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SafetyScorer

Ranking

Safest Password Managers and Authenticators 2026

Every password manager and two-step authenticator app we cover, from 1Password, Bitwarden and Apple Passwords to KeePassXC, Google Authenticator and Authy. Each score weighs how well the app protects your vault or codes, how much it collects about you, whether outside auditors have checked it, how easy it is to leave with your data, and its breach and regulatory record.

Updated · Scores update with each page

The ranking

  1. KeePassXC

    KeePassXC is a free, open-source desktop password manager that keeps your passwords in an encrypted file on your computer and sends nothing to its developers. It passed a 2023 audit and a 2025 French government certification. The trade-offs are no mobile app of its own and sync you set up yourself.

    Score 89, grade A

  2. Proton Pass

    Proton Pass is a safe password manager with one of the cleanest privacy labels we have seen. Items, metadata and shared vaults are end-to-end encrypted, the apps are open source and two public audits (2023 and 2026) found no serious flaws. Hide-my-email alias addresses are not encrypted.

    Score 89, grade A

  3. Bitwarden

    Bitwarden is a safe password manager for most people. Vaults are encrypted on your device, the apps are open source and audited yearly, and no vault breach has been reported. A 2026 study showed what a hacked Bitwarden server could do, and a malicious copy of its command-line tool briefly sat on npm.

    Score 88, grade A

  4. Aegis Authenticator

    Aegis is an open-source authenticator for Android that cannot go online at all, so your codes never leave the phone unless you export them. The vault is encrypted with your password. The gaps are no published audit or bug bounty, no iPhone version and a 2026 flaw in icon-pack imports, since fixed.

    Score 87, grade A

  5. Ente Auth

    Ente Auth is one of the safest free authenticators. Codes are encrypted on your device before they sync, Cure53 has audited Ente's cryptography (2023) and servers (2025), and it can make password-protected backups. An account needs an email address, and there is no paid bug bounty.

    Score 87, grade A

  6. KeePassDX

    KeePassDX is a free, open-source Android app that keeps your passwords in an encrypted KeePass file on your phone. It asks for no internet access and collects no data. Its code has never been independently audited, and it rests largely on one developer.

    Score 87, grade A

  7. Proton Authenticator

    Proton Authenticator is a safe, free place for two-step codes. It works without an account, encrypts synced codes end to end and exports with a password. It is young, though, with no published audit yet and an early iOS bug that wrote code secrets into a local log.

    Score 87, grade A

  8. 1Password

    1Password is a safe password manager for most people. Vaults are encrypted on your device with your account password plus a 128-bit Secret Key, and no vault breach has been reported. It collects more app analytics than Bitwarden, the code is not open source and exports are unencrypted.

    Score 86, grade A

  9. Keeper

    Keeper is a safe password manager for most people. Vaults are encrypted on your device, the iPhone app collects very little, and no breach of user vaults has been reported. Its code is closed, its audit reports are not public, and in 2017 it sued a journalist who reported a flaw.

    Score 85, grade A

  10. Apple Passwords

    Apple's Passwords app is a safe, free choice if you use only Apple devices. Passwords, passkeys and codes sync through iCloud Keychain, which is end-to-end encrypted by default. There is no public outside audit and no Android app, and Windows support runs only through iCloud for Windows.

    Score 84, grade B

  11. 2FAS Auth

    2FAS Auth is a safe, free authenticator that keeps codes on your phone and collects almost nothing. On Android its Google Drive backup is not encrypted by 2FAS unless you set your own password, and we found no independent audit of the app or a paid bug bounty.

    Score 83, grade B

  12. NordPass

    NordPass, from the makers of NordVPN, is a reasonable password manager for most people. Vaults are encrypted on your device with modern algorithms and no breach has been reported. Its only public audit dates from 2020, newer reports are available only on request, and exports are unencrypted CSV.

    Score 82, grade B

  13. RoboForm

    RoboForm is a safe password manager for most people. Vaults are encrypted on your device, the iPhone app collects only diagnostics, and no vault breach has been reported. The code is closed, only a summary of its one recent outside test is public, and a pre-2015 flaw made some old generated passwords guessable.

    Score 82, grade B

  14. Enpass

    Enpass is a reasonably safe password manager for people who want their vault kept off a vendor's servers, since the encrypted file stays on your devices or in your own cloud. The code is closed, its audit list came down in 2025, and its privacy notice denies app analytics that the store labels declare.

    Score 81, grade B

  15. Microsoft Authenticator

    Microsoft Authenticator is a safe way to sign in. Push approvals ask you to type a number from the sign-in screen, which ended most push-spam attacks, and work passkeys stay on your phone. The app no longer stores passwords, and a US review in 2024 criticised Microsoft's cloud security.

    Score 76, grade B

  16. Google Authenticator

    Google Authenticator is a safe way to get two-step codes if you protect the Google account it syncs to. Since 2023 your codes back up to Google, encrypted in transit and at rest but not end to end, so a taken-over Google account can expose every code. You can turn sync off and keep codes on the phone only.

