Password managers for business, also referred to as business password managers, or enterprise password management solutions, enable employees to manage their work-related passwords securely and simply. Password managers store all passwords for all accounts in a secure, encrypted vault, which can only be accessed by an authenticated user. Many password managers offer browser plugins, so as users access the web, passwords can be auto filled to improve the login experience.
The best passwords managers offer several key features to help reduce friction when managing multiple passwords. The user interface should be modern and user friendly, allowing users to easily add, edit, and access account passwords. When users register a new account, the new password should be automatically imported into the service. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) should be available to protect access to the secure password vault; many solutions are also moving to support passwordless access with FIDO Passkey support. Admins should be able to configure password sharing and group policies – and many solutions also offer password health advice, including warnings on weak and reused passwords.
Expert Insights has tested and assessed multiple leading business password managers to help teams find the right solution for their business. This list covers our top choices for the best password management solutions, outlining key features, use cases, pricing, and benefits.
Dashlane is a user-friendly, easy-to-implement password manager that protects users from credential-based breaches. Popular amongst both technical and non-technical customers for its intuitive user experience and wide range of security features, Dashlane protects valuable corporate data, while freeing up help-desk resources and increasing productivity.
Dashlane features a secure AES 256-bit encrypted password vault, with an additional Argon2d encryption setting for added latency and stronger security against brute force attacks. Using the platform’s Authenticator tool in the Dashlane mobile app, users can set up 2FA for all registered accounts in their Dashlane vault, making it easier to store and share 2FA tokens securely. Automatic breach alerts notify users immediately if a hacker attempts to breach their vault, and the dark web scanning tool searches the internet for stolen credentials. If the scan comes back positive, Dashlane alerts users that they need to change their password. Admins can access real-time insights into the security breaches their users have been involved in, along with recommendations of how they can mitigate them.
Using the centralized admin console, admins can access reports into account usage, shared password group information, and Password Health score reports. This console also allows admins to configure policies including disabling autofill, 2FA enforcement, and setting up Business Space domains. The Business Space feature allows users to store their business and personal credentials separately within a single vault. Admins can monitor the password health in an employee’s Business Space, without encroaching on the privacy of their Personal Space.
Dashlane offers two password management packages: Team and Business. Dashlane Team includes their secure password vault, management and reporting, group password sharing and 2FA. Dashlane Business includes all of the features of Team, plus SSO, dark web monitoring, and a free family protection plan for each user. Dashlane’s excellent customer support and user-friendly interface make it strong password manager for a small-to-medium-sized business, including non-technical companies. The solution’s seamless integration with Dashlane Authenticator, the vendor’s standalone 2FA app, makes it a particularly strong solution for organizations wanting to implement MFA as well as a password manager to help prevent credential-related breaches.
The JumpCloud Password Manager enables users to use secure passwords more easily across all of their online accounts. The password manager is delivered in two components. The first is the desktop app, which can be installed on Macs, PCs, or Linux devices. Users can log in with their PIN to access all passwords, payment cards, and notes, and use a two-factor authenticator app built into the password manager to authenticate access to other services.
The second component is the browser extension, which automatically enters passwords from the JumpCloud Password Manager into websites and applications at the point of login request. If JumpCloud has been set as the authenticator application, this includes any 2FA codes generated by JumpCloud. This can be hugely time saving, as users will no longer need to manually open the authenticator app and copy/paste the code.
All password data is stored locally to reduce the risk of compromise, and users can add additional devices to ensure they can always access their passwords from whichever device they are using to work. JumpCloud enables users to import passwords very easily from a previously used password generator via an import process, or by uploading a CSV file, and includes a secure password generator built into the browser extension. JumpCloud will also automatically save new and existing passwords as users browse the web.
JumpCloud also enables secure credential sharing. This process is very easy to manage, and any passwords that are changed after they are shared will automatically be updated across the whole team. In addition, when a password is shared, any associated 2FA codes are also shared with the password, so multiple users can securely access an account with 2FA in place.
JumpCloud is a leading provider of identity services. Their open directory platform enables IT teams to manage their entire tech stack with device management, user authentication and single sign-on, and access control. JumpCloud Password Manager is therefore a strong option for organizations looking for password management as part of a comprehensive, market-leading identity and access management solution.
