SaaS Radar
Bitwarden pricing: how much does Bitwarden cost in 2026?
Bitwarden pricing in 2026 starts at $0 for an unlimited-password free plan, with Premium at $1.65 per month billed annually ($19.80 a year), Families at $3.99 per month for six users, Teams at $4 per user per month, and Enterprise at $6 per user per month, per Bitwarden's official pricing page checked on October 11, 2026.
What matters
- The Bitwarden free plan is not a trial: it covers unlimited passwords and devices, passkeys, two-step login, and sharing with one other user, and Bitwarden says it stays free permanently.
- Premium is $1.65 per month billed annually at $19.80 for one account; Families is $3.99 per month billed annually at $47.88 for up to six users.
- Teams is $4 per user per month and Enterprise is $6 per user per month, both billed annually, per Bitwarden's pricing page.
- 1Password has no free personal plan and charges $3.99 per month for its Individual tier, so Bitwarden Premium undercuts it by more than half at list price.
- Bitwarden's October 9, 2026 notice makes store-published apps commercially licensed builds, but it leaves the free plan, subscription prices, and self-hosting unchanged.
What is Bitwarden?
Bitwarden is an open-source password manager that stores logins, passkeys, card details, and secure notes in an end-to-end encrypted vault and syncs them across unlimited devices. Its codebase ships under a dual license: GPL v3.0 by default, with select components under the Bitwarden License v1.0, per the clients repository's LICENSE.txt. That open-source core is the reason the free tier is a real product rather than a trial.
Beyond the free plan the company sells an individual subscription (Premium), a household plan (Families), and two business plans (Teams and Enterprise). Every price below was checked on Bitwarden's official pricing page on October 11, 2026, and the plans are unusual in that the cheapest one is genuinely usable, not a teaser.
Bitwarden pricing tiers in 2026
Bitwarden lists five plans, and only four of them cost anything.
- Free ($0): unlimited passwords and devices, passkey management, advanced two-step login, Bitwarden Send, and free sharing with one other user. Bitwarden's pricing page calls it "Always free."
- Premium ($1.65/month, $19.80 billed annually): one account, adding the integrated authenticator (TOTP), encrypted file attachments, emergency access, and security reports.
- Families ($3.99/month, $47.88 billed annually): up to six users, with six premium accounts, unlimited sharing, and organization storage.
- Teams ($4 per user, per month, billed annually): centralized ownership, secure credential sharing, and activity event logs.
- Enterprise ($6 per user, per month, billed annually): everything in Teams plus advanced protection, controls, and SCIM provisioning.
The figures are annual-subscription prices shown in USD and exclude tax. The gap between Free and Premium is small enough that most individuals who want built-in TOTP codes and attachments will land on Premium, while Free remains enough for someone who only needs synced passwords.
Bitwarden Premium vs Free: what actually changes
Free and Premium run the same apps and the same unlimited vault. The difference is four features, and a lot of people discover they want at least one of them.
- Built-in authenticator (TOTP): Premium generates your two-factor codes inside Bitwarden so you can retire a separate authenticator app. Free supports passkeys and two-step login but not the integrated code generator.
- Encrypted file attachments: Premium stores files in the vault. Free handles text, cards, identities, and notes only.
- Emergency access: Premium lets a trusted contact request access to your vault if you are locked out. This is the most common reason households upgrade.
- Security reports: Premium surfaces vault-health reporting and premium-only extras.
The value math is simple. Bitwarden Premium costs $1.65 per month, or $19.80 a year. A standalone two-factor app is free, so if TOTP codes are your only reason to upgrade, you can stay on Free and run a second app at no cost. Premium earns the $19.80 when you want those codes, encrypted attachments, and emergency access inside the one vault you already trust, with no extra service to secure and no second export to manage.
What the October 2026 license change means for your bill
On October 9, 2026, Bitwarden announced on its community forum that apps published to the various app stores will, starting in the next release, be commercially licensed builds. That notice is easy to misread as a price change. It is not one. The same post states that the GPLv3 source "continues to be updated and published on GitHub," that all current features stay in both versions, and that the free plan "is here to stay permanently."
