Best password managers for teams and secure collaboration
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Modern businesses rely on numerous applications, servers, and online services for their daily operations. But not all of them practice enough digital hygiene to keep their passwords safe. Teams share them in emails, Slack messages, spreadsheets, and notebooks, creating unnecessary security and compliance risks.
Team password management tools can help teams move away from these dangerous habits. They give employees a central place to store and share passwords, with access controls and activity logs. You just have to pick the right one for your needs.
To help you narrow down your options, I researched the best password managers for teams, focusing on their features, ease of use, security, and flexibility in managing access across different working relationships. Below you’ll find my top 5 list, along with reviews.
Our in-house research team thoroughly analyzes password managers, and our team of experts uses the gathered insights and hands-on experience to evaluate each provider accordingly. Find out how we assess password managers.
Top 5 password managers for teams
- NordPass – best password manager for teams overall
- Keeper – great password manager for businesses in regulated industries
- 1Password – user-friendly vault-based password manager
- RoboForm – affordable password management for beginners
- Proton Pass – safe password manager for privacy-focused organizations
Why spreadsheets, notebooks, and Slack are not password managers
Although convenient, spreadsheets, messengers, and notebooks lack the features and tools needed to keep your company’s credentials safe.
- Exposed credentials. Passwords written in documents and messages are visible to anyone who can read them. Encryption at rest or in transit doesn't hide passwords from anyone who can read the document or conversation.
- Limited credential-level controls. Shared files and chat channels often lack granular permissions to properly protect sensitive details. Give access to one wrong intern or freelancer, and your cloud infrastructure, databases, and financial tools could be exposed.
- Incomplete credential audit trails. These tools don’t provide a reliable, centralized record of who viewed or used a password. Even Google Docs, which track all modifications, won’t show you who opened the file at 2:00 AM, copied a master password, and closed it without making changes.
- Lingering passwords. You can remove someone from the team, but not delete the password they’ve already copied. Former employees and partners often retain access to sensitive data because credentials can remain in old documents, saved copies, and message histories.
- Searchable chat history. Passwords shared in Slack can remain searchable long after a conversation ends. An attacker with access to one account may be a simple search away from compromising your entire digital infrastructure.
The best password managers for teams
A shared password vault works well for permanent, in-house teams, but can be restrictive when you need to grant temporary access to a freelancer, agency, or external partner. To facilitate collaborations, your password manager needs to be flexible and secure. After researching the top-rated password managers, these are my top 5 picks.
1. NordPass – best overall for flexible team collaboration
| Starting price: | $2.87/month/user (2-year plan) |
| Sharing model: | Peer-to-peer sharing, shared folders, and secure sharing via link |
| Admin visibility: | Central admin panel and Sharing Hub (in the Enterprise plan) |
| Ideal team type: | Small to growing businesses |
| Current deal: | Get NordPass business 20% off |
With a strong reputation, millions of users, and well-known NordVPN developers behind it, NordPass is my top choice for its team-focused features.
Instead of a rigid, shared vault structure, NordPass offers peer-to-peer sharing for direct, encrypted sharing between individuals. It also has shared folders with nested subfolders for organizing credentials by team, client, or project. Plus, it supports secure sharing via link, which lets you give partners and freelancers temporary access without endangering your systems by adding them as full members.
Among many NordPass features, the Sharing Hub is the standout for me. It gives organization owners a clear overview of who can access shared credentials. It speeds up employee offboarding and improves security by bringing permissions together in one place for easy review and revocation.
Of course, advanced features are locked behind upper-tier plans. For instance, Sharing Hub is available only with the Enterprise plan, which costs $4.31/month/user. On the other hand, if you need safe password sharing, user activity monitoring, MFA protection, SSO logins, and all the core basics for no less than 10 users, the Teams plan’s 10-user packs for $1.79/month/user might be enough.
2. Keeper – strong choice for businesses in regulated sectors
| Starting price: | $7.00/month/user (1-year plan) |
| Sharing model: | Shared folders, direct file sharing, custom team sharing, one-time share links |
| Admin visibility: | Centralized admin console |
| Ideal team type: | Businesses with static internal hierarchies |
| Current deal: | Limited-Time offer! Get 50% OFF Keeper Personal and Family plans |
Keeper is another leader in team password management, with a massive user base and a zero-knowledge architecture. Its granular access controls and compliance features make it a strong option for organizations in regulated industries.
Users can share records directly with selected coworkers, with view-only, edit, or share access. At the same time, admins can create Keeper Teams and assign them to shared folders for automated onboarding and offboarding. Keeper also supports automated user provisioning through identity-provider integrations and provides audit logs for activity monitoring and compliance reviews.