Keeper is a market-leading business password management solution that provides enterprise password security features to help promote better password practices among employees, prevent account compromise, and meet business compliance standards. Keeper helps improve password security by allowing users to generate random, high-strength passwords for all of their company accounts and applications. These are stored in a secure, user-specific, encrypted vault that can be easily managed and accessed when needed from any device. Keeper helps to improve employee productivity, reduce the risk of data breaches from weak or reused passwords, and ensure compliance standards are met.
Keeper’s password vault is easy to use and accessible from anywhere, making it simple to create high-strength passwords, access controls, and securely share them with other team members when needed. Users are also able to store encrypted files in the vault such as documents or photos. Keeper’s browser extension, KeeperFill, recognizes sites and applications that the user has already logged into and will automatically fill in the relevant credentials. When resetting passwords or creating a new account, KeeperFill automatically suggests and saves new passwords to the user’s vault.
Built on a zero-knowledge security architecture, password encryption, and decryption occur only on the client’s device. This means that the plaintext version of the data is never available to Keeper employees nor any outside party. As of June 2023, Keeper supports the use of Apple Passkeys in browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Brave, and Safari.
Finally, Keeper’s Admin Console allows administrators to provision and control the end-user licenses for their account. The Admin Console offers advanced integration with Active Directory, SSO, SCIM, and developer APIs to allow easy provisioning. Employee permissions are fully customizable and role-based access controls can be set up to stop passwords from being shared outside of organizations or to the wrong team members. Admins can also view employee password security statistics and access a range of audits to enforce policies and ensure compliance standards are met. Keeper is a strong option for organizations looking for a reliable, fully featured, enterprise password management solution.
Base pricing starts at $3.75 per user, per month. Additional add-ons are also available such as BreachWatch which scans the dark web and alerts users when any of their credentials are found.
1Password offers secure, scalable, and easy-to-use password management for teams. Their solution makes it easy for employees to stay safe online by storing passwords in secure vaults and enforcing two-factor authentication. Passwords are synced seamlessly across browsers and devices, meaning employees always have access to their passwords.
1Password offers a comprehensive set of features for businesses. Admins have access to advanced permissions and can deploy account recovery options in the event passwords are lost. A travel mode is available to ensure admins can help employees with password issues while away from their desks.
1Password also offers Active Directory and Slack integration so that passwords can be securely shared across groups and teams. This enables faster deployment and improves productivity. Admins can view granular activity logs and usage reports, allowing them a comprehensive picture of their organization’s security and address security risks such as re-used passwords.
Customers praise 1Password for how easy it is to create and manage secure passwords and access them quickly when they need to. This service is convenient and secure – Expert Insights recommends 1Password to organizations of all sizes looking for a trusted password management solution.
1Password for Business pricing starts at $7.99 USD per month, with an enterprise option also including a dedicated account manager and onboarding support. A free 14-day trial of the service is also available.
Bitwarden is a fast, secure open-source password manager trusted by millions of users worldwide. The service is available for businesses, small teams, and enterprise organizations, enabling users to generate, manage, and store passwords. The platform also allows users to share encrypted data with other members of their organization.
Key features offered by Bitwarden include secure end-to-end encryption and cross platform accessibility; this gives you the ability to secure and share data inside of the Bitwarden Vault from any browser, mobile device, or desktop application. Passwords can be securely shared among colleagues, and the service can be seamlessly integrated into your existing identity stack, including SSO and directory services. Admins can enforce granular password policies and manage the free family plan for enterprise users.
Bitwarden is customizable, allowing users to easily set up in the cloud or self-host for total data control. The platform stands out as open source and third party audited service that is fully compliant with Privacy Shield, GDPR, and CCPA regulations. Users can access insightful vault health reports that highlight password flaws and other helpful metrics. Bitwarden is also launching support for FIDO passkeys.
Bitwarden Business pricing starts at $3 per user per month, which includes password management across your whole organization. Bitwarden also offer an Enterprise plan that includes advanced policy management, SSO integrations, and more. We recommend Bitwarden for organizations looking for a secure, open-source, password management platform, that is trusted and popular with its users.
NordPass Business helps teams to better manage password security with an end-to-end encrypted secure vault for storing user credentials, credit cards, notes, and other personal information.
NordPass offers an XChaCha20-encrypted vault, in which users can generate strong passwords, store an unlimited number of passwords, easily auto-fill their credentials with just one click, and safely share passwords with others.
