Password managers are critical now, when a single person holds several accounts with credentials they would otherwise need to remember. If you’ve just learned about password managers or want to shop for one, it’s imperative to know what to look out for. There are dozens of options out there, and each password manager feature has its pros and cons.
However, there are certain standard features you should consider before settling on an individual password manager. Here are the 10 key features to look for in any password manager.
1. Multi-Platform Support
Support for various platforms is crucial to ensure that no matter which OS you’re using, you can still access your password vault.
At the minimum, a password manager should support the four major platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, and macOS. In addition to that, a password manager should have browser extensions on major browsers. This makes it so much easier to fill in your details on any login page.
2. Secure Password Generator
Every password manager should have a password generator. Password generators are essential and play a critical role in helping you create strong, unique passwords. This removes so much overhead, and you don’t have to remember all the tips for creating secure and strong passwords.
Password generators offer customization options, letting you adjust the length of a generated password and even choose whether it should have special characters, numbers, lowercase and uppercase letters. Some provide you with a history of generated passwords too, just in case you need it later.
3. Vault Storage Location
Password managers help you store passwords, notes, and other personal credentials in a vault. A password manager can either store passwords locally, on your device, or in the cloud.
As much as storing your password on-device is enticing, it comes with its setbacks. Most notably, if you lose your device, you lose all your passwords as well, and you can’t recover them.
On-device vault storage also means you have to sync passwords across devices manually. In an era where people have more than one gadget for different purposes, automatic syncing is essential.
On-device is a less popular option, although some password managers have support for local vault storage. You might have to pay to get such an option on some password managers.
Cloud beats local storage on convenience thanks to automatic multi-device syncing, and you can still recover your passwords if you lose one or all your devices. The best password managers store passwords on the cloud by default.
But besides convenience, there are valid reasons why you should avoid cloud services. Disadvantages of the cloud mainly surround security. As such, it’s important to consider the security protocols deployed by a password manager if you go the cloud route.
Check if a password manager has ever been compromised. And if it has been, confirm if user data was affected in any way.
4. Security
Given that you’ll be storing credentials for all your accounts, including important platforms like banks, security is of utmost importance. Luckily, password managers leverage several encryption protocols to ensure your data is safe and secure from the bad guys.
AES 256-bit encryption, the current industry standard, is common. Password managers also support multi-factor authentication, via authenticator apps or sometimes hardware security keys, for additional security.
To ensure your credentials are known only to you, some password managers use a zero-knowledge storage approach for storing passwords and other personal data. This approach ensures that a password manager cannot access credentials stored in your vault.
The zero-knowledge architecture, though relatively hard to implement, ensures that your data is safe even if your password manager is hit with a security breach.
End-to-end encryption is also a must-have to ensure data in transit is secure.
5. Recovery Options
When you sign up for a password manager, you have to create a Master Password. This will be the primary key to your encrypted vault. If you forget it, you lose access to your vault data if there’s no recovery option.
Given the key role played by your Master Password, it’s important to check what recovery options a password manager offers.
There’s no standard approach for this; different password managers have their own way of doing things. Check to ensure that your password manager has recovery options and understand how it works. Recovery options will help you regain access to your vault even if you forget the Master Password.
6. Automatic Device Sync
Automatic syncing provides flexibility when switching devices. You can switch to another device and instantly find all up-to-date information on your vault.
This is a must-have feature found on all major password managers—unless you’re going for one with on-device vault storage.
7. Save and Autofill Passwords
Password autofill eliminates the need to type or copy-paste usernames and passwords manually to log in to your accounts. On the other hand, your password manager should allow you to save newly created credentials easily via a save feature.
The two go hand in hand and are inherent in all mainstream password managers.
8. Item Storage
Most password managers allow you to store more than just passwords. So don’t settle for less. Some password managers allow you to store personal files on your secure vault. Commonly, file storage is limited to 1GB, and you might have to pay for it.
You can also store files and secure notes like credit cards, passports among other things. LastPass even offers a form-fill feature that makes it easy to fill out online forms with your personal details in one click.
9. Sharing Support
A password manager should also allow you to share credentials and items stored in your vault easily.
However, this is only important if you plan on sharing some credentials in the future, like for Netflix, Hulu, or other streaming services. If you plan on doing that, consider signing up for a password manager that allows secure sharing.
10. Secure Export
Most password managers allow you to export your vault data. This comes in handy if you wish to have a local back-up or want to switch to an alternative.
LastPass, Keepass, Bitwarden, 1Password, and other mainstream password managers support exporting.
Which Is the Best Password Manager for You?
There are a variety of password managers to choose from if you’re shopping for one. But independent of what you decide to use, consider these 10 features carefully.
Besides these, password managers also offer additional features for enterprise customers like Single Sign-On for security and a central admin dashboard. You can also get a Family account, but that is usually a premium feature on many password managers.