Keeper vs KeePass: which one to choose in 2024

If you’re looking into getting a password manager, you’ll likely have heard of Keeper and KeePass. Keeper is one of our favorite password managers, thanks to its incredible security and useful features. But, like many password managers, you have to pay to sign up. By contrast, KeePass is a free service that promises to protect your passwords while making them easy for you to access.

But this isn’t the only point of difference between the two solutions. In this comparison, we’re going to take you through several categories, including security, features, pricing, customer support, and apps and extensions, to help you decide between Keeper vs KeePass. Let’s get started.

Keeper vs KeePass – an overview

	Keeper	KeePass
⭐ Rating:	4.6 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★	3.5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
🥇 Overall rank:	#4 out of #19	#18 out of #19
🔥 Coupons:	Keeper coupon 50% OFF	Cybernews Password Manager Coupons
💵 Price:	From $1.46/month	Free (Donations)
✂️ Free version:	Yes	Yes
🔒 Encryption:	AES-256	AES-256
🖥️ Platforms:	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
🌐 Browser extensions:	Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Edge, Internet Explorer	Only with plugins

Keeper vs KeePass: which one is more secure?

Keeper is definitely a more secure password manager than KeePass. For one thing, Keeper uses the next-gen 256-bit AES encryption to keep your passwords completely secure. And it has a whole host of additional features, including encrypted messaging, zero-knowledge architecture, and dark web monitoring.

But, although its offering isn’t quite as strong, KeePass is no slouch when it comes to security. It also uses AES-256 encryption to protect your data. And if you add a key file plugin, you can use two-factor authentication to make your passwords nigh-on untouchable.

However, when comparing the two, Keeper has far more security features and many more sophisticated methods of ensuring your passwords are completely safe at all times.

Encryption

If you want a password manager with top-grade encryption, you’d struggle to do better than Keeper. Keeper uses AES-256-bit encryption, which is generally considered to be the strongest encryption on the market.

And not only does Keeper use arguably the most secure cipher around, but it has also combined AES-256 with PBKDF2 encryption, which means that only encrypted passwords will be sent to Keeper's servers. This is a highly advanced encryption practice that is used by high-level government systems.

It works by assigning a unique key to each separate entry. Therefore, instead of your entire vault being locked with a single key, also known as your master password, every password or file you upload is issued with a unique key, making it almost impossible to reverse engineer.

Similarly, KeePass uses AES-256 encryption to ensure your data remains safe. And it has coupled this with the Twofish algorithm to encrypt its password databases, so both your passwords and your notes are completely encrypted.

Overall, though, Keeper’s encryption is more sophisticated and, therefore, manages to edge it in this category.

Multifactor security

As you’d expect with a password manager, both Keeper and KeePass can support two-factor authentication, which offers a vital layer of protection. But that’s where the similarity ends.

Keeper makes it easy to set up 2FA with a range of authentication methods, including SMS, TOTP apps, hardware tokens, smart wearables, and U2F-based physical keys. This will come in handy if you lose your phone or token, as you’ll avoid being locked out of your password vault forever.

With KeePass, however, you can only access multi-factor authentication with a plugin that’s available for KeePass. It might not be the most user-friendly solution. But these plugins allow you to add in Time-based One-Time Passwords (TOTPs), as well as RSA certificate-based keys. It has the benefit of being customizable, but it is a bit of a disappointment that it’s not included with its base product. Therefore, Keeper is the winner in this category.

Privacy policy

Keeper and KeePass use zero-knowledge architecture to ensure that your vault and its contents are completely off-limits to the providers and their employees. Having said that, both password managers collect a bit of personal data from their users.

In Keeper’s case, it asks for data about your account and storage, as well as a few essential personally identifiable information, which includes:

• Payment details
• Username
• Phone number
• Email address

In a similar vein, KeePass collects:

• Payment details (if you give a donation)
• Name
• Phone number
• Email address

These details are necessary for setting up an account. And so, this category is a draw.

Third-party security audits

Both Keeper and KeePass have undergone third-party audits to ensure they’re as secure as they appear to be. But this is yet another category where Keeper is the better choice.

For one thing, Keeper is certified SOC (Service Organization Control) 2 compliant, which means that its customer data is protected through closely monitored internal control practices. On top of this, Keeper also has independent audits and is subjected to continuous monitoring.

KeePass, by contrast, has only been audited a couple of times, most recently in 2016. And, although no security issues have been detected, it doesn’t undergo the same rigorous audits as Keeper does.

Keeper vs KeePass: features overview

Given that both password managers have such different offerings, it’s not easy to compare the features of Keeper vs KeePass. After all, KeePass uses plugins to offer additional functionality, while Keeper has a wide range of features available straight out of the box.

Having said that, when testing out their most useful features, we found that Keeper’s offerings were better and more reliable.