Vaults can also be secured with multi-factor authentication (including strong factors such as biometrics). From a central console, admins have an overarching view of password health across their organization, as well as a detailed insight into user activity and any breached domains. From this dashboard, admins can enforce strong organization-wide password policies, as well as recover accounts (even if a user has forgotten or lost their master password). 1password is also supporting the use of FIDO Passkeys.
As a cloud-based solution, NordPass is easy to deploy and manage—with users able to choose from using the Web Vault (which can be accessed on any browser) or downloading the NordPass mobile app for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS. It also includes browser extensions available for Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Firefox.
NordPass Business is available for $3.59 per month, which includes the security dashboard, company-wide deployment and SSO support for Google Workspace. An Enterprise plan is also available; this includes support for SSO with Azure AD and OKTA, user provisioning via Active Directory, and shared folders.
The solution is rated highly by users as an easy-to-use, secure, and convenient password management solution. We recommend NordPass for businesses of all sizes across all industries that are looking for secure, convenient password management.
Password Boss is a secure, enterprise-focused password management service that provides secure password management and sharing for managed service providers (MSPs). The platform enables MSPs to protect their own passwords, as well as their customers, helping to reduce the risk of data breach and protect sensitive data. It also makes it easy for team members to access key shared accounts. Password Boss is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, and has users in more than 175 countries globally.
This service was designed with the needs of MSPs in mind; to that end, the service supports role-based access for different team members, integrations with remote access control solutions, secure password sharing, and multi-device access. The platform offers an MSP management console which delivers reports and dashboards for all customer Password Boss accounts, including security alerts, password health scores, and audit logs. For end clients, the service offers key secure password storage, multiple device syncing, password and credit card detail autofill, remote wipe in case of device loss, security alerts, and multi-factor authentication support.
Password Boss is easy to use, with a clean, modern user interface that enables MSP teams to easily manage their own passwords, in addition to the password policies and security scores for their clients. The service is popular with users and is a strong choice for MSPs looking for a dedicated password manger to use and offer to clients.
Roboform is a secure password manager offering plans for both business and personal users. It securely stores passwords across all websites and applications, automatically capturing new passwords and auto-filling logins with just a single click. Roboform enables secure password sharing and checks passwords for compromise, including if they have appeared in a data breach. Roboform is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.
Roboform Business syncs with your user directory to automatically provision new users and allows you to create groups and teams, thereby making secure password sharing more straightforward. This is managed within the centralized admin console, where admins can audit, support, and onboard/offboard new users efficiently. Roboform provides a robust reporting dashboard, with detailed reports, dark web monitoring, and notifications for security alerts. The service conducts password health checks to encourage users to change weak, re-used, or compromised passwords.
Roboform is popular with teams of all sizes and is highly rated by users, who praise the service for its ease of use, particularly around password sharing capabilities. The service is available on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Chromebook, and supported web browsers. Pricing for the business plan starts at $35.95 per user, per year for 26-100 users, with discounts available for multi-year subscriptions. Custom enterprise pricing is available for over 1,000 users.
Zoho Vault is a secure password management service that stores and auto-fills corporate passwords. The platform is used by businesses, enterprises, teams, and individuals alike. The service includes a secure password vault, comprehensive security dashboards covering password health, single sign-on support for cloud-applications, and comprehensive auditing. The platform is delivered via a secure app and browser-plug in. It offers a choice of global data centers for ultimate flexibility. Zoho is a leading software provider based out of Chennai, India, with over 90 million users worldwide.
A stand-out feature for Zoho Vault is the number of third-party integrations the service supports. Zoho Integrates with all major identity providers, thereby enabling you to seamlessly import users and manage policies. The platform provides the ability to build custom integrations when needed using the platform’s rest API. The service integrates with Zoho’s other enterprise applications, including Zoho Desk, Mail, and WorkDrive, as well as productivity apps including M365, Google Workspace, DropBox, and OKTA.
Other key features of the Zoho Vault service include encrypted password, notes and credit card storage, single sign-on support, password autofill, and secure password sharing. Admins can easily configure polices for groups and teams, grant multi-level sharing permissions, and limit access to sensitive passwords if required. Teams can also manage user-access privileges for the Zoho Vault service itself and configure custom password policies, such as alerts to rotate passwords after a certain period of time, with comprehensive security auditing.
Zoho Vault is a popular, dedicated enterprise password management service, offering a comprehensive feature set for admin teams, including integrations, reporting, and policy configuration. The service is available for free with a basic plan, with paid plans starting at just $1/user/month – however it is important to note that AD sync (allowing you to import all of your users) is only available in the Professional plan which starts at $5/user/month.
