Keeper vs Dashlane – which is the top competitor?

Keeper and Dashlane are two strong password managers for storing passwords, protecting sensitive data, and improving everyday online security. However, they’re built for slightly different users. While Keeper focuses on highly customizable security settings, broad compatibility, and affordable pricing, Dashlane keeps things simpler with a clean interface and extras like a built-in VPN and dark web monitoring.
For this Keeper vs Dashlane comparison, I tested both providers using the same criteria. I looked at key features and tools, such as encryption, account recovery, password sharing, autofill, pricing, app usability, customer support, and device compatibility. Additionally, I evaluated which provider would be more suitable for different user types, including casual users, families, and businesses.
Overall, both password managers perform well. However, the better choice depends on what matters most to you. Keep reading to see how Keeper and Dashlane compare in terms of security, features, ease of use, and value.
Keeper vs Dashlane – an overview
Keeper offers competitive pricing, more flexible authentication options, and unlimited password storage. Dashlane costs more but includes a VPN and a user-friendly interface. Both use strong AES-256 encryption and support multiple platforms, but Keeper also supports Linux, giving it a slight edge.
| Keeper | Dashlane | |
| ⭐ Rating: | ||
| 🥇 Overall rank: | #4 out of #20 | #5 out of #20 |
| 🔥 Coupons: | Limited-Time offer! Keeper coupon 50% OFF | Dashlane coupon 25% OFF |
| 💵 Price: | From $1.79/month | From $4.06/month |
| ✂️ Free version: | Yes | No, but there's a free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee |
| 🔒 Encryption: | AES-256 | AES-256 |
| 🖥️ Platforms: | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS | Web app/browser extension, macOS, Android, iOS |
| 🌐 Browser extensions: | Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Edge, Brave | Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi |
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Key differences between Keeper and Dashlane
Keeper and Dashlane are two secure password managers that support AES-256 encryption, autofill, password sharing, and cross-platform use. However, they target slightly different users. Keeper focuses more on security customization, flexible authentication methods, and lower pricing, while Dashlane prioritizes simplicity and bundled convenience features like a built-in VPN and dark web monitoring.
Choose Keeper if:
- You want a cheaper long-term option. Keeper’s plans start at a lower price than Dashlane while still including unlimited password storage and core security features.
- You prefer advanced security controls. Keeper supports more flexible multi-factor authentication options, including hardware security keys and advanced admin controls.
- You need better password sharing and recovery tools. Features like One-Time Share and emergency access make Keeper more practical for families and long-term account management.
- You use Linux or prefer desktop apps. Keeper offers dedicated desktop applications and Linux support, while Dashlane mainly relies on browser extensions and mobile apps.
Read our in-depth Keeper review if you’d like to learn more about this provider’s strengths and weaknesses.
Choose Dashlane if:
- You want the simplest interface possible. Dashlane’s design is cleaner and more beginner-friendly, making it easier for less technical users to navigate.
- You want built-in extras without separate apps. Dashlane includes features such as a VPN, dark web monitoring, and password health tools in its premium plans.
- You mainly use browser extensions and mobile devices. Dashlane is optimized for browser-based password management and works especially smoothly on mobile platforms.
- You want to try it before paying. Dashlane doesn’t offer a free plan anymore, but it has a free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Keeper vs Dashlane: plans and pricing
When it comes to Keeper vs Dashlane pricing, it’s a tough call since both have pros and cons. The two offer great flexibility with different plan options and billing cycles, as well as relatively robust features. However, the scales tip slightly in Keeper’s favor.
| Plan | Keeper | Dashlane |
| Free | $0.00 | No free plan |
| Personal/Premium | $1.79/month (1 user) | $5.42/month (1 user) |
| Family/Friends & Family | $3.83/month (5 users) | $6.09/month (10 users) |
| Business Starter/Password Management | From $7.00/month (5 users) | From $8.13/month (10 users) |
| Try Keeper | Try Dashlane |
With a limited free version and a 30-day free trial, Keeper comes as a cheaper provider. Meanwhile, Dashlane is priced higher overall, but it offers a free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Keeper pricing
Keeper only has 2 personal plans, but they’re sufficient to cover most users’ needs:
- Keeper Personal – $1.79/month for 1 user
- Keeper Family – $3.83/month for 5 users
- Keeper Business Starter – from $7.00/month for 5 users
Keeper’s Personal plan is a great option if you’re a solo user. Among other things, it comes with unlimited password storage, autofill, password generator, and secure sharing. It can also be used on an unlimited number of devices.
Meanwhile, Keeper’s Family plan is a great solution to fit in more users. The plan comes with everything in the Personal plan as well as 5 private vaults and 10GB of secure file storage. Plus, for a test run, Keeper offers a free trial and a limited free version for 1 mobile device.
