Keepass on phone, desktop and tablet. Sync serverless via Syncthing.
- completely private
- always available when needed
- no dependency on services which may go away
- all open source software
- maximum security
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
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Keepass on phone, desktop and tablet. Sync serverless via Syncthing.
Yup. Same system here. I really like it.
Keepass + syncthing.
Don't let your vault go unencrypted through the cloud.
Your vault is always encrypted very securly except when in RAM. There is no security concern with uploading it directly to the cloud.
I'm very happy with self-hosted Vaultwarden.
Keepass fIle in my own nextcloud instances, synced to my phone so I can also use keepass2android. This way if something happens I at least have another copy of it, beyond my backup system.
that's actually exactly how I have my setup. I just use syncthing to keep everything dynamically backed up as I add passwords. my main login password is memorized and not written down anywhere so I think I'm good
Vaultwarden behind mutual tls and reverse proxy and https://github.com/oguzhane/bitwarden-mobile until https://github.com/bitwarden/mobile/pull/2629 is merged
But honestly all services you mentioned are worthy.
Anything that fits your needs imao
I've used Option 1 with my Nextcloud and it works perfectly. Other options seem more apropriate when you need scale, many user each with their own vault.
Stupid me, didnt even remember using nextcloud instead of commercial clouds. I like it
I used to self host Bitwarden, but didn't want the hassle of securing it and updating it properly and consistently. So I just pay $10 for bitwarden premium and I get to support the company.
Option 1, KeePassXC plus SyncThing, done. Works amazing on all my devices.
Option 2. It's the most robust. You'll never lose it (provided you have the redundancy), you can use it offline, you can transfer it using a USB pen, it's available in all platforms, including web. I've been using this for 8+ years, on my phone, desktop, laptop, company computer, etc. I store it on a personal cloud (and on each machine, of course, by syncing).
I use and prefer option one, but take it a step further in that I host my own cloud service. I used to use Dropbox for years, but we got divorced.
Host your own bitwarden
Vaultwarden. And take regular back ups. I don't trust my passwords to be safe anywhere other than my own servers. The chances of my server being hacked is very less.
I used option 1 (KeePass synced to Google Drive) for years. It's nice that you know you have control of your passwords at all times, and as long as you can access your cloud storage account and can download a KeePass app, you can get your passwords. It works reasonably well most of the time, but I was consistently running into edge cases that weren't as smooth as I'd have liked (mostly apps on Android)
I switched to vaultwarden (option 3), and immediately fell in love with things mostly just working. However, since I was hosting it out of my house, I had a bit of a disaster recovery problem. If i had say a fire, I could easily lose all copies of my vault, which would be... suboptimal.
After reviewing the options, I switched to straight bitwarden. I've been happy with the experience, and once I have disposable income, I plan to get pro long enough to have emergency contacts available so my family can still get important passwords in case of the worst.
All options have their pros and cons, but IMO password storage is something that deserves to be given proper consideration.
Option 2: 1Password
I do keypassXC and Syncthing. It’s cross platform with only a couple bucks needed for lifetime access to all all necessary features depending on platform. Besides I use Syncthing for a bunch of other stuff as well, so it fits right into my flow. I’m considering moving to a command line tool simply called Pass, and still syncing with Syncthing, but I’ve yet to pull the trigger on that switch yet.
Option 4: levy existing tools such as gpg and git using something like pass. That way, you are keeping things simple but it requires more technical knowledge. Depending on your threat model, you may want to invest in a hardware security key such as a yubikey which works well with both gpg and ssh.
Why use tools not meant for password management, when alternative tools explicitly meant for password management, which have similar levels of security, work just fine?
You’re essentially saying “instead of driving down the road, I like to ride my bike with rollerblades.”
Bitwarden+vaultwarden, harden the chosen VPS, set SSH to use keys only, then setup fail2ban for webserver and ssh Also consider putting ffsync on it as well for extra browser benefits.
