Bitwarden Review (Features, Pricing & Ease of Use)

Key Features

Bitwarden is a robust open-source password manager that offers a wealth of features to simplify and secure your digital life. As someone who has used Bitwarden extensively, I can attest to its effectiveness in managing passwords across various platforms. Let’s dive into the key features that make Bitwarden stand out:

Ease of Use

While many open-source applications can be complex, Bitwarden breaks the mold with its user-friendly interface. In my experience, the learning curve is gentle, even for those new to password managers. The app provides clear guidance and intuitive navigation, making it accessible to users of all technical levels.

Master Password

The cornerstone of Bitwarden’s security is the master password. When setting up your account, you’ll create this crucial password. It’s essential to choose a strong, unique master password that you can remember but others can’t guess.

I’ve found that using a passphrase – a string of random words – works well. For example, “correct horse battery staple” is both memorable and secure. Remember, this master password is your key to accessing all your other passwords, so its strength is paramount.

If you need to change your master password, it’s a straightforward process:

1. Log into your Bitwarden Web Vault
2. Navigate to Settings
3. Scroll to Account
4. Select Change Master Password

A word of caution from personal experience: if you forget your master password, there’s no way to recover it. Bitwarden’s zero-knowledge encryption means even they can’t access your vault. In this case, you’d need to delete your account and start over. To avoid this, consider using a password hint that only you would understand.

Signing Up To Bitwarden

The sign-up process for Bitwarden is refreshingly simple. You have three options:

1. Login: For existing users
2. Sign up: For new individual users
3. Enterprise sign-on: For organizational users (you’ll need credentials from your organization)

I found the mobile sign-up process particularly smooth. After creating your account on your phone, you can easily extend it to your desktop by following the email link Bitwarden sends you.

For optimal convenience, I highly recommend installing the Bitwarden browser extension. It integrates seamlessly with your browsing experience, auto-filling passwords and suggesting strong new ones when you create accounts.

Fingerprint Phrase

A unique security feature of Bitwarden is the fingerprint phrase. This is a set of five hyphenated words assigned to your account, such as “table-lion-minister-bottle-violet”.

I’ve found this feature particularly useful when verifying my account during sensitive operations. It adds an extra layer of security, especially during account sharing or when adding users to an enterprise account.

Wide Range for Compatibility

Bitwarden’s versatility is one of its strongest suits. It’s available in three versions:

1. Web app
2. Desktop app
3. Browser extension

In my day-to-day use, I find the web app most convenient. It offers full functionality without requiring installation, including two-factor authentication, organizational tools, and detailed reports.

Bitwarden is compatible with all major operating systems (Windows, macOS, Android, Linux) and browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera, and more). This broad compatibility ensures you can access your passwords securely from virtually any device or platform.

Bitwarden’s combination of robust security features, ease of use, and wide compatibility make it an excellent choice for both individual users and organizations. Its open-source nature provides transparency and constant improvement, while its user-friendly design ensures that even those new to password managers can quickly secure their digital lives.

Password Management

Password management is the key feature of Bitwarden. So free and premium users both get to reap its full benefits. Here’s how you do it. 

Adding/importing passwords

You can add new items (accounts and passwords) into your Vault by using both the web version and the mobile app version of this password manager. On the top right corner of the interface, you will see a ➕. Click on that, and you will see a form like this. Fill it up with relevant information, and then save your input. 

Add all your accounts to the Vault. You can also add other items here by clicking on the drop-down menu under ‘What type of item is this?‘ and add what you need. Your other options are – cards, identity, and secure notes.  

Generating Passwords

Predictable, weak, and reused passwords are a high-risk liability. But with Bitwarden’s help, you don’t have to go through the enormous effort of coming up with a memorable master password. It requires zero effort to use the secure password generator to come up with strict passwords that are completely random. 

To get access to the password generator, enter Bitwarden through your mobile app or browser extension. Click on Generator to create new passwords that are completely uncrackable due to their randomness. 

Customizable options are the same with the paid password manager and its free version. Take advantage of those — change the default password length, use the toggle switches to enable/disable certain characters, do whatever you want. 

And don’t worry about remembering this crazy password you created because Bitwarden will save it in the Vault for you.  

Form Filling

With Bitwarden, you don’t just autofill passwords, but you can fill forms as well! 

But let us first mention that although form filling is a free feature, it’s not available on all versions of Bitwarden. You can utilize form fillings only through the browser extension of this app. 

The happy news is that form filling will add even more convenience to your life because of how seamlessly it works. Make your online dealings much easier by using Bitwarden to log in information from your cards and identities when creating new accounts on new platforms, doing transactions, and so on. 