Keeper has several Business plans built for organizations, and the subscriptions are per user. If you opt for Business Starter, you get basic password management perks along with more business-focused features like Security Audit or Team Management. Business and Enterprise plans come with such additions as Delegated Administration and Azure Integration. There are also Student and Military and Medical discount options.
Dashlane pricing
As for Dashlane, it no longer has a free version, but it offers several paid plans:
- Dashlane Premium – $5.42/month for 1 user
- Dashlane Friends & Family – $6.09/month for 10 users
- Dashlane Business – from $8.13/month per user
Dashlane’s Premium and Friends & Family plans are far better options. They have the same features – the only difference lies in whether you need one account or multiple accounts to share. Both plans can support unlimited devices and include additional features like unlimited password storage, dark web monitoring, and a VPN.
Dashlane has Business and Enterprise plans, too. The Omnix Password Management plan offers SSO integration, on-demand phone support, Dark Web Insights, and other great features. By subscribing to the Omnix™ enterprise plan, you get Password Management and Credential Protection in one platform.
Keeper vs Dashlane: security overview
Both Keeper and Dashlane use strong, military-grade encryption, support multi-factor authentication for added protection, have relatively reasonable privacy policies, and can be considered the best password managers in our tests. However, Keeper has the lead courtesy of its more flexible authentication methods and transparent third-party audit information.
Encryption
There’s no surprise twist in the Dashlane vs Keeper match in terms of encryption since both live up to their reputation as top password managers.
In Keeper’s case, it uses 256-bit AES encryption with PBKDF2 key derivation. AES-256 is the industry standard for most password managers and is considered nearly impossible to break.
Additionally, it adopts a zero-knowledge protocol, which means that vault encryption and decryption are done locally on your device. The company and its employees don’t have access to the plaintext version of your data.
Dashlane has a similar approach to encryption. It uses the near-unbreakable AES-256 together with a vault encryption key derived locally from your login method. Due to the password manager’s zero-knowledge architecture, all data is encrypted locally on your device, and only encrypted passwords are sent to its servers.
Multi-factor security
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) offers an extra layer of protection to the login process since it requires additional identity verifications beyond just username and password. So, it’s a good thing that both Keeper and Dashlane deliver in this regard. However, Keeper has a slight edge thanks to its more flexible and extensive authentication options.
Keeper supports a wide range of two-factor authentication (2FA) methods. This includes TOTP generator apps like Google and Microsoft Authenticator, hardware tokens, U2F-based physical keys such as YubiKey, and smart wearables like Apple Watch. Additionally, Keeper allows verification via SMS, but I’d recommend skipping it. It’s the least secure of all of the methods.
Dashlane isn’t far behind, either. It also supports 2FA through Dashlane Authenticator, third-party authenticator apps like Google Authenticator and Authy, email verification, and Apple Watch.
Data storage
Keeper offers unlimited password storage, which is quite unusual among password managers. It’s a huge plus, especially for those who use unique passwords for different logins.
However, you’ll need to upgrade to its Family plan to get included secure file storage. It comes with 10GB of storage for sensitive files, photos, and videos. Alternatively, Keeper also offers Secure File Storage as a paid add-on, with up to 100GB of encrypted storage.
Meanwhile, paid Dashlane users get unlimited 1GB of encrypted file storage, but individual files are limited to just 15MB.
Frankly, that’s quite skimpy. While 50MB is likely sufficient for basic documents, it certainly isn’t enough for things like videos or large files.
Privacy policy
Keeper and Dashlane both have a zero-knowledge architecture to ensure that vault data is only accessible by the end user and not their employees. However, both providers do collect some user data.
With Keeper, it collects limited personal information – including username or email address and phone number – for account verification and 2FA authentication.
Additionally, it also keeps aggregate user statistics and website traffic for its site’s administration and performance improvement, including website traffic statistics, date and time of visits, browser types, frequency of visits, and more.
Dashlane, too, collects certain types of data. Among them are:
- Registration data
- Billing data
- Secured Data, such as encrypted vault contents
- Support and correspondence
- Feedback
- Device and browser data
- Usage data
- Aggregated data
- Cookies
According to Dashlane, the data is used for verification, services and support, communication, and coordination of marketing efforts.
Third-party security audits
Keeper has the upper hand in the Keeper vs Dashlane faceoff for third-party security audits, as it provides more detailed public audit and compliance information. Dashlane has improved transparency in this regard, but its latest audit reports and security attestations are available through the Dashlane Trust Center.
