Bitwarden vs Dashlane: The Honest Comparison for 2025

On paper, comparing Bitwarden and Dashlane seems unfair. Bitwarden has a completely free tier. Dashlane starts at $4.99 per month. But the comparison is worth making because a lot of people genuinely wonder whether the extra features Dashlane offers justify the price difference. After using both for several weeks, here is our verdict.

The bottom line upfront

Bitwarden is the better password manager for most people. Dashlane is worth considering if you specifically want the bundled VPN and do not already have one — but as a standalone password manager it does not justify the price difference.

Security and encryption

Both use AES-256 encryption and zero-knowledge architecture, meaning neither company can see your passwords. The key difference is that Bitwarden is fully open source. Every line of code has been publicly reviewed and independently audited. Dashlane is closed source and you have to take their security claims on trust.

Neither has had a major breach. Both are considered secure. But from a verification standpoint, Bitwarden wins.

Free tier comparison

Bitwarden free: unlimited passwords, unlimited devices, unlimited sync, basic two-factor authentication. This is genuinely unlimited — not a trial. You can use Bitwarden free forever.

Dashlane free: limited to 25 passwords and one device. This is barely functional for real use and is essentially just a trial.

Premium features

Bitwarden Premium costs $10 per year — not per month, per year. This adds advanced 2FA options including hardware keys, encrypted file attachments, and password health reports.

Dashlane Premium costs $59.99 per year and adds a built-in VPN (powered by Hotspot Shield), dark web monitoring, and password health dashboard. The VPN is the main differentiator — if you do not already have a VPN and want one, this can make sense financially.

User experience

Dashlane has the more polished interface, particularly on mobile. The onboarding is smoother and the autofill works more reliably across different browsers in our testing. Bitwarden has improved significantly in recent years but the interface still has a slightly more utilitarian feel.

Our recommendation

Start with Bitwarden free. If you find yourself wanting the advanced features, upgrade to Bitwarden Premium for $10 per year. Only choose Dashlane if you specifically want the bundled VPN and are comparing total cost against buying a VPN separately — in that scenario it can make sense.