    Score 74, grade B

  17. Dashlane

    Dashlane encrypts your vault on your device with a strong, slow key derivation, and no one has shown that its encryption was broken. It loses points for a 2026 attack that let outsiders copy the encrypted vaults of fewer than 20 users, and for an iPhone app that shares identifiers with advertisers.

    Score 73, grade B

  18. Authy

    Authy keeps two-step codes safe in a backup encrypted on your phone, but every account is tied to a phone number. A 2024 API flaw let attackers collect about 33 million of those numbers, the desktop apps were shut down in 2024, and there is no way to export your codes.

    Score 67, grade C

  19. LastPass

    LastPass encrypts your vault on your device, but in 2022 attackers copied encrypted vault backups. US agents have linked later crypto thefts to cracked vaults, and the UK fined LastPass £1.2 million. If you used it before 2023, treat the secrets in your vault as exposed.

    Score 56, grade C

Which apps are on this list

The rule is purpose. An app is here when its main job is to store your passwords or to generate two-step sign-in codes. That covers cloud-synced password managers such as 1Password, Bitwarden, Proton Pass and LastPass, the built-in Apple Passwords, the offline KeePassXC and KeePassDX, and the authenticators from Google, Microsoft, Ente, Aegis, 2FAS, Proton and Authy. VPNs and smart-home apps in the same security group are left out; VPNs have their own ranking.

How the order is built

Each app is scored on five factors. Privacy and security count for 30% each: what the app collects about you, and how well its encryption, audits and breach record protect the secrets you store. Transparency and control count for 15%, which includes open source code, public audit reports and whether you can export your data. Scams and harmful content count for 15%, and the regulatory record for 10%. Full rubrics are on how we score apps.

The list is those scores sorted from the highest down. When we update a page, its place here moves too, so this text does not quote scores.

What the apps near the top have in common

They encrypt everything on your device, publish their code or their audit reports, and collect almost nothing about how you use them. Proton Pass and Bitwarden are open source and audited, and KeePassXC passed a 2023 audit and a 2025 French government certification while sending nothing to its developers. Among authenticators, the apps that sync codes with End-to-end encryptionEncryption in which only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The company running the service cannot see its content.More in the glossary or never go online at all sit above those whose backup is protected only by an account password.

Why some score lower

A breach of stored vaults weighs heavily: LastPass lost many points for the 2022 theft of encrypted vault backups. Closed code with no public audit, analytics or advertising identifiers in the app, and no way to export your data also cost points. Dashlane lost ground over a 2026 attack that copied a small number of encrypted vaults and an iPhone app that shares identifiers with advertisers.

What the score does not tell you

The best manager is one you will actually use for every account. Its protection depends on your master password and on two-step login for the manager itself, so set both before you import anything. Write down your recovery codes or emergency kit and keep them offline. If you lose your phone and your authenticator has no backup, getting back into your accounts can take days.

Questions

Is it safe to keep all my passwords in one app?

For most people, yes, and much safer than reusing passwords. The managers on this list encrypt your vault on your device before it is synced, so the company holds only data it cannot read without your master password. The real risk is a weak or reused master password, so make it long and unique and turn on two-step login.

Should I still use LastPass?

In 2022 attackers copied encrypted LastPass vault backups. US agents have since linked crypto thefts to vaults that were cracked, and the UK fined LastPass £1.2 million. If you kept passwords in LastPass before 2023, change the important ones, move any crypto wallet Seed phraseA list of 12 to 24 words that can restore a crypto wallet and all its funds. Anyone who has it controls the wallet.More in the glossary, and consider another manager.

Is a free password manager good enough?

Often, yes. Bitwarden's free plan syncs across all your devices, Apple Passwords is free on Apple devices, and KeePassXC and KeePassDX are free and keep your vault in a file you control. Paid plans mostly add family sharing, emergency access and support rather than stronger encryption.

What is the safest authenticator app?

Look for one that encrypts any backup with a password only you know, or keeps codes on the phone. Ente Auth and Proton Authenticator encrypt synced codes end to end, and Aegis cannot go online at all. Google Authenticator's sync is protected by your Google account rather than end to end, and Authy has no way to export your codes.

Are authenticator codes safer than text-message codes?

Yes. Codes made on your phone cannot be stolen by SIM swapping or by intercepting a text message. They can still be typed into a fake sign-in page, though. PasskeyA way to sign in without a password. Your device holds a key tied to one website or app and unlocks it with your fingerprint, face or PIN.More in the glossary and hardware security keys are the only common sign-in methods that phishing cannot get past.

Should my two-step codes and passwords be in the same app?

It is a trade-off. Keeping both in one manager is convenient, but anyone who gets into that vault has both of your sign-in factors. A separate authenticator app or a hardware key keeps them apart, which matters most for your email, your bank and the password manager itself.