Proton, the trusted security company behind products like ProtonVPN, Proton Mail,
Proton Calendar and Proton Drive has just released Proton Pass, a password manager that’s competing
against the likes of 1Password, Dashlane, Bitwarden and KeePass. Here’s my first take,
including what I like and maybe just as important - what I hope to see changed.
Let’s start with what I really like. First of all, I’m a long-time user of Proton products and
I trust the security promises they make. I have an encrypted email account with Proton Mail and I’m
currently testing whether I can replace my Google Calendar with something more private like Proton
Calendar. So when they talk about the strong, end-to-end encryption built into Proton Pass so
that not even they can access your logins, I trust what they’re saying, and that’s a big deal for me.
But for those who won’t take my word for it, I love the fact that Proton launched Proton
Pass as an open source project right out of the gate. That’s something both 1Password and
Dashlane don’t do and has been a standard set by popular options like Bitwarden and Keepass.
That said, in my experience the closed source, proprietary options like 1Password tend to have
a much better user interface than something like Bitwarden. And that’s where Proton Pass
really shines in my opinion because both their app and browser extensions are really slick. They’re
easy to understand and navigate even for those who have never used a password manager before.
But hands-down the MOST impressive feature that Proton Pass offers is their alias solution. I’ve
talked about email aliases in a past video, and specifically mentioned a service called
Simple Login. Now what you may not know is that Proton purchased SimpleLogin back
in 2022 and have seamlessly integrated it into Proton Pass, which is awesome.
Here’s why this is important. A lot of times we use the same email address and username for all of
the accounts that we create. The problem with this is that no matter how strong our password is, it’s
still one simple guess or hack away from being exposed. But if you use both strong passwords and
unique usernames, it basically removes the risk of any future data breaches or brute force attacks.
Bitwarden integrates with a lot of different services to do this,
but you have to be motivated to set it up. 1Password integrates with FastMail pretty nicely,
but they charge an extra $3 a month that I honestly refuse to pay for.
With Proton Pass, the aliasing solution is seamlessly integrated into the product. For
example, let’s say I want to download a budgeting checklist from my friend Nick
at Mapped Out Money. Using the ProtonPass browser extension on Brave, I can quickly choose to hide
my email using a unique email address created on the spot by Proton. I could do the same thing
when creating a new Netflix account and then easily generate a login with a strong password.
Later, if that account gets caught up in a data breach or somebody
illegally sells or uses my email address for marketing purposes,
all I have to do is remove the alias and I don’t have to worry about it again.
Finally, before I move onto a few of the things I wish they would improve, the last benefit I
want to mention is that Proton Pass is free to use for unlimited logins on unlimited devices,
although the free tier doesn’t include 2FA and it does limit you to only 10 aliases.
This is better than options like 1Password that
only offer a 14 day free trial before you have to purchase a paid plan.
The Pass Plus option, which grants you unlimited aliases,
is only 1 Euro per month, but in my opinion - and I’ll explain this in more detail in a
moment - if you’re going to use Proton Pass it makes sense to just opt for the
Proton Unlimited plan that includes the VPN, Proton Mail, Calendar and Drive.
So that’s what I like after using Proton Pass for a few weeks. But as with any product,
there are a few missing features that you need to know about.
First let me say that right now, my password manager of choice is 1Password. I’ve been
using them for years and I really like what they offer. And part of what they give me
is the ability to create shared vaults with family so if I change our Disney+ password,
for example, it changes for my wife as well.
At this point, Proton Pass doesn’t offer shared vaults, although their website says that’s coming
soon. They also don’t have a dedicated desktop app, opting instead for a browser extension that
works for most any internet browser you use. Honestly, this isn’t a big deal to me, but if
you’re used to having a desktop app, and you like it, you’re definitely going to notice it missing.
That [a](http://a.so)lso means that Proton Pass isn’t designed for self-hosting your password
vault, which may be a no-go for some of you. Proton encrypts and syncs vaults on your behalf,
but just like 1Password and many of the other major software companies,
they don’t give you the option to host vaults on your own server.
Another note for those of you who use a password manager to autofill credit card information or
even personal data like address and phone number, that’s something you won’t find
in Proton Pass. Right now it is strictly a password manager, whereas a lot of the
other popular options have expanded to include pretty much any data you want to securely store.
Now Proton Pass does give you the ability to create encrypted notes, where you can store things
like your credit card number or other information you need to keep with you, but you can’t use those
notes to autofill on your computer or mobile device. I’m hoping that will change soon.
Speaking of credit cards, one of the integrations I’ve really enjoyed when using 1Password is the
ability to create masked cards using their integration with Privacy.com. Now there are
limitations with that integration, which is why I’m also testing out the new IronVest offering as
an alternative, but in the same way that Proton Pass doesn’t let you store credit card numbers,
it also obviously doesn’t help you to create them either. I’ve never gotten
the impression that Proton wants to get into this credit card masking stuff,
but maybe we’ll see an integration later on. Who knows.
Finally, you’ve probably heard me talking a bit about the next generation of password
security that is Passkeys. We did an entire webinar explaining passkeys
and answering common questions that you can watch next if you want to.
At this point, Proton Pass does not seem to support Passkeys although I’m sure that
market adoption will dictate if and how fast they develop this feature. I mean,
I know that 1Password and Dashlane support passkeys right now,
but even Keepass and Bitwarden can only claim that it’s coming soon.
Right now, this isn’t a make or break feature to me, but I do think it highlights the advantages
that proprietary software from for-profit companies have, in that they can more
easily dedicate focused development efforts on upcoming technology like passkey integration.
So at the end of the day, here are my thoughts: I love how easy it is to migrate passwords over
to Proton Pass, although to be fair most password managers make it pretty easy, I like using the app
and browser extension, and I’m really happy with the email alias integration, which is
kind of their key feature. That said, in order for me to make the full switch from 1Password,
which I honestly haven’t done yet, they’re going to need to do three things: First, I would like
the ability to store and autofill other kinds of information like credits cards, addresses,
etc.. Second, I need to be able to use biometrics to unlock on my desktop. Right now it’s possible
on my mobile device, but for desktop they use this PIN verification that was a bit clunky
for me and I ended up turning off. And finally, I need a family option to share a vault with my
wife. I’ll keep the description of this video updated if they make any of these changes,
so check that and the comments section if you’re watching this in the future.
So if I’m not yet ready to change over from 1Password,
but I still like Proton Pass, then who is this for exactly?
I’m going to say that there are two kinds of users for whom Proton Pass is an ideal solution.
The first one I think is for those who want a free but trustworthy password manager that just
does what it’s supposed to - create and store passwords. No dark web monitoring,
no credit cards, no sharing of passwords. Just creating strong passwords and allowing you to
easily generate alias usernames. If you don’t already use a password manager and
you don’t want to pay for one, then just sign up for a free Proton Pass account.
The second group for whom Proton Pass might work is those who already use Proton products
or are thinking about signing up for Proton VPN or an encrypted email account through
Proton Mail. Their Proton Unlimited plan, which includes access to all of their premium services
integrates really well with Proton Pass and also gives you the ability to create unlimited aliases.
And really that, to me, as you can tell, is the power of Proton Pass is those aliases.
So if you already use Proton services, Proton Pass might be worth trying to see
if you like it. Otherwise, just stick with the password manager that you already like and use.
If you think I’m missing anything here, please leave a comment below. I’m always
willing to be wrong and open to constructive dialogue. Proton did not sponsor this,
but you can learn more about Proton Pass using the affiliate link below or go to Proton.me/pass