What actually changes is distribution and resale. Bitwarden says there is no change to self-hosting and that the new licensing "affects those who are repackaging and reselling Bitwarden." The post also warns that some future components will be published under the commercial license and exist only in that build. For an ordinary buyer, the practical effect on the bill is zero: your subscription price and the free tier are untouched. The shift matters only if you fork the app or ship a repackaged version commercially.
Bitwarden vs 1Password vs Proton Pass pricing
Bitwarden's two best-known rivals price their entry plans higher. 1Password has no free personal plan at all, only a 14-day trial, and lists Individual at $3.99 per month billed yearly (currently discounted to $2.99 for the first year) with Families at $5.99 per month for five users, per its personal pricing page. Proton Pass does offer a real free tier like Bitwarden, with Pass Plus at $2.99 per month billed annually at $35.88 and Pass Family at $4.99 per month, billed at $59.88 every 12 months.
The pattern holds across tiers: Bitwarden Premium costs about 41% of 1Password Individual at list price, and Bitwarden's six-user Families plan is cheaper than 1Password's five-user plan. The catch is ecosystem, not price. 1Password bundles extras such as travel mode and deeper business controls, and Proton Pass folds into Proton's mail and VPN suite. NordPass and Dashlane round out the shortlist, and both put more behind their paid tiers than Bitwarden's free plan does, so compare their current prices on their own pricing pages rather than trusting a summary.
Which Bitwarden plan should you buy?
Match the plan to the job rather than to the feature list:
- Stay on Free if you want synced passwords, passkeys, and two-step login on unlimited devices and do not need file attachments or built-in TOTP codes.
- Choose Premium at $1.65 per month if you want the authenticator, encrypted attachments, emergency access, or security reports without running a second app.
- Choose Families at $3.99 per month for a household of up to six. Six premium accounts for $47.88 a year costs less than three separate Premium subscriptions, which would run $59.40.
- Choose Teams at $4 per user, per month for centralized ownership, event logs, and shared collections; step up to Enterprise at $6 per user, per month when you also need advanced controls and SCIM provisioning for automated user lifecycle management.
The Teams-to-Enterprise gap is exactly $2 per user per month. For a 10-person team that is $240 a year, usually cheaper than the engineering time spent wiring up manual account provisioning by hand. Stay on Teams if event logs and shared collections already cover your audit needs.
Self-hosting Bitwarden: what the server actually costs
Bitwarden's model gives you a third option the free plan cannot match: you can self-host the server and drop the subscription entirely. The software is free, but the machine is not. A small VPS from a budget provider such as RackNerd or a mainstream host like Hostinger typically runs from a few dollars a month, and you own the updates, backups, and uptime yourself.
For one person, that is more work than Premium's $19.80 a year is worth. For a team that already runs infrastructure or has data-residency rules, self-hosting can be the cheapest path precisely because the per-seat fee disappears. Weigh your own time against the per-user price before assuming self-hosting is the frugal choice.
At a glance
| Plan | Bitwarden | 1Password | Proton Pass |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free plan | $0: unlimited passwords and devices, share with one user | No free plan, 14-day trial only | $0: unlimited logins, notes, and cards |
| Cheapest paid (annual) | Premium $1.65/mo ($19.80/yr) | Individual $3.99/mo list ($2.99 first-year promo) | Pass Plus $2.99/mo ($35.88/yr) |
| Family plan (annual) | Families $3.99/mo, up to 6 users ($47.88/yr) | Families $5.99/mo, 5 users | Pass Family $4.99/mo ($59.88/yr) |
FAQ
Is Bitwarden free?
Yes. Bitwarden's free plan includes unlimited passwords and devices, passkey support, advanced two-step login, and sharing with one other user. Bitwarden says the free plan is here to stay permanently.
Does the Bitwarden license change raise prices?
No. The October 2026 change makes store-published apps commercially licensed builds, but the free plan, subscription prices, and self-hosting are unchanged. It mainly affects people who repackage or resell Bitwarden.
Is Bitwarden cheaper than 1Password?
At list price, yes. Bitwarden Premium is $1.65 per month billed annually ($19.80 a year), while 1Password's Individual plan is $3.99 per month billed yearly, currently discounted to $2.99 for the first year.