LastPass is a widely used password management service, offering a popular enterprise focused management platform which is easy to use and manage for both end users and admins. The platform delivers secure password storage, password sharing, integrations, and the option to add other identity controls, like multi-factor authentication and single sign-on.
LastPass delivers secure password management for IT teams, including the ability to easily add and remove team members, allow secure password sharing for employees, and to set security controls and restrictions based on your teams’ requirements. LastPass empowers employees to manage their own secure password vaults, including WiFi logins, and software licenses. The platform provides support for passwordless logins, multi-factor authentication, and single sign-on.
Users rate Lastpass highly, particularly for its user experience. It seamlessly stores passwords across accounts and makes it intuitive for users to log into multiple systems with unique, secure passwords. The platform is easy to access, with a browser extension, desktop app, and mobile application that allows users to access their passwords from anywhere. It will also auto-fill your passwords when you are prompted to login, so you don’t need to remember or copy and paste secure passwords.
LastPass offers two pricing tiers: Teams, starting at $4/user/month and Business, starting at $6/user/month. Teams is designed for fewer than 50 users, while Business supports unlimited users and includes multi-factor authentication, single sign-on, and options for over 100 customizable security policies.
Note: In December 2022, LastPass notified users about a security incident, which reportedly allowed a threat actor to ‘copy a backup of customer vault data from the encrypted storage container which is stored in a proprietary binary format that contains both unencrypted data, such as website URLs, as well as fully-encrypted sensitive fields such as website usernames and passwords, secure notes, and form-filled data.’ Fortunately, encrypted fields can only be decrypted using the user’s master password, which is not stored by LastPass under their zero-knowledge architecture model.
Business Password Managers: Everything You Need To Know
What Is A Business Password Manager?
A business password management solution is a security tool that helps end users to store their business credentials more securely. The core feature of these solutions is a secure, encrypted password vault, in which users can store account credentials, including usernames, passwords, one-time-security codes related to accounts, credit card information, and notes . These solutions are commonly cloud-based, SaaS subscription services, paid monthly or annually. They are delivered as web applications, or desktop/mobile apps.
Users access the secure vault using a master password, which (according to admin policies) may need to be a certain length and complexity to improve security. Some password managers have also announced support for FIDO Passkeys, enabling passwordless access to the vault. Within the password vault, admins can log all of their workforce passwords, which can be sorted into folders and groups, and any passwords that have been shared with them. This should be reinforced with multi-factor authentication.
Using a browser plugin, desktop or mobile application, passwords will be automatically entered into web-forms when a user needs to log into an account. When a user creates a new account, the service will automatically generate a secure password and store this in the password vault. This means the user experience is simple and straightforward. Within the vaults, users should be able to easily add, edit, remove, and share passwords securely with their team, and view if passwords have been re-used or needs to be updated.
For admins, password managers enable password policy enforcement, management of secure passwords and teams, reporting into password health, and access controls, with the ability to share and revoke account access.
Why Do You Need A Business Password Manager?
81% of data breaches involve a stolen password or credential. Passwords are notoriously insecure – they can be phished, guessed, exposed by data breaches, and compromised by different forms of malware. Some of problems are inherent to the use of passwords, but some are caused by poor user practices, such as reusing the same passwords across accounts.
Password managers allow businesses to reduce password risks, by assisting users in storing passwords securely, enforcing password policies, such as requiring passwords to be a certain length and complexity. They will highlight when passwords have been compromised in data-breaches or appeared on the dark web.
As well as these security benefits, password managers can also be help organizations adhere to compliance frameworks and qualifying for cyber-insurance policies. Proper password security is an important component of a well-rounded strategy for improving overall cyber-resilience.
Password managers also help from a business productivity standpoint. They reduce the number of password reset requests and help users to easily and securely share passwords across teams and allow users log-in to services quickly and seamlessly.
Features To Look For In A Password Manager For Business?
Business password managers are designed to make it as easy as possible for employees to securely store, retrieve, manage, and secure business passwords, as well as enabling admins to enforce secure password policies and manage password sharing. To that end, there are a number of important features to consider when selecting a password manager tool for business, including:
- A user-friendly password vault
- Secure password sharing functionality, with shared passwords hidden
- Browser plug-in for automatic password collection and password auto-fill
- Password importing ability
- Reporting of weak and re-used passwords
- Notification when passwords have appeared in a data-breach
- Secure password generator when creating new accounts
- Password groups and folders
- Admin policies and reporting
- MFA & SSO for account access
Ultimately, the choice of which password manager to choose will be down to your individual business requirements and use cases, but market leading solutions will include the above key features.
