Best password managers for families (2023)
-
Aurelija Tomkevičiūtė
Writer
Password managers for families can strongly boost online safety in the household. Considering the number of passwords we use across the whole family, becoming a victim of identity theft is easy. After all, we tend to use the same password as family members for multiple accounts and share logins via unprotected platforms. And each of these cases begs for the multi-user password manager to be in action.
A robust family password manager allows multiple users to link their individual accounts and share their passwords securely without having to worry about anyone else seeing them. Moreover, password managers autofill your passwords for you, eliminating the possibility of getting exposed or having to recover accounts.
Nevertheless, only a handful of password managers offer good conditions for families. Hence, we have tested and selected the best family password managers that protect the most users with one subscription, offer top-notch security features, and are easy to use, among other criteria. Read on, and find the best password manager for families in 2023.
The best password managers for families in 2023
- NordPass – best password manager for families overall
- RoboForm – password manager for budget-conscious families
- 1Password – excellent password manager for parents
- Keeper – password manager for young families
- Dashlane – password manager for large households
🔥 LIMITED OFFER: Cyber Monday! Get NordPass, now 58% OFF and 4 months FREE!
Multi-user and family password managers – our detailed list
To curate this detailed list of the best ones for families, we examined 15 reputable password manager providers and looked into their conditions for family plans, applied security measures, functionality, and price-to-quality ratio. Find the top picks for the household right below.
1. NordPass – the best family password manager overall
| Rating: | |
| Price: | from $1.24/month |
| Free version: | Yes |
| Platforms: | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS |
| Current deal: | Get NordPass, now 58% OFF |
NordPass is the best family password manager as it uses the three times faster, new generation XChaCha20 encryption protocol and offers multi-user-focused set of features.
Accounts and compatibility. It is the perfect password manager for families and couples because it allows up to six users to connect to its family plan, which is more than the majority of providers offer. Each member can store unlimited passwords and access them on unlimited devices. The app is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and you can also get the extension on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Brave, Vivaldi, and Edge browsers.
Family plan features. With NordPass family, you can securely share your passwords with just a few clicks via email with even non-users of the service. There is also a feature for trusted contacts that prevents man-in-the-middle attacks and creates an encrypted connection with selected people. In case something bad happens, your family members can use the emergency access to the vault. Plus, you can manage family plan members right throught the app. And the NordPass family plan allows for any of its users to recover a fellow member’s account easily, without the need of customer support. Finally, the protection applies not only for your passwords, you and your family can also store other sensitive information, such as credit card details, notes, and files, among others.
Security and privacy. NordPass uses state-of-the-art XChaCha20 encryption to ensure unbreakable protection. It strengthens it with a unique master password and multi-factor authentication. Additionally, it applies a zero-knowledge architecture, guaranteeing complete privacy. The provider has also been independently audited by companies, like Cure53, regarding the security of the apps and privacy policy.
Overall, NordPass offers everything you might need from a multi-user password manager, except for storage space, unless you purchase NordLocker, too. Nevertheless, the provider is affordable, starting at $2.68/month, and comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Read our Nordpass review to find out more.
2. RoboForm – affordable multi-user password manager
| Rating: | |
| Price: | From $0.99 a month |
| Free version: | Yes |
| Platforms: | Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux |
| Current deal: | Cyber Monday! Get RoboForm, save up to 50% |
RoboForm is the most budget-friendly password manager for a family. Its family subscription includes separate accounts for every plan member, and sharing passwords or other sensitive information is extremely easy.
Accounts and compatibility. With a single Roboform family subscription, you can protect up to five family members or friends. Each user will be able to store unlimited passwords and sync them across unlimited devices. The password manager has apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, plus the browser extensions are availble on Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Microsoft Edge, and Safari.
Family plan features. RoboForm has a great feature for keeping track of credentials. It’s called Safenotes and it lets your family store not only logins, but also credit card info, addresses, phone numbers and anything else you deem worthy of top tier protection. If somehow any of your info goes missing, this multi-user password manager offers back-up cloud storage that allows you to seamlessly recover any lost logins. With RoboForm, you can also organise your passwords in folders, bookmark those you use most often, and each family member can build up to two shared folders. But shared folders isn’t the only way to mutually use passwords, you can also make one-time secure login shares. And if something happens to you or your beloved one, there’s an emergency access, allowing you to connect to the vault of another plan member.