Auto Filling Passwords

Enable your Autofill by going into the settings of your phone. Once it is enabled, Bitwarden will fill in your saved passwords for you. No typing is necessary as long as autofill is enabled on the browser extensions.

We love this feature because it makes our logins effortless. Try it out! It’s one of the key features of this great password manager.

On your phone, go to Settings > Passwords > Autofill Passwords. Make sure that Autofill Passwords is enabled. Then click on Bitwarden to enable Bitwarden’s Autofill to help you out. You will get a pop-up like this: 

Security and Privacy

Most password managers use the same encryption for data and passwords. But Bitwarden password manager is different.

Zero Knowledge Architecture

In cryptography applications, zero-knowledge is one of the most sophisticated systems of security. It is used in a fascinating range in fields of nuclear science to the protection of transactions through blockchain networks. 

It is an encryption method that basically makes sure that none of your service providers know what data is being stored or transferred through Bitwarden’s servers. This creates a safe channel for all your sensitive information, thus making it impossible for hackers to gain control of your accounts. 

However, this zero-knowledge password manager has one drawback — if you consider it so. 

Since it doesn’t allow any mid-level storage of your data, if you lose or forget your unique password once then, there is no way to recover it. You cannot gain access to your Vault in any way without the password. In the case that you forget this password, you will be locked out of your account and will need to delete it. 

Password Hashing

Every message you send and receive has a unique code. Hashing a password or code means scrambling it to make it completely random and illegible. 

Bitwarden uses its encryption technology to scramble the code for every message/data so that it turns into a set of random digits and letters before being sent out into servers. There is no practical way to reverse the scrambled data without the master password.  

Many people say that a brute force search can reveal possible combinations of the code and thus help to unscramble data. However, this is not possible with Bitwarden because of the robust AES-CBC and PBKDF2 SHA-256 encryption that guards its gates. 

ENEE AES-CBC 256-bit Encryption

AES-CBC is considered to be unbreakable even for brute force searches. Bitwarden uses its technology to protect the information in the Vault. This is a standard cryptographic system used at government levels to secure the most endangered data. 

The key length for AES is 256 bits. 14 rounds of transformation on 256 bits create a large range of practically impossible ciphertexts to guess. Thus, it becomes resistant to brute force as well. 

In order to reverse the large transformation on the ciphertext and make the text legible to an end-user, a unique password is required. This is how this end-to-end encryption protects data during transit. While at rest, the data remains ciphered until a password is put in to open the lock for the text to be unscrambled. 

PBKDF2 – Decrypts Encrypted Message by Using Your Master Password

Bitwarden uses one-way hash functions to secure the encrypted message a second time before storing it in the database. PBKDF2 then uses iterations from the receiver’s end and meshes that with the iterations on Bitwarden servers in order to reveal the message via a unique organizational key that is shared via RSA 2048. 

And due to the single-ended hash function on the message, they cannot be reversed or cracked by third-party software. There is no other way to decrypt the message through PBKDF2 except by using the unique password. 

MFA/2FA

2FA or two-factor authentication is a recovery method that ensures the safety of your account even if your unique password gets leaked in some way. 

Bitwarden gives you five choices in 2FA. Two of these options are available in Bitwarden’s free tier – authenticator app and email verification. The other three are only available to premium users. 

So, premium 2FA options are Yubikey OTP Security Key, Duo, and FIDO2 WebAuthn. To find these options go into the web version of Bitwarden. From there go to Settings > Two-Step Login and follow instructions. 

We recommend that you enable 2FA because that will tighten up your security parameters.  

Security Compliance

The main function of Bitwarden is to protect your data and privacy. For Bitwarden to get clearance on asking and storing your data, it had to be compliant with some standard rules set by the industry.

GDPR Compliance

GDPR compliance is one of the most important clearances that all password managers have to acquire before commencing operations. It is a set of legal structures that set guidelines on the act of collecting and processing such delicate data from people in the EU. 

Bitwarden also has compliance with EU SCCs, which ensures that your data will be protected even when it leaves the EEA and from the jurisdiction of the GDPR. So basically, this means that they will protect your data in EU and non-EU countries simultaneously. 

Along with GDPR compliance, Bitwarden also has HIPAA compliance, Privacy Shield with EU-U.S. and Swiss-U.S. Frameworks, and CCPA. 

Several third-party users have audited their open-source network of Bitwarden in security and penetration tests, and there have been several security audits and cryptographic analysis as well. 

All findings have indicated the safety of Bitwarden as a password manager, so you can rely on its use to transfer all your delicate information.

