1Password (Individual) review 2027

What problem does 1Password solve, and who is it for?

1Password is for families and anyone who wants a password manager to just work. It solves the daily problem of getting into your accounts without remembering or reusing passwords: in our test it filled 97% of 150 logins on the first attempt, the best result in the test. The design behind that is a Secret Key combined with your master password, so a stolen vault is useless without your device. Around the core job it adds Watchtower breach alerts, travel mode, item history and shared vaults, and it delivers the same experience on every platform. It has never had a breach. The trade-off is stated plainly in our verdict: it costs more than the open-source alternative and has no free tier, which is the whole argument for Bitwarden.

How did we score 1Password?

We scored it 9.3 overall across five criteria.

• Security: 33 out of 35. This measures zero-knowledge architecture, encryption, independent audits, breach history, and two-factor and passkey support.
• Usability: 24 out of 25. This measures autofill accuracy on our 150 logins across browsers and apps, capture of new logins, and setup time.
• Features: 15 out of 15. This measures sharing, secure notes, passkeys, breach alerts, emergency access, travel mode and item history.
• Platforms: 10 out of 10. This measures apps and extensions for every OS and browser we use, and how consistent they are.
• Value: 11 out of 15. This measures price per year for one person and for a family, and what the free tier gives.

The lost points sit in Security and Value. Value is where it lost the comparison outright, because there is no free tier.

What does 1Password do better than the rest?

The measured autofill result is the clearest strength: 97% of our 150 logins filled first time, the best in the test. The security design is the second: a Secret Key plus master password means a stolen vault is useless without your device. Its latest audit is from 2025, and audits are public and run multiple times per year. Day to day it adds Watchtower breach alerts, travel mode, item history and shared vaults, and the experience is the same on every platform. It also has no breach on record.

How does the Secret Key and zero-knowledge encryption work?

Zero-knowledge means the service stores your vault in a form it cannot read; your master password is what decrypts it on your device. The Secret Key is a second, long random value generated on your device and mixed into that encryption, so the master password alone is not enough to open the vault. Audits are independent reviews of that design, and 1Password publishes multiple per year, with the latest in 2025.

What is in the box, and what does it run on?

There is no hardware here; the product is the apps and the service. It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android, and in all browsers. The individual plan is 35.88 USD/yr and the family plan is 59.88 USD/yr for 5 members. There is no free tier, only a 14-day trial. It is not fully open source, though the clients are partly open. Passkeys are supported for saving and signing in, audits are public and run multiple times per year, and there is no breach history.

How does it compare with Bitwarden, Proton Pass and NordPass?

Bitwarden scores 9.2 and costs 10 USD/yr for one person and 40 USD/yr for a family of 6, with an unlimited free tier, full open source, annual public audits and no breach history. It is ahead on price, free tier and open source; 1Password is ahead on our measured autofill and on the Secret Key design.

Proton Pass scores 9.0 at 23.88 USD/yr individual and 47.88 USD/yr for a family of 6, with an unlimited free tier, open source, Cure53 audits and no breach history. It undercuts 1Password and adds email aliases; 1Password counters with the higher autofill result and its security score.

NordPass scores 8.9 at 17.88 USD/yr individual and 35.88 USD/yr for a family of 6, with a free tier limited to one active device, no open source, Cure53 audits and no breach history. It is cheaper, but it gives up the free tier breadth and the open-source position that Bitwarden and Proton Pass hold.

Where does 1Password fall short?

Value is the weak point, and it is why it lost the comparison: there is no free tier, and the individual plan costs more than Bitwarden or NordPass. It is also not fully open source, so you cannot audit the whole stack yourself the way you can with Bitwarden or Proton Pass. Those are the concrete costs of choosing it.

Is 1Password worth the price?

The individual plan is 35.88 USD/yr and the family plan is 59.88 USD/yr for 5 members, with no free tier and a 14-day trial instead. Against the field, Bitwarden is 10 USD/yr individual and 40 USD/yr family, Proton Pass is 23.88 USD/yr individual and 47.88 USD/yr family, and NordPass is 17.88 USD/yr individual and 35.88 USD/yr family. You are paying more than those three for the autofill result, the Secret Key design and the feature set.

Who should buy 1Password?

Families and anyone who wants it to just work. If you want the manager that filled the most logins first time, keeps a stolen vault useless without your device, and has never had a breach, this is the one. If a free tier or full open source matters more to you, Bitwarden is the argument against it.