Free Bitwarden alternatives

The best free Bitwarden alternative for most people is Proton Pass Free. It stores unlimited passwords on unlimited devices and adds 10 built-in email aliases. If you'd rather nothing touched a cloud, KeePassXC is free, offline and certified by France's ANSSI. If what you really want is Bitwarden without Bitwarden's servers, run Vaultwarden. For teams on a zero budget, look at Passbolt's Community Edition or Psono.

First, an honest point: Bitwarden's own free plan is already generous. The pricing page lists unlimited devices and passwords, apps on every platform, passkey storage and Send. It's also open source. The usual reasons to leave are that you want built-in TOTP without paying (Premium is $19.80 a year), more free sharing (Free allows one other user), no cloud at all, or a provider in a different jurisdiction. The picks below map to those reasons.

#At a glance

#Proton Pass (free tier)

Best for: people who want a hosted manager as easy as Bitwarden, with email aliases, from a Swiss provider.

Proton Free lists unlimited logins, notes and cards, unlimited devices, apps for browser, mobile and desktop (including Linux), passkeys, password-health alerts and 10 hide-my-email aliases. You get two vaults, each shareable with two other people. That's more free sharing than Bitwarden's one other user.

On security, Proton says vault items are encrypted with 256-bit AES-GCM, with vault keys protected by OpenPGP using Curve25519. It says metadata is encrypted too. Cure53 audited the Pass apps, extensions and API in May–June 2023, and Proton published the report. The apps are open source. Proton stresses its Swiss jurisdiction, which makes it the usual answer to "bitwarden alternative europe."

The catch: built-in TOTP, file attachments and emergency access are Pass Plus features, at $35.88 a year on a 12-month plan (USD, checked 29 September 2026). Bitwarden Premium is cheaper at $19.80. There's no self-hosted edition. The side-by-side is in Bitwarden vs Proton Pass.

#KeePassXC

Best for: one person who wants passwords entirely offline, with no account and no subscription.

KeePassXC is a free desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux. It keeps everything in one encrypted KDBX file on your own machine. Features Bitwarden charges for are free here, including TOTP codes and attachments. You also get browser integration with passkeys, an SSH agent and YubiKey challenge-response.

Its security record is strong for a volunteer project. KeePassXC 2.7.9 received an ANSSI CSPN Security Visa (17 November 2025, valid to November 2028), and an independent code review of 2.7.4 was published in January 2023.

The catch: there's no sync and no mobile app. You sync the file yourself, and on phones you use third-party apps the team recommends (KeePassDX or KeePass2Android on Android, Strongbox or KeePassium on iOS). Sharing with a family is awkward. And note the timing: the team says 2.7.x is affected by several low-to-moderate CVEs fixed in the 2.8.0 line, which is in beta as of 23 September 2026. See the KeePassXC profile for the sync how-to.

#Vaultwarden

Best for: people who like the Bitwarden apps but want to own the server, with premium-style features included.

Strictly, Vaultwarden replaces Bitwarden's server, not its apps. You keep the official Bitwarden extensions and mobile apps and point them at your own instance. Its feature list includes things Bitwarden reserves for paid plans, such as the TOTP authenticator, attachments, emergency access and organisations, with no licence file.

It is "not associated with Bitwarden or Bitwarden, Inc.," as its README says, so problems go to the community, not Bitwarden support. You're also responsible for HTTPS, updates and backups. Germany's BSI audited v1.30.3, and a 2024 penetration test by ERNW led to fixes in 1.32.5. Latest release: 1.37.3, 13 September 2026.

The catch: you're now running a password server. If that sounds like a chore, stick with a hosted option. Otherwise read Vaultwarden vs Bitwarden, which also covers Bitwarden's own lite self-hosting image.

#Passbolt Community Edition

Best for: teams that share credentials and want a free, self-hosted system built around sharing.

Passbolt CE is "Free forever" with unlimited users, and is open source under AGPLv3. It covers password management and sharing, private and shared folders, users and groups, role-based access control, browser extensions and a CLI, and an open API. Its comparison table ticks TOTP management, iOS and Android apps and a Windows desktop app for the Community Edition.

It's built on OpenPGP, and Passbolt says secrets are "encrypted on the client side and can only be decrypted by authorized users, not the server." It lists a full Cure53 audit from 2021 and later third-party reports, including a Pro Edition v5.4 pre-CSPN evaluation in November 2025. Latest server release: v5.16.0, 17 September 2026.

The catch: it's designed for teams rather than one person's vault, so it's heavier than you need for personal use. SSO and LDAP sync are in the paid Pro Edition ($4.90 per user per month billed annually, minimum 10 users).

#Psono

Best for: small companies that want a self-hosted password manager with business features and no bill at first.

Psono calls itself an "open-source, self-hosted password manager" for companies, available self-hosted or as SaaS. Its homepage says "All business features free up to 10 users." The server is Apache-2.0 licensed. Psono describes multi-layer encryption, starting with client-side encryption of vault data.

The catch: it's aimed at businesses more than households, and this page couldn't confirm client-platform details or a current release number from a primary source. Check Psono's documentation before you commit.

#Moving your vault out of Bitwarden

Bitwarden doesn't lock you in. Its export page lists four formats: plain .json, plain .csv, encrypted .json, and a .zip with attachments. The docs note the .zip option currently covers individual vault data only, not organisation vaults. Plain exports hold every password unencrypted, and Bitwarden advises against sending them over insecure channels and says to delete the file right after use.

Where the file goes next depends on the destination:

• Vaultwarden: the same Bitwarden apps work against both servers, so this is an export from one account and an import into the other.
• KeePassXC: it has a Bitwarden importer. Version 2.7.12 added support for nested folders in those imports.
• Proton Pass: "easy password import" is listed on every plan, including Free.
• Passbolt CE: its feature list includes import and export in KDBX and CSV.

Do the import on a machine you trust. Check that the entry count matches, and spot-check a few entries that have TOTP secrets or attachments. Then delete the export file securely. Keep your Bitwarden account until you've used the new manager for a few days.

#Which free alternative to choose

• Easiest switch from Bitwarden, and you want aliases: Proton Pass Free.
• No cloud, ever: KeePassXC.
• Keep the Bitwarden apps, but own the server: Vaultwarden.
• A team that shares a lot: Passbolt CE, or Psono if you're under 10 users and want its business features.
• On Linux: Proton Pass, KeePassXC and Bitwarden all have Linux desktop apps. See the best open-source password managers for the Linux-first view.

All the self-hosted options run in Docker, compared in the best self-hosted password managers.