What is a Password Manager?
So basically a password manager is a software that is used to store and manage your passwords for the various different accounts that you have. What they basically do is, they encrypt your passwords and store them and all of these encrypted passwords can be accessed through a master password.
By using the password managers you don't have to worry anymore about remembering your various passwords. And if you are one of those who uses the same password for every account and are worried that you might get hacked, password managers also solve this problem as most of them do feature an inbuilt password generator that generates a very strong password in just a second and no two password that it generates will ever be the same
What are the different types of password managers?
There are mainly two different types of password managers -
- Web-Based password managers
- Locally Installed applications
Web-Based Password Managers-
As the name suggests, these password managers encrypt and store your passwords on their servers, which can then be accessed by you through your web browser.
The advantages of the online password managers is that you can access your passwords from anywhere, all you need is a device and an internet connection. This beats the various password managers that store your password locally as you don't have to install the application and since the passwords are stored in a different server, they remain safe even if a particular device of yours is stolen or lost.
Locally Installed applications-
These password managers are available for a personal computer or smartphones, in the form of a locally installed software application. These applications can be offline, wherein the password database is stored independently and locally on the same device as the password manager software. There are a few password managers which may offer or require a cloud-based approach, wherein the password database is dependent on an online file hosting service and stored remotely, but handled by password management software installed on the user's device.
The best password managers that are available are-
- LastPass-
Probably the best that there is , your content is synchronized to any device the user uses the LastPass software or app extensions on. Your information is encrypted with AES-256 encryption (basically is damn well encrypted). You can also create and store secure notes.
LastPass also has a form filler that automates password entering and form filling (basically another thing that helps you in your life and also makes you lazier😁), and two-factor authentication. LastPass is available as an extension to many web browsers, including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Edge, etc. It also has apps available for smartphones running the Android, iOS, or Windows Phone operating systems. The apps have offline functionality.
Unlike other major password managers, LastPass offers a user-set password hint, allowing access when the master password is missing.
It's has both free and paid plans.
Visit Lastpass
Dashlane
Dashlane is a password manager app and a secure digital wallet. Their app is available on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android. They feature both free and premium plans, the app's premium tier enables users to securely sync their data between an unlimited number of devices on all platforms. The free version however has the sying disabled after the first month. By default, the wallet is stored on the company's servers, but there is an option to keep it on the user's device instead.
Visit Dashlane
1Password
1Password is a password manager developed by AgileBits Inc. It provides a place for users to store various passwords, software licenses, and other sensitive information in a virtual vault that is locked with a PBKDF2-guarded master password. By default, this vault is stored on the company's servers but do charge a monthly fee.
Visit 1Password
So what password manager do you use and recommend? Let me know in the comments