What Is The Best On-Premises Password Manager?
Password managers can be deployed in two ways: as a cloud-based SaaS solution which users access via web applications or via a web browser; or as an application installed on end user devices. Typically, features are very similar between the two. Both offer a secure password vault for end users to access passwords. The main difference is simply in how they are deployed and managed. On-prem password managers need to be installed on each device, while cloud-based services can be accessed by any device that can log into the online password management service.
Benefits of on-prem password management include the fact that all passwords will be held on the local device, giving businesses more control over their data. Despite many top password managers having an extremely tight security policies, there have been instances of password management providers being affected by data breaches.
An on-prem solution reduces the likelihood that your passwords will be affected if the password management company itself suffered a data breach. However, the flip side of this is that the on-prem password manager is only as strong as your internal security policies – if you suffer a breach, the locally stored passwords could be affected.
When choosing the right on-premises password manager, be sure to consider ease of onboarding, how easy the service is to use, and the level of ongoing support available.
How Does Deployment Work For Password Managers?
Password managers are typically sold under a SaaS-subscription model, billed monthly or annually per user. User accounts can be quickly provisioned leveraging your existing user directory system (e.g., Microsoft Azure AD). Admins will be able to manage user identities, configure policies, and view reports within a cloud-based admin portal.
Many leading password managers support all devices and operating systems. Typically, the user will receive an email alerting them that they have been added to a password management service and an explanation of how to set up their account. This may involve installing a desktop app or mobile application. Password managers tend to offer a browser plug-in; this enables passwords to be auto filled as users browse the web.
Users can import their passwords organically, using this plug-in, or can bulk import passwords from an existing service using a CSV. Many password managers offer a personal plan for users alongside workforce capabilities. This means that users can add their personal accounts and passwords to the service. Admins are not able to access these passwords within the password vault.
Typically, when a user leaves the organization, they will be automatically removed from the workforce password management service and access to any shared passwords will be revoked – however this should be checked with any specific password management provider that you consider.
Can The Secure Password Vault Be Breached?
Unfortunately, no security tool is 100% secure. Password managers keep all of your passwords in one place, and if you don’t have robust multi-factor authentication place for your password manager, it’s possibly the secure password vault could be compromised.
With that said, password managers are highly recommended by security experts. All of the password managers on this list offer secure password vaults, and with MFA switched on, it is very difficult to compromise passwords stored in a password manager. Many services store passwords locally (with backups available) so that there is no way for an attacker to compromise passwords without gaining access to your device.
However, it is important to consider each password manager’s security policies. There have been instances in which password manager providers themselves have been affected by data breach. Fortunately when vault data is encrypted, the information is unreadable. Even if attackers are able to compromise the vault itself, the odds on them being able to successfully decrypt the data is slim.
Can You Securely Share Passwords Using A Password Manager?
Secure password sharing is one of the best benefits of implementing a password manager. There are several ways that password managers approach this feature and admin policies can affect this too. Generally, users will be able to share select account usernames and passwords with other colleagues, or within groups and folders shared with multiple team members.
The benefit of sharing a password in a password manager is that the password itself can be hidden. When users with access to the shared password need to log into the account, the password can be automatically filled to authenticate access, without them needing to know the password at all.
When a team member leaves, access to the password can then be automatically revoked. This means you can be confident only authorized users can access shared resources, thereby reducing the risk of data loss or breach caused by poor password sharing policies.
What Happens If A User Forgets Their Master Password?
The master password is needed for each users to log into their password vault. Many organizations will mandate this to be a certain level of length or complexity – this can mean users will sometimes forget or misplace their master password. In this instance, remediation usually depends on company policies or the password management platform’s policies. Access can normally be reset by the user themselves using a secondary form of authentication, or by account admins.
Many password managers are moving to support FIDO Passkeys, which replaces the use of the master password with passwordless authentication. Using Passkeys, authentication is completed with a private key held on the local device, then matched with a public key registered the password manager. There is no need for the local end user to ever have an account password. Combined with an extra verification step leveraging biometric controls, or a physical hardware token, this offers powerful security benefits and means the password cannot be forgotten or phished.
