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Password Managers that don't cost a fortune?

S

splitpea

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Oct 21, 2009
1,177
447
Among the starlings
Help! I need a solution to securely store passwords on both an iPhone and the Mac desktop, with automatic sync, and would rather not spend $75 on the solution (e.g. 1Password).

I don't need autofill or Mac keychain integration (as most passwords I just use on Firefox on the desktop, which isn't Keychain-integrated anyway).

Anyone have a free or inexpensive (<$10) application that they'd recommend?
 
I've used Wallet for years. I don't know if it fits your $10 profile, it may have been a little higher for the Mac version; the iOS client is cheap just a few bucks. It uses Dropbox for the sync and has always been flawless for me.

EDIT: There are many programs named 'Wallet' the one I use is by Acrylic Software.
 
chiefpavvy said:
I've used Wallet for years. I don't know if it fits your $10 profile, it may have been a little higher for the Mac version; the iOS client is cheap just a few bucks. It uses Dropbox for the sync and has always been flawless for me.

EDIT: There are many programs named 'Wallet' the one I use is by Acrylic Software.
Click to expand...

Wallet by Acrylic is great. i used it for a long while before going to 1Password for the integration.
 
stiwi said:
May I ask what did you miss in Acrylic software that you switched to 1Password?
Click to expand...

when i used it there was no browser integration. i see that it has it now which is great. that was my primary reason for switching. but overall it was great.
 
splitpea said:
Help! I need a solution to securely store passwords on both an iPhone and the Mac desktop, with automatic sync, and would rather not spend $75 on the solution (e.g. 1Password).

I don't need autofill or Mac keychain integration (as most passwords I just use on Firefox on the desktop, which isn't Keychain-integrated anyway).

Anyone have a free or inexpensive (<$10) application that they'd recommend?
Click to expand...

Take a look at Lastpass. It's free and available for almost any platform. I used it for years before switching to 1Password.
 
I have to give 1Password the vote for #1 ... a great Canadian company.

as for it costing a fortune? ... I spent more on New Year's Eve dinner.
 
rocknblogger said:
Take a look at Lastpass. It's free and available for almost any platform. I used it for years before switching to 1Password.
Click to expand...

The only drawback of Lastpass as far as I can see is that it lacks offline access to your data. So when you are on the go without the internet and need to get your credit card details, bank accounts, insurance numbers etc - it might be a problem. Am I correct?

Apple OC said:
I have to give 1Password the vote for #1 ... a great Canadian company.

as for it costing a fortune? ... I spent more on New Year's Eve dinner.
Click to expand...

That is not a good comparison. The question is if 1Password is really that better to pay 2x more than for "Wallet" from Acrylic. 1Password Mac + iPhone + iPad should be roughly $70, while "Wallet" $30.
 
stiwi said:
The only drawback of Lastpass as far as I can see is that it lacks offline access to your data. So when you are on the go without the internet and need to get your credit card details, bank accounts, insurance numbers etc - it might be a problem. Am I correct?



That is not a good comparison. The question is if 1Password is really that better to pay 2x more than for "Wallet" from Acrylic. 1Password Mac + iPhone + iPad should be roughly $70, while "Wallet" $30.
Click to expand...

On your first point you are correct however I would assume you'll always have your iPhone with you, right? But otherwise yes you need Internet access.

1Password IMHO is worth the money. It's not only great looking app on OSX but it's very well made and easy to use. I've tried many different ones and I like 1Password best.

But Lastpass served me well for the time I used it.
 
stiwi said:
That is not a good comparison. The question is if 1Password is really that better to pay 2x more than for "Wallet" from Acrylic. 1Password Mac + iPhone + iPad should be roughly $70, while "Wallet" $30.
Click to expand...

That's probably a question of personal preference, so it's worth downloading both to try out.

I've been using 1password for several years now, certainly before I heard about Acrylic Wallet, so I haven't tried that product. Looking at the website and some reviews it looks like Wallet has an edge in customizing what you can store inside it. 1password seems to have an edge in browser integration. It integrates with more browsers (if you use Firefox, Wallet won't integrate), it will recognize when you change your password and update the database, it will allow you to fill addresses, credit cards, etc. It's not clear to me whether Wallet will autofill the login when you visit it FROM Wallet, or whether it can do it when you navigate to it anyway.

For me, it is definitely useful for 1p to be able to create me a new account for something by filling in all my personal info, generating and filling a password, filling in the appropriate credit card if needed, and saving the results. Very low friction to keeping track of things.
 
stiwi said:
The only drawback of Lastpass as far as I can see is that it lacks offline access to your data. So when you are on the go without the internet and need to get your credit card details, bank accounts, insurance numbers etc - it might be a problem. Am I correct?
Click to expand...

It also means that your password data is stored in the "cloud" and that a security breach (which, IIRC they had a few months back) can expose your passwords.

I'm a big Keepass fan (Windows PCs) but I'm looking for a native OSX password manager. Keepass runs on OSX with Mono.
Click to expand...

Ah, yeah, thought I'd seen a native Mac version, but that would be a dealbreaker.

I ended up trialing and buying Wallet. $70 for 1Password may be New Year's Eve dinner for some, but for me it's two weeks of groceries. I don't know why everyone assumes that anyone who owns a Mac is a millionaire.
 
Since I was already using KeePass on Windows and iOS, I kept it and now use KeePassX on OSX. All free!
I'm also heavily using LastPass for web sites though and use KeePass for credit card, etc.
 
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