Remember to back that up, and test the back at intervals to make sure they work
Not watertight ofcourse but I love that the bitwarden clients keep a local copy so if the server ever goes down youve still got access just no sync.
Bitwarden for me. My password manager is not just for me, it's also a crucial component of my family life so if something happened to me I want my next of kin to be able to access it
For that it needs to be an easy to access solution.
Option 1
Option 3: Vaultwarden + Wireguard.
I don't have to worry about attacks from the internet. And a single wireguard connection on my phone sometimes doesn't even appear on the battery stats.
Edit: Browser addons need valid ssl certificates, which I get by dns challenge.
I use option 1, I host my keepass db file on a free secure nextcloud storage account, and use nextcloud client to keep it synced to all my devices. It's available offline on all of my devices too, in case the server goes down. I use KeepassXC on my PCs and KeepassDX on Android, to open the files.
I use keepassXC and sync across my devices with nextcloud and VPN to my home network with wire guard and this setup has never failed me.
I've toyed around with passbolt, and I really want to try because it just looks cool to me, but I keep having trouble with it playing nice with my reverse proxy.
My personal preference is hosting it myself on my own server and using a VPN to get to it. It gives me peace of mind because I'm not a big enough target for someone to try that hard to get my passwords and I'm not exposed to bitwarden or dashlane getting breached.
Keepassxc + syncthing to phone in read only mode and to other machine. So 3 copies on different machine, while one of them is on me
If you work for a company that uses a reasonably good manager such as BitWarden, you should look into whether or not you get it for free or reduced. For the moment, at least, I use Bitwarden because I get it for free (and a families sub to boot!). I know 1password does the same; others might too. Do make sure you’re okay with paying the full price for a period of time in case you get laid off and have to migrate. Also make sure you’re okay with any compromises you make for the price tag. There is no price tag that makes LastPass acceptable, for example.
I use option #1. Each instance of KeePass maintains a local file, but updates them automatically whenever it opens or closes. I also back up the file to my personal server automatically, so I have a copy even if the cloud service fails for some reason.
This setup has been serving me well for a long time.
I've been happy with Keeper
I choose keepassXC stored locally
Option 1, except for the cloud bit. My KeePass file is stored in a restricted shared folder on my home file server, and auto-syncs to my phone on the rare occasion I update it from my desktop.
Option 2 would be your best bet. Great balance between security and convenience. Bitwarden is my go to because afaik it stores every detail encrypted (unlike mainstream PWs) and when you open your vault, the database gets transferred to your pc and is decrypted locally. Its essentially the same as option 1, just 1000x more convenient.
Id only selfhost vaultwarden if you want bitwardens premium features, if you dont then youre maintaining a service which you wouldnt really need. Not to mention if you selfhost on a machine on your network, you have to deal with exposing that machine to the internet, not really worth it imo.
Personally I'm running option 2 with self hosted bitwarden. Sure, it's a bit more effort to make it work and while it's not perfect that's what I've ended up with. The most convinient thing with that is that I can access my passwords whenever I have internet access with a browser without any need to install any software on the thing I'm using. Obviously that doesn't mean that I'll happily access the vault with whatever free-to-use endpoint I happen to encounter but it also gives an option to access whatever even if I'm borrowing a computer from a (trusted) friend and once I close the private window I used it's gone. And even more often, when I'm accessing my credentials from a family shared computer, I can just log out and I don't need to do any cleanup on the host which might get infected by our kids browsing something malicious or some other breach of security.
With keepassxc I'd need to worry about the database file, which is a bit different than logging out and closing browser. Your usage patterns might be different, but web-based hosting solution works for me.
I've been using option 1 for many many years. It lets me keep control of the encryption, and it's accessible just about anywhere.
I went from Keepass synced via NextCloud (self hosted) for years... to trying out Bitwarden (their servers) and found the experience much better... then I switched to Vaultwarden via Docker going through Cloudflare Tunnel (with zero trust email authentication required) and fail2ban added. I'm content with the last option.