LastPass vs Bitwarden 2026: Price, Free Plan and Breach History

Yes, most LastPass users should switch to Bitwarden in 2026. Bitwarden Premium costs $1.65 a month, billed annually at $19.80, against $3 a month billed annually for LastPass Premium; Bitwarden's free plan syncs across unlimited devices while LastPass Free is limited to one device type; and Bitwarden has not reported anything like the 2022 theft of LastPass vault backups. LastPass keeps an edge only for buyers who want its Windows VPN bundle or are tied to its business SSO.

Our view: this comparison is less close than the price gap suggests. The two products do the same core job, but one asks you to trust a company whose customer vault backups are in an attacker's hands, and charges more for the privilege. Prices below were read on LastPass's pricing page and Bitwarden's pricing page on 19 October 2026, in US dollars.

Toolradar data: Toolradar, the software directory we run, tracks 37 password managers as of 19 October 2026, and Bitwarden is the most compared of them, with 501 side-by-side comparisons in the last 90 days. Its entry paid plan also ties for the cheapest of the 15 password managers with a comparable verified entry price, where the median is $2.99 a month, according to Toolradar's Bitwarden profile.

LastPass vs Bitwarden at a glance

Both vendors price every paid plan on annual billing. Bitwarden prints the yearly charge; LastPass prints only the monthly rate, so this page compares the two month by month.

The breach history, and what it means for you today

LastPass's 2022 incident is the reason most people ask this question. In LastPass's own notice, an attacker used information from an August 2022 intrusion to reach a cloud storage environment and copy a backup of customer vault data. The sensitive fields, usernames, passwords, secure notes and form data, were encrypted with each customer's master password, but website URLs in the same backup were not.

The UK Information Commissioner's Office fined LastPass UK Ltd £1.2 million in December 2025, saying the company failed to put strong enough technical and security measures in place, with the personal information of up to 1.6 million UK users affected, according to the ICO's announcement. The regulator also found no evidence that the hacker decrypted customer passwords.

That finding cuts both ways: the encryption held, but the stolen backups never expire. Anyone holding them can keep guessing master passwords offline, so a LastPass user whose master password was short or reused in 2022 carries that risk whether they stay or leave. Switching to Bitwarden does not fix it; changing the passwords stored in that vault does.

Bitwarden's record rests on openness rather than an absence of scrutiny. Its code is open source, and its compliance and audits page lists nine third-party security assessments dated 2025 alone, covering the browser extension, desktop and mobile apps, web vault and cryptography. An audit is not a guarantee, but it means outside firms have looked at the code you would rely on.

Free plans: the biggest practical difference

Bitwarden Free is the stronger free password manager by a wide margin. It stores unlimited passwords on unlimited devices, with browser, mobile and desktop apps, passkey storage, a generator, sharing with one other user and Bitwarden Send for encrypted one-off sharing.

LastPass Free also stores unlimited passwords and adds dark web monitoring and basic sharing, but it is limited to one device type: computers or mobile, not both. Someone who saves a password on a laptop and needs it on a phone hits that wall on day one, and LastPass's answer is the paid plan.

For a person who will not pay anything, that settles it. Our best free password managers ranking covers the other free options if neither fits.

What one person and one family pay

For one person, Bitwarden Premium costs $1.35 a month less than LastPass Premium on annual billing, about 45% less. Bitwarden Premium adds an integrated authenticator for six-digit codes, 5 GB of encrypted file attachments, emergency access, vault health reports and up to 10 hardware security keys for two-step login. LastPass Premium includes 1 GB of file storage, emergency access, dark web monitoring and travel mode, but its comparison chart leaves hardware MFA keys such as YubiKey to the Families plan.

For a household, the price is a tie at a cent a month. Both family plans cover six people with their own private vaults. LastPass Families adds shared folders, a family manager dashboard and hardware MFA; Bitwarden Families includes unlimited sharing and collections plus 5 GB for family items on top of each member's personal storage. Families comparing more options can read our cheapest password manager for families guide.

LastPass sells one plan Bitwarden does not: Plus, at $7 a month billed annually, which adds LastPass VPN for up to 10 devices. LastPass says that VPN runs on Windows only for now, so it is a niche reason to stay.

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What a team and a company pay

These figures multiply each vendor's printed per-user monthly rate on annual billing, before tax and any negotiated discount.

