Sources checked Sep 22, 2026
1Password vs Bitwarden: personal and family plan costs
Bitwarden has a free plan and 1Password does not, so the first question is whether you want to start without paying. After that the numbers that move the decision are the renewal price, not the first-year offer, and who can get back in if someone forgets their password: Bitwarden Premium is $19.80 a year, and 1Password Individual is $35.88 in the first year and $47.88 after it.
PUBLISHED PLAN DETAILS
Free plans, prices, sharing, and getting back in
USD figures use annual billing and exclude any applicable taxes; Bitwarden states that on its pricing page. We multiplied 1Password’s listed monthly equivalents by 12; its offer is for eligible new direct customers in the first year. Confirm the total and renewal terms at checkout.
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| What to compare | 1Password | Bitwarden |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | No free plan. Individual and Families start with a 14-day free trial. | One person, unlimited devices, and unlimited logins, notes, cards, and identities. Share with one other user through a free organization (2 users, up to two collections). No file attachments or integrated authenticator. |
| Paid personal plan, annual billing | Individual: $2.99 a month at the advertised offer, $35.88 for the first year; $3.99 a month at the listed regular rate, $47.88 a year after that. | Premium: $1.65 a month billed annually, $19.80 a year. No separate first-year offer is shown. Adds the Bitwarden authenticator, 5 GB of file attachments, emergency access, and security reports. |
| Family plan, annual billing | Families: $4.49 a month at the advertised offer, $53.88 for the first year; $5.99 a month at the listed regular rate, $71.88 a year after that. | Families: $3.99 a month billed annually, $47.88 a year. |
| Accounts in the family plan | Invite up to 5 family members. The account also includes 5 guests: a guest has no private vault and can be in a single vault at a time. | 6 Premium accounts, with 10 GB of encrypted storage — 5 GB personal and 5 GB for shared organization files. |
| Sharing model | Families supports unlimited shared vaults. By default, people you share a vault with can view, print, and copy the items in it, and create, edit, archive, and delete them. Managing a vault is a separate permission that does not include viewing or editing items. | Families: unlimited sharing and unlimited collections. Bitwarden says each person has their own private vault that only they can access, and that members only see what you explicitly share; items in a collection belong to the organization rather than to a person. Premium on its own shares items with one other existing Bitwarden user. |
| Sharing with someone outside the plan | Share a copy of a single item by link with anyone, even if they do not use 1Password. You choose when the link expires, and can limit it to named email addresses. Shared items containing files cannot be saved, and items with a file over 250 MB cannot be shared. | Bitwarden Send transmits text or files through a temporary link, with an expiry date and a maximum access count, and a maximum life of 31 days, after which the Send and its contents are purged. Text Sends are available to everyone; file Sends need Premium. |
| Email aliases | Through Fastmail: create Masked Email addresses with 1Password in your browser. You need a Fastmail account as well. | No alias service of its own. The generator connects to outside forwarding services: SimpleLogin, Addy.io, Firefox Relay, Fastmail, Forward Email, and DuckDuckGo, which may need their own subscription. The pricing page lists this under Premium and Families, but the help page says it is available to all users, so check. |
| Passkeys | Save and sign in with passkeys in 1Password in your browser (Mac, Windows, Linux, and Safari on iPhone and iPad) and on iOS and Android. Passkeys can only be exported from the iOS and Android apps. | Save and use passkeys in the browser extension and the iOS and Android apps; the pricing page lists passkey management for every account. Bitwarden’s JSON export includes passkeys. |
| Import routes | Import guides for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, Safari, Bitwarden, Dashlane, LastPass, Keeper, and others, plus CSV import on 1Password.com and Credential Exchange on iOS 26 and Android 14 or later. | Import files from Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, and many other managers, including 1Password (1pux) and ProtonPass (json). Direct transfer with Credential Exchange on iOS 26 and Android 14 or later. |
| If someone forgets their password | A family organizer can restore access for family members who forget their account password or cannot find their Secret Key. Every account also gets an Emergency Kit PDF holding the sign-in address, email address, and Secret Key, with a space to write the account password. | Emergency access: you appoint a trusted contact, who needs their own Bitwarden account on the same server, and set a wait time; you can reject the request before it lapses. View gives read access to your individual vault; Takeover has the contact set a new master password for read/write access. Administrator account recovery is an Enterprise feature, so no one can reset a Families member’s master password. |
| If someone leaves the plan | A removed member loses access to all shared items, including those in the Shared vault, and has 30 days to sign in on 1Password.com and migrate their personal items. Personal items that were not shared with other members are permanently deleted after that. | Removing a member ends their access to the organization and its data but does not delete their account, and they keep their personally owned items. Bitwarden says offline devices cache a read-only copy including organization items, and some clients may keep it for a short time, so update the credentials they had access to if misuse is a concern. |
What the choice depends on
- Whether you want to start without paying. Bitwarden has a free plan for one person on unlimited devices, which also shares with one other user; 1Password starts with a 14-day trial and no free tier.
- How many people need their own account. Bitwarden Families covers 6. 1Password Families invites up to 5 family members, plus 5 guests who get one vault at a time and no private vault.
- Which year you compare. 1Password Families is $53.88 in the first year at its offer and $71.88 at the listed regular rate; Bitwarden Families is $47.88 a year with no separate first-year offer shown.
- Who should be able to restore access. A 1Password family organizer can restore a member’s access; on Bitwarden that job falls to the emergency contact each person nominates, because administrator account recovery is an Enterprise feature.
Neither is right for every household. List the features you need with the password-manager checklist →
A five-person household: compare the second year too
At the listed regular annual rates, 1Password Families costs $24 more than Bitwarden Families ($71.88 − $47.88). Under the advertised first-year 1Password offer, the gap is $6 ($53.88 − $47.88). Over two years that is $125.76 for 1Password ($53.88 + $71.88) against $95.76 for Bitwarden ($47.88 × 2), a $30 difference, if Bitwarden’s price stays the same at renewal. Both base plans have enough accounts for five people. This is a price calculation, not a verdict about which app your household will find easier.
See every plan from each provider
This comparison covers the plans most households weigh against each other. For every published plan, including business entry tiers and what to check at checkout, see 1Password pricing and Bitwarden pricing.
Try this before a full import
- Count everyone who needs a separate account, including the organiser, and anyone who only needs one vault as a guest.
- Ask another household member to find and use one shared test login on their own device, then check whether they can also copy and edit it.
- Check that personal items stay separate from the shared collection or vault.
- Send one low-risk item to someone outside the plan with an expiring link, and check what they see and when it stops working.
- Set up recovery before you need it: fill in a 1Password Emergency Kit, or name a Bitwarden emergency contact and try a request with a short wait time.
- Write down the renewal total and confirm the recovery instructions before the trial ends.
Use a non-sensitive test login before moving your full vault.
CHECK THE PROVIDERS
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