If you want to make a change to password management just because, or you are a LastPass user annoyed with the service recent changes for your free level, switching to the much-loved (and free) Bitwarden service is a good choice. Bitwarden is now the best free password manager for most people – as it works across all your devices to add convenience and security to your logins – and setting it up is quick and easy.
To get started, go to Bitwarden website and create an account. It’s free to do, and all you have to worry about is giving it to yourself a solid master password. Do a good one and don’t use it anywhere else, because it will be one of the guardians of all your other passwords that you will store in the service. After creating your account and logging in, be sure to verify your email address using the option in the upper right corner.
If you are coming from another service – like LastPass, for example – you will want to find a tool that you can use to export your passwords. In LastPass, this is hidden under the advanced options link at the bottom; exporting your passwords basically turns them into a simple .CSV list.
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Then, you copy the list (which I’m not capturing, for obvious reasons) directly into Bitwarden via Tools menu > Import Data.
All of your passwords will appear on the main screen and must also be synchronized with your various Bitwarden applications the next time you use them. To edit any of your passwords, simply click on the hyperlink for a particular website or service. You can also use the gear icon that appears when you hover over each list to copy your username or password directly to the clipboard.
These are the basic principles of Bitwarden, but you are not done yet. Click on the profile image in the upper right corner and select My account. From there, click Two-step login in the leftmost sidebar.
This is where you’ll set up two-factor authentication for your account – it’s not necessary for you to to use Bitwarden, but it is highly recommended to keep your account protected from unauthorized logins. You can choose to receive 2FA codes by email to check any login attempts, but I recommend that you use an authenticator application instead of. They are equally easy to set up and act as a password manager for all of your two-factor authentication tokens.
You can also visit the options in the left sidebar, which will allow you to adjust your Vault timeout – for example, how long it will remain open since the last time you accessed it. Spend that time and you will have to enter your password again. Turn it off if you’re on a shared computer, and consider making it a little bigger if you’re feeling especially secure in your setup.
After that, get all the Bitwarden apps and extensions you’ll need for your devices and browsers. Installing them is easy and they give you access to everything you have stored in your Bitwarden vault. In the case of your browser, for example, you simply need to right-click on a password prompt to open Bitwarden autofill:
And that’s it. The free version of Bitwarden doesn’t offer many features – no checking for leaks in your saved passwords, for example – but it does offer a quick and easy way to sync passwords across all your devices. What’s not to like?