-hosting. While vaultwarden exists, and would be the obvious choice, I started shopping around as well. So hijacking the thread to ask if anyone has used Aliasvault [0] (no affiliation)? [0] https://github.com/aliasvau", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Advice on Migrating from 1Password?"}, {"id": 792751522, "item_id": 49546970, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49546970", "by": "teekert", "date": "2026-09-03", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I really didn't like how you share credentials in BitWarden (through organizations)", "excerpt": "I really enjoy Proton Pass (but I have a paid subscription so I have passmail aliasses as well). I've been going full passkeys recently, no issues yet. Before this I used Vaultwarden, but I was always a bit afraid of the self-hosting (of something this critical), and I really didn't like how you share credentials in BitWarden (through organizations), Proton Pass is much more intuitive with just straight up sharing of", "context": "", "use_case": "password sharing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Advice on Migrating from 1Password?"}, {"id": 789980821, "item_id": 49373801, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49373801", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-08-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Bitwarden", "excerpt": "To get you started on switching the ecosystem, which is a pain. Here's some of what I landed on while moving from iOS to GrapheneOS. Ente Photos NotesNook Signal (I use Molly but it's only on Android) Bitwarden Proton", "context": "moved from iOS to GrapheneOS", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS in 2027 available on high-end Motorola phones"}, {"id": 785248352, "item_id": 49078022, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49078022", "by": "tmangini", "date": "2026-07-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We use bitwarden? but it feels a little clunky...", "excerpt": "I'm still trying to figure out the best way to do this. We use bitwarden? but it feels a little clunky...", "context": "", "use_case": "secrets management", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ihatedevops.com \u2013 because DevOps separates vibe coder from engineer"}, {"id": 785127648, "item_id": 49070478, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49070478", "by": "HumblyTossed", "date": "2026-07-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I would not install my bitwarden either.", "excerpt": "I think if I were headed out of country i would make a full backup of my phone, then wipe it and set it up using my old gmail account that i only use for spam and stuff, fwd my reservations to that account. I would not install my normal accounts on it. I would not install my bitwarden either. I would keep everything minimal, use web UIs where possible. then when i return, it looks like I use my phone and didn't wipe ", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "US citizen charged after GrapheneOS phone wipes during airport search"}, {"id": 784455392, "item_id": 49028462, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49028462", "by": "trollbridge", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Take a look at Bitwarden (GPL3) and GitLab (MIT).", "excerpt": "Take a look at Bitwarden (GPL3) and GitLab (MIT). A handful of enterprisey things aren\u2019t included. Nearly everyone just pays them to run it (myself included - I self host GitLab and still pay them!).", "context": "", "use_case": "example of open source licensing model", "switched_from": "", "story": "Launch HN: Screenpipe (YC S26) \u2013 Power your agents by your 24/7 screen recording"}, {"id": 784293505, "item_id": 49018344, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49018344", "by": "FireInsight", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Having your 1st and 2nd factors in the same place seems foolish.", "excerpt": "Ente Auth. Obviously not Bitwarden, I don't even know why that's an option. Having your 1st and 2nd factors in the same place seems foolish. I used to use Aegis, which might technically be a bit more secure, but Ente is also on the PrivacyGuides recommendations list (https://www.privacyguides.org/en/multi-factor-authentication/#ente-auth), so I opted to use it for more peace of mind in case my phone breaks.", "context": "", "use_case": "TOTP storage", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}, {"id": 784272352, "item_id": 49017022, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017022", "by": "dizhn", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the Bitwarden extension picked up the flow and everything was ridiculously easy.", "excerpt": "I didn't know the answer to any of these either and don't have a hardware key (I thought this was required for a long time) but one day I just clicked add a passkey on a site and the Bitwarden extension picked up the flow and everything was ridiculously easy. Now I also do get how it works, having used it on a few sites. Highly recommend.", "context": "", "use_case": "storing passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}, {"id": 784216992, "item_id": 49013562, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49013562", "by": "OptionOfT", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Wife and I use bitwarden. For shared accounts we put them in a shared folder,  and the passkey is attached in there, in bitwarden, meaning it survives device resets.", "excerpt": "Wife and I use bitwarden. For shared accounts we put them in a shared folder, and the passkey is attached in there, in bitwarden, meaning it survives device resets.", "context": "", "use_case": "shared accounts and passkeys", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}, {"id": 784175776, "item_id": 49010986, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010986", "by": "qlte", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "that\u2019s exactly how I use all my passkeys with Bitwarden. They sync to any device I have Bitwarden installed on", "excerpt": "> Passkeys should be allowed to be synced between devices and stored on password managers in the cloud. I am making my own password manager for my personal use, but have not delved into passkeys. They are, that\u2019s exactly how I use all my passkeys with Bitwarden. They sync to any device I have Bitwarden installed on when added on one device.", "context": "", "use_case": "syncing passkeys across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}, {"id": 784167728, "item_id": 49010483, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010483", "by": "seemaze", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use bitwarden[0]. It covers all cases and