1Password Review (2023) | Features, Pricing & More

(Updated on January 9th, 2023)

How good is 1Password? How safe is it, and what features does it offer? Should you trust this service? Find out everything in this ultimate 1Password review.

When it comes to password managers, 1Password is among the top products out there. It offers an array of amazing features, top-notch security to protect your account information, an intuitive user interface, and decent customer support.

Here, we have done a detailed review of 1Password to see how comprehensive their service is and if it is worth your money. We have tested and assessed it on five important criteria, including features, level of security, user-friendliness, product pricing, and customer support.

Quick Summary of the Review

Here’s a glance at all our assessment criteria and findings relevant to 1Password.

1. Features: Packed with amazing features like customizable vaults, Watchtower, Travel Mode, customizable clipboard clearing, shared vaults, etc.
2. Security: Secures your account and other information with multi-level security features, such as AES 256-bit encryption, SRP protocol, PBKDF2, zero-knowledge policy, and additional utilities like phishing protection, auto-lock, and password monitoring (Watchtower).
3. User-Friendliness: 1Password offers easy to set up, and intuitive user interface that even the most casual of users can easily operate.
4. Pricing: You might find 1Password slightly on the pricier side, but it’s really not that high compared to other top password managers. Especially when you consider the value you get for your money, it’s a good deal.
5. Customer Support: 1Password customer support is available through email, Twitter, support forum, and an FAQ page. However, there’s no phone or chat support.

1. Features

As you would expect from a top password manager, 1Password comes with a wide range of advanced features. Let’s look at some of the cool ones.

Multiple Vaults

The first unique feature you will find on the app is its multiple vaults, which means every account will have many vaults. With this feature, you can categorize your stored items for easier navigation and selection. You can store whatever you want in a vault, including passwords, credit card details, secure documents, form fills, and more.

While vaults help users organize their items securely, they are also useful for managing permissions and sharing credentials. If you authorize a family member or team member to access some credentials and data, you can gather all those items in one vault. Then, you will authorize vault access for the person. Needless to say, this adds convenience in more ways than one.

Watch Tower

Another noteworthy feature we found on the password manager is WatchTower. While this feature is common on many top password managers, we still believe it’s special and extremely helpful. It alerts you if you have a weak password or you have reused a password. The feature also alerts you if your passwords are susceptible to attacks or if they have been breached before.

Furthermore, WatchTower helps you monitor expiry dates for your credit cards. This function can be really helpful, especially if you like shopping online and do not like renewing payment details before making a purchase online.

1Password Features

However, bear in mind that most of Watchtower’s functions are turned off by default. So, if you want to, you’ll have to activate them manually.

Travel Mode

Another excellent feature we would like to mention is Travel Mode. This feature proves useful when you want to hide sensitive data while traveling or crossing borders. It helps you conceal your important data, like your company’s social media logins or encryption keys. Of course, these are just examples, as the types of data you can hide are unlimited.

With the Travel Mode turned on, you are allowed to mark certain pictures as “Safe for Travel.” These pictures will remain visible on your device, while others will stay hidden. To restore access to all your vaults, turn off the Travel Mode feature, and you will be able to read all your files again.

One great thing about this function or mode is that nothing indicates its activeness when it’s turned on. Therefore, no intruder will ever suspect that you have hidden some files or data.

Travel Mode for Teams

Additionally, 1Password’s plan for corporate bodies – called Teams – enables the manager to activate Travel Mode on employees’ accounts. It makes sense for business owners or admins who wouldn’t want sensitive company-related passwords or documents to be readable by authorities.

1Password is the only password manager that offers the Travel Mode feature. Therefore, if you’d like to protect sensitive data or information during your travels, you should definitely consider 1Password.

Browser Extension

1Password also offers a browser extension, which mostly allows users to use their information on-demand. However, it can also help you create new passwords if you sign up for a new account or update an old one. However, if you want to store more data, like important documents or credit card details, you will need the mobile app or the desktop program.

Customizable Clipboard Time-Frame

Lastly, 1Password allows you to get rid of everything on your clipboard after a pre-set time frame. While this feature may seem insignificant, it’s actually super helpful. Hackers are always lurking in the dark, looking to spy on your clipboard details and lift copied data, so the feature means they will never find anything.

As a rule of thumb, you must clear the contents on your clipboard quickly. However, the password manager allows you to extend the clearing period up to one and a half minutes.

There are other clearing time options available to you as well, which shows how flexible this incredible password manager can be. Sometimes, you may need to keep the contents on the clipboard longer, so it makes perfect sense.

With its incredible array of advanced features, we give 1Password 5 points out of 5 in the features category.

2. Security

In one of its statements, 1Password claims that security is not only a feature; it’s the foundation on which the company is built. Judging from everything we saw during our tests, we think 1Password is keeping its promise pretty well until now.

AICPA SOC 2 Type 2 Certification

If you are still skeptical about the security performance of 1Password, we’d like to tell you a few things. To start with, the password manager has AICPA SOC 2 Type 2 certification, which indicates secure and safe data management.

The certification means that 1Password has undergone comprehensive audits and its security procedures and policies have been thoroughly documented.

AES 256-bit Encryption

Furthermore, 1Password uses AES 256-bit encryption, which is probably the most reliable form of encryption in the world. The encryption is almost impossible to hack, which explains why some of the biggest security outfits rely on it. Your master password is the access key to the encryption, which means you must protect it by all means.

Zero-Knowledge Policy

Another reason why we believe 1Password is secure is its zero-knowledge policy, which means the company doesn’t track, sell, or store your data. Besides, the password manager is recognized for being an extremely safe platform, providing in-depth defense for in-transit data.

