1Password creator Agile Bits is completing its subscription service with a new personal option. Anyone looking for a solid password manager can sign-up for the new 1-person plan for $3 per month. Like its other plans, the subscription service grants you access to 1Password on all your devices (Android, iOS, Mac, Windows) and the company’s cloud service to sync your password vault across devices.
Until September 21, Agile Bits is also offering the first six months free for new customers. In other words, a 1Password subscription will cost you $18 for the first year, and about $36 for every year after that.
In addition to its password service, a 1Password subscription also gives you 1GB of secure document storage, a 365-day item history for retrieving old passwords, and multi-factor authentication.
Longtime 1Password users who don’t want to pay for the subscription won’t be forced over to a premium plan. You can continue using 1Password as a licensed user the same way you always have, complete with the ability to sync their password vault to Dropbox. That said, you’ll miss out on subscription niceties like 1Password on all your devices at no extra charge, and the right to upgrade to the latest version of the password manager.
The impact on you at home: For anyone interested in trying out a password manager it’s hard to go wrong with 1Password, especially for the first year. 1Password’s service definitely isn’t the cheapest option, however. After 12 months of service, 1Password is a little bit cheaper than browser-based manager Dashlane, which charges $40 a year for its premium service. However, LastPass (my preferred password manager) is three times cheaper at just $12 per year. LastPass offers similar benefits to 1Password with the exception of secure document storage.