Password importing

It’s possible to import passwords from a range of browsers onto Keeper and KeePass. However, Keeper is more intuitive and gives you the option to import passwords from browsers and other password managers.

KeePass is quite tedious when it comes to importing your passwords. If you’re on KeePass 1.x, your selection is small and limited to just CSV files, CodeWallet, Password Safe, and Personal Vault.

KeePass 2.x supports the following applications:

• Other password managers like Keeper or Dashlane
• Google Chrome
• CSV files

Keeper, meanwhile, has a range of solutions for importing passwords, depending on where your passwords are currently being stored. If you’re using a browser, for example, you can use Keeper’s Importer to automatically import them into your vault, so long as they aren’t password-protected.

If you want to import your passwords from a different password manager, you’ll need to export the database of your passwords and then import that file into your Keeper vault, which is pretty easy to do.

On balance, we really like the way Keeper makes password importing smooth and user-friendly – it’s our winner in this match.

Password generator

If, like many of us, you struggle to come up with strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts, you’ll find a password generator very handy. And, in this category, KeePass is the winner, thanks to its customizable options.

KeePass has a strong password generator that’s highly customizable. You get nine toggles to enable and disable so you can choose the length, as well as the characters and symbols you want to be included.

Keeper’s password manager still has plenty to offer. It gives you the option to choose the length of each password and to specify if you want it to include capital letters, numbers, and special characters. The maximum character length is an impressive 100 characters.

Overall, Keeper’s password generator is quite easy to use and has enough customization for a strong password. Even though KeePass might not look like the most modern and user-friendly one, it’s highly customizable and takes the lead in this match.

Password sharing

Password sharing is a really useful feature that’s included in the majority of password managers. And, in this category, Keeper is the clear winner.

Keeper makes sharing passwords and files an absolute breeze. If you want to share login details with someone, you can share them easily via email, airdrop, SMS, or share access to link. The default sharing mode is View Only, but you can change that easily in the settings. It also has a One-Time Share option that can be really helpful, particularly if you want to share passwords with someone who doesn’t have a Keeper account.

KeePass, on the other hand, isn’t great when it comes to sharing passwords. If you want to share your entire database, you can send the file via email, or put it online. But there’s no built-in secure messaging system, so there’s no easy or secure way of sharing individual passwords or databases.

All things considered, Keeper vastly outperforms KeePass in this area.

Autofill

Autofill helps you speed up logging in, making payments, and any other process that requires you to input a password. Luckily, Keeper and KeePass both have this feature, although the way they implement them differs in a few important ways.

Keeper makes this easy to set up via the app or by adding it to your browser extension. When you log in, you can click to select it to autofill the credentials for you. This means you only have to click Enter to enter websites and apps.

Contrastingly, KeePass doesn’t have an autofill feature as such. Instead, it offers a feature called Auto-Type that lets you choose a sequence of keypresses to perform automatically on your behalf. But unfortunately, it’s not very user-friendly or intuitive.

Because Keeper is significantly easier to use, Keeper is the better option for autofill.

Plans and pricing

One of the biggest differentiators between Keeper and KeePass is the price. This is because Keeper offers a range of paid plans, while KeePass is free to use, although it does ask for a donation.

But, just because KeePass is free, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the better choice. Although you have to pay to use Keeper, its plans are very reasonably priced and deliver exceptional security and impressive features, making it excellent value for money. Plus, there’s a limited free version and a trial.

Plan	Keeper	KeePass
Free	$0.00	$0.00
Personal	From $1.46/month	❌
Family	From $3.12/month	❌
Business	From $2.62/month	❌

Keeper pricing

For personal use, Keeper has two different price plans:

• Personal: From $1.46/month
• Family: From $3.12/month
• Business: From $2.62/month

If you’re the only user, Keeper’s personal plan should suit you perfectly. It comes with all the features you could want, including unlimited password storage, as well as payment protection, password sharing, and an autofill option. You can use the personal plan on unlimited devices, too, making it a cost-effective option at just $1.46/month.

Alternatively, if you want a password manager for more than one user, you’d be better off signing up for the Family Plan, which gives five users their own vault, meaning that each member can keep their passwords separate and private.

Plus, Keeper has a 30-day free trial and a limited free version. With its free trial, you get unlimited mobile device access, password storage, and up to 5 files of secure storage. With its free version, you can only get 1 mobile device access, password export, and 2FA.

If you’re running a business, Keeper offers three plans: Business Starter, Business, and Enterprise. The Starter offers such basics as encrypted vaults for every user, folders and subfolders, shared team folders, security audits, and basic 2FA. Users also get the Family plan for free.

If you opt for the Business plan, you also get Delegated Administration, Advanced Organizational Structure, and Share Admin features. Enterprise users additionally get access to advanced 2FA, SSO, Azure Integration, and Developer APIs, among other features.

To find out more about pricing and plans, visit our Keeper review.