Keeper passed the Service Organization Control (SOC 2) Type 2 audit and also complies with ISO 27001, ISO 27017, and ISO 27018 standards. ISO 27001 outlines the requirements for an information security management system (ISMS), including things like information security policies, access control, and cryptography. Keeper also performs quarterly third-party penetration testing with experts such as NCC Group and CyberTest.
Additionally, Keeper participates in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework. These frameworks regulate data protection requirements when transferring personal data from the European Union, the UK, and Switzerland to the United States.
Contrastingly, Dashlane also undergoes annual SOC 2 Type II audits and maintains ISO/IEC 27001 certification. However, unlike Keeper, its latest audit reports are shared through its Trust Center rather than published as openly available reports.
Keeper vs Dashlane: feature comparison
Both Keeper and Dashlane offer nifty basics like password importing, sharing, and generating, as well as account/password recovery and autofill. What sets them apart is how the features are put into play. Keeper comes out ahead here with its smooth processes, flexible approach, and greater control. However, you’ll need to opt for premium plans to get all the benefits.
Password importing
Keeper offers plenty of ways to import your passwords to the Keeper vault. All unprotected passwords from browsers can be automatically imported with Keeper’s Importer to the vault.
Keeper supports imports from other password managers, too, for easy switching. The list includes 1Password, Dashlane, KeePass, RoboForm, ZOHO, and more. Alternatively, it also allows import from a .csv file, Excel, JSON file, and Commander CLI.
Dashlane also has various ways to import passwords in bulk. It supports imports from other password managers such as 1Password, KeePass, LastPass, and RoboForm, as well as bulk uploads with .csv files and imports through Credential Exchange with supported apps.
In brief, it’s fair to say that both password managers provide great flexibility when it comes to password importing options. However, I give the win to Keeper for this round, as it has more extensive options, and its importing system is more seamless overall.
Account and password recovery
Keeper is significantly more accommodating when it comes to account and password recovery.
With it, you can designate up to 5 contacts who can access your vault in case of an emergency. You’ll also need to set up how much time should pass before the contacts can access the vault, as the feature is technically designed to deal with eventualities like incapacitation, disability, and death.
Beyond that, Keeper now uses a 24-word recovery phrase for account recovery. If you lose your master password, you’ll need the recovery phrase, email verification, and 2FA, if enabled, to reset it.
Contrarily, Dashlane no longer offers emergency access. However, you can still regain access with an account recovery key if you’ve set one up, or reset your master password with biometric recovery on supported mobile devices. Professional-plan users may also have admin-assisted recovery available.
Password generator
A password generator is a common yet very helpful feature for a password manager, and both Keeper and Dashlane nailed this aspect.
With Keeper, you can customize the length of the password and the types of characters to include – such as capital letters, numbers, and symbols – to create a stronger password. The maximum character length here is 99, which is sufficient to come up with a super-secure password.
Similarly, Dashlane also has a password generator that allows customization of the length of the password and the types of characters.
By default, it’ll generate a 12-character password, but you can tweak it to be shorter or longer. The tool can create passphrase passwords of up to 10 words.
Password sharing
Keeper recently launched its One-Time Share feature, which enables its users to securely share records with anyone on a time-limited basis. This handy little feature could be used for password sharing, too.
Here, One-Time Share links can be sent to recipients via multiple channels, including direct QR code scan, AirDrop, email, and SMS. To turn security up a notch, One-Time Share is also device-locked so that the link is only accessible on the original recipient’s device.
As for Dashlane, password sharing is available, too. You can share saved items with other Dashlane users, and link sharing also lets you share login information with recipients who don’t have a Dashlane account.
Overall, Keeper’s password sharing feels more advanced thanks to One-Time Share, device-locked links, and flexible sharing channels.
Autofill
Helpfully, both Keeper and Dashlane also offer autofill functions to allow quick access to your accounts by automatically entering your login credentials when visiting saved sites.
In Keeper’s case, it’s called KeeperFill, and it’s available for download separately or can be used directly through Keeper’s app. In the app, you can click on one of your saved credentials, and you’ll be automatically logged in. Alternatively, you can set up hotkeys to instantly launch KeeperFill or autofill login details to speed things up.
Meanwhile, Dashlane’s autofill feature uses machine learning to accurately and swiftly autofill passwords and data. When visiting a website, you’ll see a dark green D icon in the login fields. A click is all it takes to access your account.
Plus, Dashlane’s autofill feature is also great for quick checkout for online purchases. Simply click on a credit card to use, and Dashlane will fill in the information on your behalf.