I was most impressed with the One-Time-Share feature, which lets you create encrypted links for specific credentials. You can send them via email, QR codes, or AirDrop, even to non-Keeper users, while restricting access to one device and setting an expiration date.
On the downside, Keeper's shared folders and role permissions may be too rigid to support fast and ongoing external sharing with freelancers or agencies. That said, the starting price of $7.00/month/user is a great option for many teams. To learn more, check out our full Keeper review.
3. 1Password – intuitive vault-based password manager
| Starting price: | $8.99/month/user (1-year plan) |
| Sharing model: | Vault-based with granular permissions |
| Admin visibility: | Centralized user and access management |
| Ideal team type: | Smaller teams and startups learning the ropes |
| Current deal: | Get 1Password, now up to 50% OFF |
Among other things, 1Password made it into my list of 5 best password managers for teams because of its ease of use.
As detailed in our 1Password review, it lets you organize credentials into vaults you can create for different projects, clients, or departments. Administrators can control who accesses each vault as responsibilities change, with instant invitations and offboarding, and transfer data securely with automatic vault syncing.
Other features that make 1Password intuitive include browser extensions and autofill, which simplify daily access to shared accounts, as well as Watchtower, which flags weak, reused, or compromised passwords. The tool also works on devices like smartwatches and offers a well-designed mobile app for easy on-the-go use.
However, its vault-based system isn’t as flexible as a folder-and-subfolder model, especially if your business has many external collaborators who change frequently. It’s also not the most affordable, charging $8.99/month per user in a team of 10.
4. RoboForm – cost-effective password management for beginners
| Starting price: | $3.33/month/month (1-year plan) |
| Sharing model: | Folder and group-based sharing |
| Admin visibility: | Centralized admin console |
| Ideal team type: | Newbies with a smaller budget |
| Current deal: | Get RoboForm, save up to 64% |
If you’re new to password managers and want a budget-friendly solution, RoboForm is a great choice. It offers everything a business needs from a password manager, starting at $3.33/user/month with no minimum seat requirement and support for teams of 10,000+ users.
RoboForm relies on shared folders for secure credential sharing among employees and on company groups to assign shared items and policies to specific groups. The former uses tiered permissions, and the latter role-based permissions for access control.
Its centralized admin console simplifies user onboarding, group management, and security policy enforcement, while built-in tutorials and 24/7 priority support help teams get started and resolve issues.
Where RoboForm lags behind its competitors is external sharing, as you have to be a registered user to access shared folders. It would also benefit from an interface update, as its dashboard can feel clunky compared to NordPass or 1Password. Check out our full RoboForm review to learn more.
5. Proton Pass – secure choice for privacy-conscious organizations
| Starting price: | $2.79/month/user (billed annually) |
| Sharing model: | Vault, item, and link sharing |
| Admin visibility: | Centralized admin panel |
| Ideal team type: | Privacy-focused teams with experience with password managers |
| Current deal: | Get ProtonPass, now up to 60% OFF! |
Like NordPass, Proton Pass comes from a well-known VPN provider and offers a full ecosystem for business management. But its approach to cyber privacy is what earned it a spot on my top list.
Proton Pass’s end-to-end 256-bit encryption masks credentials before they reach the cloud, the vault with group-level sharing keeps them accessible yet protected, and the admin panel offers control over permissions and insight into activity.
Pass Monitor flags weak or reused passwords and monitors for credential leaks, while Proton Sentinel helps detect and block account-takeover attempts. The provider also makes its app code publicly available and publishes independent security audits, letting privacy-conscious organizations verify its safety claims.
Our Proton Pass review showed that it supports external sharing through secure links, although its vault-based organization may not suit every team’s workflow. It also locks many group-focused features, like group sharing and management, behind Pass Professional Plans, so you have to upgrade and pay extra right off the bat. That said, the entry point of $1.99/month/user is quite attractive considering the sheer value for money.