Security and privacy. RoboForm uses the market-leading encryption cipher along with two-factor authentication to protect your passwords from snoopers. The Security Centre will help you monitor the safety of your family’s currently used passwords and it will inform you about potential threats. Finally, the provider has been independently audited and approved as a secure family password manager.
Putting it all together, RoboForm is an all-around password management tool for the whole family. But most importantly, it’s affordable, costing from $2.32/month, and having a 30-day money-back guarantee on the side.
To find out more, read our RoboForm review.
3. 1Password – top-notch password manager for parents
| Rating: | |
| Price: | from $2.99/month |
| Free version: | No |
| Platforms: | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS |
| Current deal: | 50% OFF for Families |
1Password is the best password manager for parents that want to ensure their children’s passwords are strong and protected to avoid any accidental personal data leaks while, for example, playing games.
Accounts and compatibility. Besides allowing up to five users to connect and manage their own private vaults, this password manager has apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS, and browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, and Safari. What’s great is that every subscription member can secure unlimited passwords and access them on as many devices as needed.
Family plan features. This password manager has a parental control feature. The feature allows the managing parent, or the owner of the subscription, to manage different members’ access to different shared vaults. To add to that, the 1Password family plan grants storage space of 1GB per subscription. Every family plan member will be able to store not only their passwords but also other sensitive information, such as credit card details or addresses, and share them along with passwords. And this multi-user password manager allows recovering accounts and even recently deleted passwords.
Security and privacy. 1Password uses AES-256 encryption together with its 34-character Secret Keys to build the base and main protection layer for your family’s passwords. You also get U2F key-based MFA, and the company follows the zero-knowledge policy, ensuring there’s no snooping around your data, even from the password manager’s side.
All in all, 1Password family password manager is a robust option for users of all ages. The price starts from only $4.99/month, and your family can also test the service using a 30-day money-back guarantee.
If you want to know more, take a look at our 1Password review.
4. Keeper – password manager with the biggest storage space
| Rating: | |
| Price: | from $1.46/month |
| Free version: | No |
| Platforms: | Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS |
| Current deal: | Cyber Monday! Get 50% OFF Keeper Unlimited and Family plans! |
With a large storage space and robust security features, Keeper is an excellent password manager for young families. The provider helps you supervise your sensitive data even if your family is a huge technology fan.
Accounts and compatibility. Keeper’s family plan includes 5 private vaults for 5 different users. Without exception, each member can protect as many logins as they wish and access them on unlimited devices. The app availability doesn’t limit your safety too, as you can use Keeper on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. Not to mention browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Edge, and even Internet Explorer.
Family plan features. Sharing passwords between the vaults is a matter of just a few clicks. And all of the passwords – shared or not – get double encrypted locally on your device. This multi-user password manager also has all of your backup information stored in a cloud, which makes for easy password recovery. Moreso, you can designate up to five people who access your account in case of emergency. But probably the best Keeper’s feature, though, is the insanely big storage capacity. Keeper’s family plan offers up to 10GB of storage space per subscription, meaning that you and your family members can store all kinds of big files on your account. Apart from that, Keeper helps you autofill passwords on both websites and apps, allowing your family, even children, avoid losing various accounts.
Security and privacy. Keeper does it all to ensure durable protection for your family’s passwords. The encryption cipher it uses is trusted even by governmental institutions. The provider supports a few different 2FA methods, adding an extra layer of safety. There’s also a Self-destruct feature, that automatically erases all stored data from the vault. Plus, the provider has been independently audited at least a couple of times and is compliant with ISO 27001 standards, proving its high-end security.
All in all, Keeper is a truly flexible password manager for families, focusing on various types of sensitive data that need to be protected. Its starting price for a family is $3.12/month, and you also get a 30-day free trial.
For more information, check out our Keeper review.
5. Dashlane – excellent password manager for large families
| Rating: | |
| Price: | from $3.75/month |
| Free version: | Yes |
| Platforms: | Windows, macOS, Android, iOS |
| Current deal: | Cyber Monday! Get Dashlane, save up to 25%! |
Dashlane is one of the top password manager choices for large families. With a single subscription, you are allowed to protect more than 5 family members, using top-notch security features.