Password Security

In another move to further strengthen security and prevent cybercriminals from intercepting data in transit, the company has adopted an SRP protocol, which protects secret keys, master passwords, and every other data.

However, even if this fails, the company has a plethora of other fortifications, which means data breaches are very unlikely with this company. Apart from the AES 256-bit encryption, the company also uses two-factor authentication to protect your data.

In addition, there is PBKDF2 key-strengthening, which eliminates the chances of brute force attempts against your master password. To add an extra security layer, 128-bit secret keys are adopted for all your devices.

Other Security Controls

Other impressive security features the password manager offers include phishing protection and auto-lock. And as we mentioned earlier, there is a powerful Watchtower feature, which warns you when you use weak and recycled passwords. It also provides dark-web monitoring to guarantee that your passwords have not been previously compromised.

1Password Security

In this section, 1Password scores 4.5 out of 5 score, slightly missing out on the full marks.

3. Ease of Use

Generally, 1Password has a very intuitive interface across all its apps, making it easy for users to interact with it.

Simple-to-Follow

Whether you are using macOS, Windows, Android, or iOS, what you need to do at every point is clearly indicated. It’s simple to import passwords and login details from other password managers and web browsers. Data management is also made convenient and simple with the multiple, easy-to-access vaults.

Data Organization

With the separate vaults, you can easily put certain items into different categories. For instance, you can put everything related to work in one vault and everything related to the family in another.

Everything is easy to read and find, including the significant information provided by Watchtower. It’s also easy to activate the Travel Mode, which helps you to hide company’s important and sensitive pieces of data, like social media logins and encryption keys while you are crossing borders. It’s also easy to implement other features like clipboard clearing.

1Password Interface

However, it’s a little awkward to update passwords, especially since it needs to be done one after the other. This somehow takes away from the efficiency of the Watchtower, especially if dozens of weak passwords are detected. Nonetheless, this is a little downside in an extremely functional package.

Biometric Login for Mobile Phones

Another impressive thing that aids user-friendliness on this app is its biometric login option for mobile phones. This feature makes the app super-easy to use. Apart from that, the mobile application comes with its own built-in browser, which has a crisp and clean interface.

However, it must be noted that the mobile version is a little less flexible compared to the desktop app. For instance, it provides just one-set clipboard wiping period rather than the wide range of clearing times provided by the desktop application. But most of the limitations are minor, so you should have a decent experience with the mobile app as well.

Easy Setup for Login Process

Moving on, 1Password has a straightforward login process. When you would like to retrieve a stored password, simply visit that site, and then tap on the browser extension that shows up in the login box. All the account logins that are available for that website will then appear for your easy selection.

Again, 1Password performs brilliantly in this category, scoring 4.5 out of 5.

4. Pricing and Plans

That takes us to the manager’s pricing structure. Does 1Password have affordable plans? Let’s find out.

First of all, we’d like to note that 1Password doesn’t offer a free plan. However, the company provides a risk-free 14-day free trial for most of their plans. And you’d be relieved to know that, unlike most free trial offers, 1Password doesn’t need your credit card information to sign up for a free trial.

You’d also be glad to know that the free trial is not limited, allowing you to access significant features like Travel Mode, Watchtower, and the vaults.

However, it must be said that 1Password is quite expensive, especially when you compare it to most top password managers on the market. However, we don’t think that should be surprising, given its incredible reputation and the wide range of features built into it.

The plans are divided into two categories – Personal & Family, and Team & Business.

Home Users

The Personal plan costs $2.99/month and the Family plan costs $4.99/month. The major difference between the two is that the Family package comes with more family-oriented features, including licenses for up to 5 people.

1Password Pricing

Business Users

For the Team & Business category, there are three plans – Teams, Business, and Enterprise. While the first two cost $3.99 and $7.99 per month, respectively, the Enterprise plan doesn’t come with a fixed price. It’s made for big companies that require onboarding programs and custom training. Therefore, they will need to obtain a custom quote for this service.

Unfortunately, 1Password only scores 2.5 in this category, as it lacks a free plan and its packages are somewhat expensive.

5. Customers Support

1Password is one of the most reputable companies in the business when it comes to customer support. It offers support via email, Twitter, and a support forum, which is highly active and interactive.

However, the company doesn’t offer chat or phone support. Still, the support it provides via the existing means is detailed, helpful, and prompt.

Apart from the highly efficient support channels, the company also maintains a comprehensive FAQ page, which contains detailed answers to most of the problems you can ever face while using the manager. Moreover, the forum is searchable, and you can easily type and find answers to your questions.

If you cannot find answers on the FAQ page, the company offers effective support via Twitter, email, and support forum. However, we’d like to see chat or phone support in the future, as some issues can be really hard to resolve through the currently available channels.

For people who are subscribed to business plans and higher, there is VIP support. But if you are a regular subscriber, email support may be your best bet. Meanwhile, email support is not instantaneous.

In the customer support category, 1Password scores 4 marks out of 5. While the available support channels are relatively fast and helpful, we couldn’t look past the lack of phone or chat support.

Final Thoughts

Overall, 1Password is one of the most popular password managers, and it hasn’t become one by accident. With its array of powerful features, impermeable security, and clean user interface, the company definitely earned its reputation.

While there is no denying that there is room for improvement, the password manager is definitely up there among the best. It is an ideal and complete package for families, travelers, and businesspeople.

If you have any queries, opinions, or thoughts to share, don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below.

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