devices in question.", "excerpt": "I use bitwarden[0]. It covers all cases and devices in question. As a bonus, I self host using the open source vaultwarden[1] server implementation, which is packaged in alpine linux. [0] https://bitwarden.com/ [1] https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden", "context": "", "use_case": "passkeys and passwords across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}, {"id": 784163376, "item_id": 49010211, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010211", "by": "dfabulich", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Bitwarden, Proton Pass, and KeepassXC do support exporting passkeys to CSV", "excerpt": "> Every single major password manager supports export. They all support exporting passwords, but, check your CSV; you won't find any passkeys in the CSV export for Apple, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, 1Password, or LastPass. (Bitwarden, Proton Pass, and KeepassXC do support exporting passkeys to CSV, which undermines the phishing protections, at least somewhat. It\u2019s possible to trick you into exporting your passkeys fr", "context": "", "use_case": "passkey export", "switched_from": "", "story": "Passkeys were invented by engineers with zero understanding of consumer brain"}, {"id": 770997920, "item_id": 48187370, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48187370", "by": "aussieguy1234", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "BitWarden being open source and auditable is one of the main reasons I use it", "excerpt": "If the price ever became unresaonable i'd host my own VaultWarden instance. I'm sure if BitWarden ever went closed source, it would be forked and maintained by the community and that most would migrate to the open source solution. BitWarden being open source and auditable is one of the main reasons I use it, no hidden backdoors from them or three letter government agencies.", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}, {"id": 770978881, "item_id": 48186180, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48186180", "by": "kjuulh", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I moved from BitWarden back then because their browser integration was quite poor.", "excerpt": "At this point it is too high of a risk to store my password elsewhere. I've been screwed over by dashlane, lastpass, potentially bitwarden now, I am with 1password now, but I've had my passwords in all these places, and I've had to change them each time, probably missing a few. I like 1password, it is by far the highest quality product I've used in this category. I moved from BitWarden back then because their browser", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}, {"id": 770897200, "item_id": 48181075, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181075", "by": "xweb", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Now it is bloated white space, slow, standardized UX elements like any SaaS built by AI.", "excerpt": "Thank you for this post/link. I have been side eyeing Bitwarden since they started ensh*ttifying the desktop UX last year to make it more like everything else and take up too much space. It had been working perfectly well for browser autofill - super fast and staying out of the way. Now it is bloated white space, slow, standardized UX elements like any SaaS built by AI. Will check out Vaultwarden, Proton Pass, Keepas", "context": "", "use_case": "browser autofill", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}, {"id": 770897152, "item_id": 48181072, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48181072", "by": "evanjrowley", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "warn", "quote": "discovering a long history of memory leak problems in the GitHub issue tracker", "excerpt": "Lately I've been scrutinizing Bitwarden after discovering a long history of memory leak problems in the GitHub issue tracker. It's an extention I use with all of my browsers. It seems to use an unusually high amount of RAM on Safari and I suspect it's why RAM just never stops growing in MS Edge. Overall it's not a problem for me if Bitwarden wants more money, but I have to draw the line at replacing top leadership wi", "context": "", "use_case": "browser extension", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}, {"id": 770895408, "item_id": 48180963, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48180963", "by": "flossly", "date": "2026-05-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use BitWarden because I'd never trust a password manager with close source clients.", "excerpt": "I use BitWarden because I'd never trust a password manager with close source clients. Before BitWarden I used a local manager: BitWarden made my life easier. The web interface I'd never use: I have no guarantee that my passphrase does not leave my computer. Same for the import feature: this also requires the passphrase to be sent to their servers. Needless to say I move to the next ethical e2ee password manager if Bi", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden"}, {"id": 761905104, "item_id": 47619069, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47619069", "by": "mattlondon", "date": "2026-04-02", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I personally use bitwarden on my chrome profile across Windows Mac Linux and android and think it's great. Highly recommended.", "excerpt": "No mention of password managers yet? One of the major benefits is the password manager can do a quick, simple, completely deterministic check on the domain before providing the password. That would have stopped this dead in its tracks without relying on the human just happening to notice. I personally use bitwarden on my chrome profile across Windows Mac Linux and android and think it's great. Highly recommended. Of ", "context": "", "use_case": "password manager across devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Gone (Almost) Phishin'"}, {"id": 743221184, "item_id": 46451324, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46451324", "by": "fao_", "date": "2025-12-31", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The newest release of bitwarden absolutely sucks.", "excerpt": "> I would also recommend Bitwarden for those who want a better UI experience. The newest release of bitwarden absolutely sucks. The images that they're using look AI-generated (specifically, there's some weird stuff around line thickness, colour and shading that, as the spawn of two artists, I do not believe a competent artist/designer would make), but also the images are just pixellated and grainy on my 1080p screen", "context": "", "use_case": "password management", "switched_from": "", "story": "On privacy and control"}]}