Accounts and compatibility. Dashlane’s plan for families and friends allows 10 members to join, not including the buyer, and each person gets unlimited storage space on their individual accounts. This gives your family an opportunity to store sensitive shared files, such as insurance or birth certificates. Unfortunately, unlike the majority multi-user password managers, Dashlane doesn’t have desktop apps for Windows, macOS, nor Linux. Although this might seem like an issue to elders, the provider maintains its user-friendliness on the browser version, which is available on Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, and Edge, as well as mobile apps for Android and iPhone.
Family plan features. Dashlane makes it easy for password sharing – just type in the email address associated with the account you want to share a password with, and it gets sent to them right away. 1GB of encrypted storage allows your family to securely store sensitive notes. And if you’re worried about someone intercepting the emails of your family, worry no more, because every password sent from Dashlane is encrypted along the way. Furthermore, if someone loses their Dashlane login information, a family plan is a great help in recovering the account. Any member of the family plan can recover another member’s account with just a few clicks, ensuring that no one ever gets locked out and loses their data. Plus, there’s a dashboard for family and friends that allows managing the family plan whenever you like.
Security and privacy. This family password manager aims to provide your household with the finest online protection. Therefore, it uses industry-leading encryption, biometrics, and 2FA, all of which guarantee a robust security layer. What’s unique is that there’s also a built-in VPN. Yet, it’s only available for the family plan admin, so the rest of the household should look for a robust VPN somewhere else. On the bright side, Dashlane has successfully gone through independent security and privacy audits.
If you have a big and happy family, that’s more than okay with Dashlane, which secures 10 people simultaneously. The starting price is $5.62/month, and you also get a 30-day money-back guarantee.
If you want to know more, check out our Dashlane review.
How we selected and tested these password managers
To present to you only the best password manager options, we did some extensive research and testing. If you’re curious about the criteria used to determine which password managers are the best for families and couples, take a look at some features we looked into:
- Number of users allowed per one subscription. The more the merrier, right? If at least five or more people can be added to the family plan, the password manager becomes a contender for the first place on our list.
- Storage space. There should be enough space for all family plan members to store their personal information. 1GB for a family is a bit tight, but 5GB per person is the sight we like to see more.
- Family-focused features. As a multi-user password manager, the service should include certain features to ease your family’s way to a secure browsing experience. Hence, we looked and tested for functionalities, such as secure password sharing, shared folders, family plan control panel, emergency access, parental controls, and such.
- Account recovery. If anyone from your family plan forgets their master password, you can save them by easily recovering their account.
- Security. As safety of your private information is the key concern of any security focused product, password managers should have at least military-grade AES 256-bit encryption.
- Price. The best service for the best price. It’s really as simple as that.
Best family password managers compared
| NordPass | RoboForm | 1Password | Keeper | Dashlane | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand |  |  |  |  |  |
| Rating | |||||
| Free version | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Family plan price | from $2.68/month | from $2.32/month | from $4.99/month | from $3.12/month | from $5.62/month |
| Encrypted storage | 3 GB (with NordLocker app) | No | 1 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| 2FA authentication | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Form fill | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Password generator | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Password sharing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
How to choose the best family password manager
If the password manager doesn’t suit your and your family’s needs, being on top of some list doesn’t really matter anymore. That’s why, when choosing a password manager to use with your family, you should look for the one that has the features you need.
- Check how many users one subscription allows. It’s important that no one is left out of the loop when passwords are updated, created, and deleted. Everyone in a family or friend group needs to have access to the most important information.
- Evaluate the capacity of the storage space. If you all can do it with only 1GB, that’s perfectly fine. If you need more space, don’t compromise, and look for a password manager that has enough.
- Ensure the app is user-friendly. Everyone in your family should be able to navigate the password manager with ease, no matter their level of experience with this particular technology.
- Check if there are any extra features. Password sharing, account recovery, travel mode, and features as such create an additional security layer for your family’s data.
- Look at the price tag. If it’s within your budget and the password manager has everything your family needs, then go for it and enjoy all-rounded protection of your family’s passwords.
Overall, a family password manager should combine robust protection with simplicity. The fact that the service should work for children as well as for elders doesn’t allow for ignoring any sign of complexity in the app. Similarly, unbreakable security is a must, as children these days are advanced in technology yet not conscious enough to stay aware of cyber threats.
Why is sharing passwords bad?
Sharing passwords with your family or friends may be one of the main data breach reasons. When you decide to split an online account with someone, the responsibility of protecting sensitive data falls on other people's shoulders too.