Platforms, interface, and ease of use
Compatibility certainly isn’t a problem with both Keeper and Dashlane, but Keeper one-upped Dashlane in many aspects. The pair is compatible with all of the widely used operating systems in the market. Still, Keeper has a leg up here since it also supports Linux, unlike Dashlane.
| Keeper | Dashlane | |
| Supported OS | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS | Web app/browser extension, macOS, Android, iOS |
| Browser extension | Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, Edge, Brave | Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, Edge, Brave |
| Number of users | Up to 5 | Up to 10 |
Additionally, both have a range of dedicated browser extensions for autofill.
As for ease of use, both Keeper and Dashlane prioritize beginner-friendly setup processes and intuitive interfaces for easy navigation.
Desktop apps
Keeper’s desktop apps are available on Windows, Linux, and Mac. The interface is clean, modern, and easy to navigate. The menu is clearly visible and offers quick access to your vault, identity, and payment details, security audit, and deleted items. Plus, there’s also an option to easily create new entries.
Well-structured and thoughtfully organized, I’d say that the app perfectly walks the line between functionality and simplicity. Both newbies and experienced users will have no problem navigating the app.
Unfortunately, Dashlane has discontinued its old desktop apps for Windows and Mac. Windows users now rely on the browser extension and web app, while Mac users can still use the Dashlane macOS app or Safari extension. Dashlane also no longer offers emergency access.
In brief, Keeper’s desktop apps get the nod when it comes to ease of use. On the flip side, Dashlane’s more browser-focused desktop experience can be a hit on functionality for users who prefer dedicated desktop apps.
Browser extensions
Both Keeper and Dashlane have multiple browser extensions, which are incredibly helpful for password autofill and autosave purposes when you’re browsing online.
In Keeper’s case, it has extensions for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, Brave, and Edge. It’s easy enough to add a Keeper extension to the browser of your choice, as a click is all it takes.
However, just like most password managers’ browser extensions, its functionality is tied to the web app. Using the extension, you can access more basic features like generating passwords, while more advanced settings are easier to manage through the web app.
Dashlane isn’t all that much different from Keeper, either – it has extensions for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, Brave, and Edge.
Mobile apps
Keeper’s mobile apps for Android and iOS look somewhat different from each other. But both sport a neat, sleek, and intuitive design that makes navigation a breeze. Plus, there’s no compromise in terms of functionality.
Whether on Android or iOS, the dashboard is a close reflection of its desktop apps. It houses things like vault, identity and payments, two-factor codes, and more. The only glaring difference is that export and import options are more limited on the mobile app than when using the web or desktop apps. That’s, of course, very understandable.
Similarly, Dashlane’s mobile app for Android devices is also packed with many functionalities that you’d find in the full version. VPN, Secure Notes, and autofill – they’re all there. However, its iOS app may have some limitations due to Apple’s platform restrictions.
Customer support
Both Keeper and Dashlane have multiple customer support channels.
With Keeper, the best place to start the search for answers is its extensive knowledge base, which houses hundreds of in-depth articles, guides, and how-tos. The help page also displays server status for a quick check in case you’re facing service issues.
Additionally, Keeper also has a 24/7 support, including live chat, email, and phone support for paid plans. While not instantaneous, response times for tickets are short and more than acceptable. Plus, the agents are knowledgeable and keen to help.
Dashlane, on the other hand, offers live chat and email support. However, live agent support is limited to Monday through Friday. Nevertheless, if you contact the team during those hours, the agents are efficient, professional, and quick to respond. Dashlane also provides an AI-powered support chatbot for basic troubleshooting and guidance outside live support hours.
Outside of these hours, your best bet is to independently make your way through its massive knowledge base and FAQ section.
Keeper vs Dashlane: final verdict
Both Keeper and Dashlane can protect your account and sensitive information – but they do that in different ways. Keeper is reliable for security customization, secure password sharing, affordability, and cross-platform support, so it’s best for users who want greater control over their password management.
On the other hand, Dashlane is good for simplicity and convenience. It offers a clean, beginner-friendly interface, along with useful extras such as a built-in VPN, dark web monitoring, and password health tools. These additions make it attractive for users, prioritizing ease of use and bundled privacy tools over advanced customization.
Overall, Keeper offers better value for most users thanks to its lower pricing, flexible features, unlimited password storage, and advanced sharing tools. If you want a secure and affordable password manager with plenty of customization options, Keeper is the better choice overall.
FAQ
Is Keeper better than Dashlane?
Yes, Keeper is better than Dashlane. Keeper offers more flexible security features and better overall value compared to Dashlane. Plus, it’s also the cheaper option.
Which is better for mobile: Keeper or Dashlane?
Keeper and Dashlane are equally good for mobile. Both password managers’ mobile apps are well-developed, easy to use, and packed with core features for secure password access on the go.
Can Keeper import from Dashlane?
Yes, Keeper can import data from Dashlane if you have the DASH or .csv file.