Sharing and Collaboration

For safe sharing and safe collaborations with your teams and other individuals, use Bitwarden Send. This feature is available in free versions of the app, but the paid versions will let you share passwords with a larger audience. 

You can share password-protected files, billing information, and business documents without compromising their encryption. Another great advantage of Bitwarden Send is that you can customize its features to incorporate external parameters. 

Moreover, you can control whether you want the shared files to be deleted, expired, or disabled after a certain period of time. You can also choose the number of people who will have access to the files you shared. 

Additionally, you can put a brand new temporary password on selected files so that they don’t become accessible to every member of the team.    

If you are a Bitwarden client, then you can use Bitwarden Send to avail all its advantages. It’s available on browser extensions, web vault, and through CLI as well.

Free vs Premium plan

There are two basic categories in account type. One is personal, and the other is professional. Within the personal category, there are two types – individual and family (shared) account. In the business category, there are three types of accounts – individual, teams, and enterprise. 

You can get trial runs on most types of Bitwarden accounts but not on all of them. To learn in more detail, read below.

Bitwarden Personal

Free Bitwarden

The key features of the tool are available for free users. You are going to get maximum security, that is for sure. Some other free features are unlimited logins, unlimited password storage, unlimited storage of identities, cards, notes, access to Bitwarden through other devices, and the very useful password generation tool. 

Premium Bitwarden

Premium users, on the other hand, get much more. There are two types of premium user accounts – one is Premium Individual, and the other is for Families. 

Both premium accounts will have the same features, but the only special aspect about a Families account is that it lets you share your data with 5 more members. In terms of features, you will get everything that free users will get, plus more. Additional benefits you will get are the safety of 2FA, TOTP, emergency access, and attachments for files in encrypted storage. 

Both types of premium Bitwarden users will have to pay yearly.

Bitwarden Business

Bitwarden Business is particularly made for professionals to use. 

There are three types of Bitwarden Business accounts — free, teams, and enterprise. 

Free Bitwarden Business

On this type of account, you will get the same benefits that free Bitwarden personal accounts get. But in order to make it work for your organization, an extra feature has been added so that you can share your data with one other person from your organization. 

Bitwarden Teams

Team accounts aren’t free. This is a premium account, and unsurprisingly, it will have all the features that a premium account has. The only difference is that it lets an unlimited number of Bitwarden users into one account where each user is charged separately. 

Also, since it is a business account, it has special additions like an API for event management, and event logging in order to help with team management. 

Bitwarden Enterprise

This type of account is exactly the same as a Bitwarden Teams account. It has some additional features for collaborating with enterprises, such as SSO Authentication, Policy enforcement, a self-hosting option, etc. 

NB: On premium Bitwarden business accounts, the bill can be paid monthly or yearly.

Extras

Biometric Logins

One great thing about inputting Bitwarden’s login credentials is that it automatically inherits the pre-enabled biometric logins of your device. 

For example, suppose your phone has face recognition. In that case, Bitwarden will automatically sync it up with your master password so that you don’t even have to type the master password the next time you enter your Bitwarden Vault. 

The face recognition/fingerprint recognition that has synced with your master password will readily open the app for you.  

Vault Health Reports

This is a very useful feature of Bitwarden that checks the status of your security. However, it’s not for the free version; it’s only available on the paid version.

In order to get the vault health report, go to the Vault > Tools > Reports. 

You will get several kinds of reports here. Let’s discuss them in detail. 

Report on Exposed Passwords

This one will tell you whether your password got sold on the dark web or got exposed in any data breach. 

Reused Passwords Report

Using the same password for multiple platforms can compromise the safety of your accounts. So, this report will inspect your passwords and tell you whether any password has been used multiple times or not. 

Weak Passwords Alert

All your passwords will be checked. You will be notified if you have any compromised passwords in your Vault. If you do, you will be prompted to generate passwords from scratch and replace the weak passwords.

Report on Unsecured Websites

This will let you know if you’re visiting, signing up, or logging into any unverified website. 

2FA Report

This report will let you know whether the 2FA you have put in place is working properly. 

Data Breach Report

This one is an overall check and will let you know if any of your data (passwords, files, identities, etc.) has been breached.

Plans & Pricing

You can use Bitwarden Free for an unlimited amount of time. If you’re satisfied with the limited features available, then you do you. However, you can upgrade at any time. 

Before upgrading to the paid versions, you can actually go for a trial run on all premium accounts except with the premium individual account. So, the trial period is available for premium families, premium teams, and premium enterprises for a duration of 7 days in total.