The free plan the others dropped
A password manager is not a Canva alternative. It is the app that stops you using the same password on the bank and the blog.
I opened bitwarden.com/pricing on 23 August 2026. Under personal plans, after Premium and Families, they print: “Just getting started? Get basic password management today. Always free.” Core features they list on every account include: open source, zero-knowledge encryption, unlimited devices, unlimited passwords, browser/mobile/desktop apps, a generator, passkeys, encrypted export, and free sharing with one other user.
That “unlimited devices” line is the comparison. Bitwarden’s own LastPass comparison page says LastPass’s free plan is limited to one device. I am treating Bitwarden’s statement about LastPass as Bitwarden’s claim, not as LastPass’s current terms. Open LastPass if you still live there.
What $1.65 actually buys
Premium is $1.65 a month, billed annually at $19.80. Official extras: integrated authenticator (TOTP), file attachments (5GB personal, expandable), emergency access, vault health reports, priority support. You can share vault items with one other user.
Families is $3.99 a month, billed annually at $47.88, for up to six people.
Prices are USD, annual billing, taxes not included. I did not find a naira table.
Teams is $4 per user per month annual. Enterprise is $6. Those are work products. The free personal plan is the one this page is about.
What free does not include
On the comparison table, TOTP, vault health reports, emergency access and the 5GB attachments sit on Premium, not on the “core / every account” list. So: free stores the passwords across devices. Paid adds the authenticator and the “what if I get hit by a bus” contact.
I would not call free “fully featured” the way Bitwarden’s marketing sometimes does. Their pricing table is more honest than the slogan. Use the table.
Have I Been Pwned is the other free check
haveibeenpwned.com is Troy Hunt’s free site for checking whether an email appeared in a known breach. The About page says that is the whole public job: type an address, see if it was in a dump. Domain-monitoring subscriptions exist for organisations. The personal check is free.
That is not a password manager. It tells you the leak already happened. Bitwarden is how you stop the next login using the same password. Use both. Do not paste your actual password into random “password checkers.” HIBP’s Pwned Passwords page is the official way to check a password against breach lists.
How I would choose, labelled as opinion
If I still keep passwords in Chrome or a notes app, I would open Bitwarden’s free account today and move the bank and email first.
If I already pay 1Password or a family iCloud Keychain and it works, I would not migrate for sport.
If I want TOTP in the same vault, $19.80 a year is the official Premium number. That is cheaper than most “security suite” ads.
I have not audited Bitwarden’s code. “Open source” is their claim and a real repo. It is not a personal security review.