Password manager comparison table
For a quick overview of the best password managers for teams and their features, check out the table below.
| Provider | Best for | Sharing flexibility | External collaborator support | Admin visibility | Offboarding ease |
| NordPass | Teams overall | Excellent, works for internal and external sharing | Shared folders, peer-to-peer sharing, and secure links | Centralized admin panel and Sharing Hub | In-depth admin-controlled access, and post-offboarding credentials transfer to an active user (shared and non-shared) |
| Keeper | Businesses with static internal hierarchies | Solid, but may be too rigid for external collaboration | Shared folders, direct sharing, and One-Time Share links | Centralized admin console | Shared-folder permissions and team membership access control |
| 1Password | Smaller teams and startups learning the ropes | Good for internal sharing | Vault guest account support and item sharing links | Centralized user and access management | Admin-controlled user suspensions and vault access |
| RoboForm | Newbies with a smaller budget | Solid, but requires registration | Folder and item-sharing, less access control | Centralized admin panel | Admin-controlled user suspensions |
| Proton Pass | Privacy-focused teams with experience with password managers | Good for internal sharing | Vault and item sharing, plus secure links for non-users | Centralized admin panel | Admin-controlled access on a vault level |
How secure password sharing should actually work
Secure password sharing should help you protect your sensitive information with ease. It should also seamlessly fit into your team’s life.
For instance, if you work on many short-term projects with different clients and bring in freelancers, you might need help managing credentials and access accordingly.
Features like NordPass’s peer-to-peer sharing and secure links make sense, because they let you collaborate without adding third parties to your permanent shared setup.
On the other hand, if your business maintains longer or ongoing collaborations, shared folders will be more useful. You can organize credentials by client, project, or team while keeping access aligned with each person’s responsibilities.
There are solutions that can make offboarding easier, too. You won’t waste time trying to track down credentials scattered across different chats and channels. With NordPass Enterprise, organization owners can use Sharing Hub to see and manage credentials at the offboarding stage, and Item Transfer, which is available in all Business plans, to reassign their stored credentials to an active member seamlessly.
You don’t have to search specifically for a password manager for remote teams or external collaboration, as all you need is flexible sharing features. They may not look like much at first glance, but they can make a world of difference for daily workflow and security.
Internal vs external collaboration: why flexibility matters
Internal collaboration involves working with your teammates within the company, while external collaboration extends to freelancers, agencies, and clients. Your business relationships and the time and capacity in which you work together differ, and the tools you use should serve these differences.
Internal employees need ongoing access to folders and resources, while external collaborators need access only for the duration of their work. Shared vaults can support both groups, but external collaborators should receive access only to the credentials they need. Granting access to an entire vault may expose more sensitive information than necessary and put your business at risk.
In contrast, shared folders with nested subfolders and granular access control can help you share only the credentials you need and withdraw access when the project ends. This way, collaboration remains organized and efficient without the security risks that come with unnecessary exposure.
How to choose the right password manager for your team
To choose the right password manager for your team, think about your employees’ day-to-day workflow.
- Is external collaboration an integral part of your business? You don’t have to look for a password manager for agencies and freelancers. Any password manager for business collaboration of this type needs to offer granular permissions, guest access, or secure sharing links that fit your workflow.
- Do you manage credentials for multiple clients or projects? If so, nested folders can help keep logins organized and prevent access from overlapping unnecessarily.
- Are your admins wasting time looking for information about shared items, activity logs, and permissions? Look for password managers with centralized admin panels or consoles, which make reviewing access and spotting unnecessary permissions easier and faster.
- How much time can your team dedicate to onboarding and offboarding? If your team is large, remote, or has high turnover, choose a tool that makes it easy to assign permissions, adjust access, and revoke it when someone leaves or a project ends.
Conclusion
The password manager you pick for your team should fit into the way you work. If you tend to outsource or work with people outside your core team, you need a flexible option that supports external collaboration. That’s why my top choice is NordPass.
NordPass’s shared-folder system, with features like peer-to-peer sharing and Sharing Hub, solves problems more rigid, vault-based competitors can’t, while still offering the oversight needed to keep credentials secure.
FAQ
What is the best password manager for teams?
NordPass is the best password manager for teams. Its shared-folder system is flexible enough for external collaboration, while peer-to-peer sharing, secure links, and Sharing Hub make managing credentials simpler and safer.
Why shouldn't teams share passwords in spreadsheets or Slack?
Teams shouldn’t share passwords in spreadsheets or Slack because these tools aren’t designed for credential-level access management and offboarding. Passwords can linger, and credentials can get exposed, putting your business infrastructure at risk.
How does secure password sharing work for freelancers or agencies?
Secure password sharing lets teams give freelancers or agencies access to specific credentials through scoped permissions or secure links, rather than exposing the whole vault.
What happens to shared passwords when an employee leaves?
When an employee leaves, revoke their password manager access and change any shared passwords they could have copied. Reviewing shared items and permissions helps identify which credentials need changing.
Are shared vaults the best way for teams to collaborate?
Shared vaults can offer a great way for teams to collaborate internally since they provide easy access to important credentials. For external collaborators, use a dedicated vault containing only relevant credentials or an individual-item sharing link rather than granting access to a broader team vault.
