Reliable logins guarantee the inviolability and confidentiality of your personal data. In this article, we will compare two well-known password managers-1Password vs. LastPass.
Password Manager: how does it work?
Most information today is digital. And with the help of Internet access and a personal computer or smartphone, you can get almost any service. Now you do not need to visit most organizations and institutions in person, because you can use online access.
People now use a variety of web services, including social media, email, bank transactions, government service portals, and more. Naturally, services need to authenticate all users, and the most common way is a login-password pair. This method is simple and user-friendly. Hence the problem is that you need to remember a large number of combinations of username and password. Plus, passwords should be resistant to cracking: long passwords, consisting of different registers, using numbers and various signs, should be changed at least once every six months. However, such passwords are difficult to remember, and over time the user begins to use simple passwords or insecure storage methods. Fortunately, the most convenient and secure tool comes to the rescue – a password manager.
A password manager is software that assists the user in working with passwords and PIN codes. Such software typically has a local database or files that store encrypted password information. Most password storage systems also act as a form placeholder, meaning they fill in the login field and password information automatically. In most cases, they are presented as browser extensions.
Password managers fall into three main categories:
- Desktop – store passwords for software installed on a hard disk or on a computer’s SSD drive.
- Networked – online password managers where passwords are stored on providers’ websites.
- Portable – store passwords for software on mobile devices such as a tablet, smartphone, or portable applications on a USB drive.
What would you choose 1Password vs. LastPass?
Nowadays there is a large selection of different password managers in the market. Let’s analyze the most popular programs: 1Password and LastPass. For analysis, let us highlight the main parameters, which will allow us to evaluate the functionality of these password managers in the most complete way:
- Price;
- The convenience of the user interface
- Cross-platform;
- Password generator;
- Database transfer;
- Search by records;
- Automatic data entry into the browser;
- Change of master password;
- Portability.
1Password generator is the popular Mac OS X storage solution for passwords, software licenses, and other personal information from AgileBits. There is also a version for Windows, and a native client for iOS is also offered. The Windows version integrates with Firefox, Chrome, and IE. Also, both versions of 1Password offer a user-friendly interface for using stored information in any other application. In addition to integration with different platforms, 1Password provides another original way to access its database. A password store (agile keychain) is a set of files, one of which is an HTML file with a full-fledged interface for working with the database, which can be opened by any browser on almost any device.
LastPass is a simple, easy-to-use password storage program that will work anywhere. It exists as plugins for Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Maxthon, Apple Safari, and Microsoft Edge. LastPass passwords are AES-256 encrypted, stored in the cloud, and can be synced across devices. LastPass also has a form filler that allows you to automate password entry and form filling.
The program allows you to sync passwords on all your devices, but this is already in the premium version. In the mobile application, you can use the familiar copy-paste method to paste the required password in the right place.