First of all, family members, friends, or colleagues receive access to your online profile and can make changes to it without your consent. This may result in exposed information, loss of a password, or even financial issues. Plus, the relationship status may change with time, increasing the possibility of data violation.
It’s no secret that shared passwords are also easier to compromise for hackers. As passwords get reused or stored improperly, leaving a gap for a cybercriminal to sneak in is very likely.
However, sharing passwords from time to time is necessary. Luckily, you can do it securely using multi-user password managers, such as NordPass, which offers a secure sharing feature. With it, your shared passwords remain encrypted, and you don’t need to paste them into unprotected chats.
What is a family (multi-user) password manager?
Password managers for families focus on multiple user protection instead of a single one. Thus, there are certain features that can’t be found in individual plans. Let’s explore them right below:
- The main vault – although this might seem nothing different from what individual users get, with multi-user password managers each family member receive their encrypted vaults seperately.
- Shared folders – this is where a real difference can be noticed. The majority of family password managers allow all subscription members to create shared vaults where commonly used logins are stored.
- Permission controls – for families with children, permission controls comes in handy when parents want to limit access to certain websites for their kids.
- Secure sharing – to help avoid data breaches, family password managers include the secure sharing functionality which allows families to share passwords safely.
- Emergency access – in case something happens to your family member, multi-user password manager allows you to access their vault without their permission needed.
- Account recovery – it’s possible that not every family member can responsibly manage their password manager account to the fullest extent and they may forget password to the vault. Therefore, you get the account recovery feature, allowing you to help regain access to the vault for a family member.
Why do I need a password manager for my family?
Having a password manager is generally a good practice in today’s highly digital world. In our humble opinion, upgrading your sole user plan to a family plan may be even better.
Just like sharing one Netflix subscription with all your family members or close friends, sharing a password manager is just as beneficial. Having a password manager in your family will provide you with a safe and secure way to share the most sensitive information, like bank account details, passwords to different security services, addresses, or phone numbers.
Not only does a password manager help with sharing passwords – it also ensures your family’s security and safety online. A family plan subscription also makes for easy recovery if anyone from your closest circle loses their logins or other important data.
Are there any free password manager family plans?
It is well known that most good password managers have free versions with the most basic features, and an option to upgrade to a paid subscription. However, free versions are usually contained to one user per subscription only.
Unfortunately, there are no free password manager family plans which allow for more than one user per subscription. But worry not, because all password managers on our list have very agreeable and reasonable prices for family plans, so it won’t hurt your wallet that much.
Take a look at our list and choose the one password manager which best suits your family’s needs.
Final thoughts
As established by now, family password managers can really make everyone’s lives easier by allowing them to effortlessly share passwords and other information between family members or friends.
The best password managers for families are the ones that allow multiple people to use one subscription, offer simple and understandable password sharing features, and have storage space that’s big enough for everyone joining the plan.
On our best password managers for families list, you’ll find NordPass as the best, soon followed by 1Password and RoboForm. We hope this list helps you choose a password manager for your closest family or friend circle. If you have any questions, write to us in the comments, and we’ll be sure to get back to you.
FAQ
What is the best password manager for a family?
According to our list, the best password manager for a family is NordPass. It allows 6 people per subscription and uses the fast and secure XChaCha20 encryption. If you’re looking for a password manager to use with your family, NordPass would be your best choice.
Which is the most secure password manager?
As security is the most important part of any password manager, we test it thoroughly when curating our lists of the best password managers. The ones that we place at the top are the most secure, namely NordPass, RoboForm, and Keeper.
What is the best way to share passwords with family?
Sharing passwords with family can be a bit of a hassle, but this is where password managers come into play. The best password managers have family plans included, so all of your family members’ passwords can easily be managed through one subscription. Take a look at our list of the best password managers for families and choose your favorite.
Is NordPass good for families?
Yes, NordPass is one of the best password managers for families and single users alike. With the NordPass family subscription plan you can collectively manage passwords of up to 6 persons. We highly recommend NordPass as your go-to password manager for families.
Can 2 people share a password manager?
Yes, 2 people can share a password manager when subscribing to a family plan. Although some password managers allow storing unlimited passwords and syncing them across multiple devices, there’s only a single password vault. Hence, a couple of users should use a multi-user password manager that allows having separate vaults.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are markedmarked