KeePass pricing

KeePass is completely free to use. And it doesn’t make a difference how many plugins you add to it, it still won’t charge you anything.

Having said this, users are encouraged to make a donation to KeePass to “Support the development of the project”.

However, you should bear in mind that you‘ll have to pay if you want to use the premium features on some of the mobile apps. For example, once you’ve downloaded KeePass from the Google Play Store, you’ll have to pay $10 if you want to use a password generator on it.

To find out more about pricing and plans, visit our KeePass review.

Platforms, interface, and ease of use

Whenever you’re signing up for a digital service, it’s vital to make sure it’s easy to use and that it works well on your device, operating system, and browser. Interestingly, Keeper and KeePass perform very differently here. Keeper is extremely intuitive and has an excellent mobile app, desktop app, and browser extension.

KeePass, meanwhile, is difficult to navigate and doesn’t have a dedicated mobile app. Worse still, you can only use a browser extension with the help of a plugin.

	Keeper	KeePass
Supported OS	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
Browser extensions	Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Internet Explorer	Only with plugins
Number of users	Up to 5	Multiple

Desktop apps

We were really impressed with Keeper’s desktop app. It’s clean and intuitive and makes it straightforward to access your private vault, upload files, and adjust the settings. It separates things into useful sections, so everything is easy to navigate. And you can filter, edit, and create new entries without any faff.

KeePass, on the other hand, couldn’t be more different. Although it’s easy enough to set up, using it is less enjoyable. It uses open-source software, so if you’re very tech-savvy, you’ll be able to customize it and make it work the way you want. But if you’re new to password managers, you should probably opt for a different solution, as KeePass is not easy to use. The app itself is tricky to navigate, and many of the options you would need are hidden away.

Weighing both Keeper and KeePass up, Keeper is a far superior option because of its user-friendliness, modern interface, and usability.

Browser extensions

Keeper’s browser extension is yet another winner. It makes it simple to save and autofill passwords and payment information and makes it easy to search for specific passwords.

Signing into online accounts takes no time at all because Keeper auto-fills your credentials each time you go to log into any website. Best of all, it’s available on all the most popular browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera, and more.

As you might suspect, KeePass’ browser extension lags significantly behind Keeper’s. For one thing, KeePass doesn’t include a browser extension on its base product. Instead, you’ll need to download an additional plugin for your chosen browser. From here, you can configure it to autofill your passwords, although it’s not immediately obvious how to do this.

In short, choosing a winner in this area is a no-brainer.

Mobile apps

Although Keeper’s mobile app looks a little different from the desktop version, the good news is that it’s every bit as intuitive and user-friendly. It’s easy to locate the things you need, and you can perform almost all of the same features on the mobile app as you can on the desktop.

It’s available to download from the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. So you’ll have no issues getting it to work on Android or iOS.

KeePass, however, doesn’t have an official mobile app. Instead, you’ll need to find a reputable alternative in the form of a third-party app. In our experience, the best ones to try are KeePassDroid, KeePassMob, KeePass2Android, KeepShare Lite, and KeePass2Android Offline if you’re on Android. Or, if you use iOS, we’d recommend KeePassium, MiniKeePass, or Strongbox.

Given all this, Keeper is clearly way ahead of KeePass’ offering.

Customer support

Considering how important password security is, it can be extremely reassuring to choose a password manager that offers decent customer support. And this is yet another case where Keeper and KeePass’ offerings are radically different.

To help its customers, Keeper has an impressive range of customer support options. For one thing, all users get access to 24/7 support in the form of a ticket system. During our tests, we found that response times were quick and the customer support team was helpful and friendly.

On top of this, you can find detailed guides and FAQs on Keeper’s website, which should help you resolve a large percentage of common issues. It even has free technical support webinars and Q&A sessions.

By contrast, KeePass doesn’t have a customer support team, although, considering it’s a free service, it’s not a surprise. What it does have is an in-depth help section on its website and a forum where customers can assist each other.

All in all, while we don’t blame KeePass for not having the budget for a customer support team, Keeper’s offering in this category is infinitely more helpful.

Keeper vs KeePass – which one to choose?

Ultimately, when comparing Keeper vs KeePass, there can only be one winner. In almost every category, Keeper outperforms KeePass by some distance. It offers stronger security, more features, and it’s a lot easier to use.

Category	Keeper	KeePass
Security	✅	❌
Features	✅	❌
Plans and pricing	✅	✅
Ease of use	✅	❌
Compatibility	✅	❌
Customer support	✅	❌

But, despite the difference in performance, you shouldn’t discount KeePass. After all, it’s a completely free service that offers strong password protection, along with a good range of features and the option to increase functionality by adding in plugins.

But, for all this, KeePass is not user-friendly and can be very difficult to use, unless you’re tech-savvy and willing to donate time to play around with it to configure it the way you want.

If you’d like to learn about more alternatives, visit our best password managers guide.

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