The small-team gap is pocket change; the business gap is not. LastPass Teams also stops at 50 users, so a growing company moves to Business sooner. Bitwarden Enterprise includes passwordless SSO integration, enterprise policies, the option to self-host and a free Families plan for every user, a perk that lets staff protect personal accounts without a second subscription.

LastPass Business counters with SSO for three apps in the base plan, and Business Max adds unlimited SSO apps and advanced MFA across endpoints. A company that already uses those as a light identity tool should price the replacement before it moves. MSPs running many client vaults have their own shortlist in our best password managers for MSPs ranking.

How to move from LastPass to Bitwarden

Bitwarden documents the switch in its LastPass import guide, and it is the smoothest part of the decision.

1. Use direct import if you can. Bitwarden's browser extensions and desktop apps can pull your vault straight from your LastPass account, with no file to download. If LastPass asks for multi-factor authentication, enter the one-time code when prompted.
2. Otherwise export a CSV. LastPass exports from its web vault or browser extension; you then import the file in Bitwarden's web vault under Tools, Import.
3. Move attachments by hand. Bitwarden says file attachments and trash do not import, so upload attachments to the new vault one by one.
4. Import once. Bitwarden's import does not check for duplicates, so a second run creates copies.
5. Delete the export file. A CSV holds every password in plain text; remove it as soon as the import succeeds.

Teams that sign in to LastPass through SSO need their LastPass administrator to add Bitwarden's callback URLs in the identity provider before direct import works. After the move, change the passwords for accounts that matter most, for the breach reason above.

Who should pick which

• Anyone on a free plan: Bitwarden Free, because it syncs every device at no cost.
• One person paying for premium features: Bitwarden Premium, cheaper and with an authenticator built in.
• A family of up to six: a tie on price; choose Bitwarden for the security record, or stay on LastPass Families if you rely on its shared folders and hardware keys today.
• A Windows user who wants a VPN bundled in: LastPass Plus is the only option of the two.
• A company of 50 or more: Bitwarden Enterprise, unless LastPass's built-in SSO apps already run your logins.

For the other matchups, see 1Password vs LastPass, 1Password vs Bitwarden and Proton Pass vs Bitwarden. Each product has its own page: the LastPass review, the Bitwarden review, LastPass pricing, Bitwarden pricing and the wider LastPass alternatives list. Toolradar holds directory profiles for both LastPass and Bitwarden.

How we compared

We read LastPass's pricing page, Bitwarden's pricing page, Bitwarden's import guide and audit page, LastPass's incident notice and the ICO's penalty announcement on 19 October 2026. Team costs multiply printed per-user rates and are our arithmetic, not quotes. The category figures come from Toolradar's password manager ranking. Louis Corneloup, founder of Toolradar and Dupple, is the author. Re-check both pricing pages before you buy, because plans and rates change.

FAQ

Should I switch from LastPass to Bitwarden?

For most people, yes. Bitwarden Premium is $1.65 a month billed annually against $3 for LastPass Premium, its free plan works on unlimited devices, and it has reported no incident like LastPass's 2022 vault backup theft. Bitwarden can import a LastPass vault directly from its browser extension or desktop app.

Is Bitwarden cheaper than LastPass?

Yes on every comparable plan except the family tier, where Bitwarden Families at $3.99 a month and LastPass Families at $4 are a cent apart, both billed annually for six people. For businesses, Bitwarden Enterprise at $6 per user undercuts LastPass Business at $7.

Is LastPass safe to use in 2026?

LastPass's vault encryption was not broken: the ICO found no evidence that passwords were decrypted after the 2022 breach. The risk is that stolen vault backups allow offline guessing of weak master passwords, and that URLs in those backups were unencrypted. Users who stay should use a long, unique master password and change important passwords stored before 2023.

Is Bitwarden's free plan better than LastPass Free?

Yes. Bitwarden Free stores unlimited passwords on unlimited devices and shares with one other user. LastPass Free is limited to one device type, computers or mobile, so it cannot sync a laptop and a phone.

Can I import my LastPass passwords into Bitwarden?

Yes. Bitwarden's browser extensions and desktop apps import directly from a LastPass account, or you can export a CSV from LastPass and import it in Bitwarden's web vault. File attachments must be uploaded by hand, and the CSV should be deleted afterwards.

Does Bitwarden have a free trial?

Bitwarden offers free trials of its Families, Teams and Enterprise plans, and its free plan never expires. LastPass gives 30 days of Premium or Families and 14 days on its business plans.

Cite this: Cyberpresso, "LastPass vs Bitwarden 2026: Price, Free Plan and Breach History", November 2026.

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