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Business password managers · head to head

Bitwarden vs LastPass

Mateus Rocha Written by Mateus Rocha · Edited by Sebastiaan Smits · Fact-checked by Priya Nandakumar · Published September 30, 2026 · Updated September 30, 2026

On features the two are closer than their reputations suggest. The gap is trust and exit: Bitwarden publishes its code and yearly audit reports and lets Enterprise customers run the vault on their own server, while LastPass had encrypted customer vault backups copied in 2022 and cannot be self-hosted. New buyers mostly land on Bitwarden; LastPass is a renewal question.

Side by side

BitwardenLastPass
What it isOpen-source password manager with cloud or self-hosted vaultsLong-standing cloud password manager, now independent of GoTo
Best forCost-conscious SMBs and technical teamsExisting customers weighing renewal
HeadquartersUnited StatesUnited States
Pricing modelPer user / monthPer user / year
PricingPublished per-user Teams and Enterprise tiers billed monthly or annually, with a free plan for individuals and a free two-person organization; SSO, enterprise policies and self-hosting come with Enterprise.Published per-user Teams, Business and Business Max plans billed annually; SaaS monitoring, unlimited SSO apps and advanced MFA come only with Business Max.
Free optionFree planFree trial
List price
as listed on September 30, 2026		$4 per user per month, billed annually (Teams)€4.42 per user per month, billed annually (Teams, up to 50 users)
Place in our business password managers ranking#1 of 12#10 of 12
Websitebitwarden.comlastpass.com

Both are reviewed in full in Best Business Password Managers in 2026. Position in that ranking can be paid for; the wording of a review or of this comparison cannot. Placement disclosure.

Which one to choose

Choose Bitwarden if

you are choosing a vault for the first time, want every employee covered at a low seat price, and value public code plus the option to self-host on the Enterprise plan later.

Bitwarden, #1 in the ranking · Visit Bitwarden →

Choose LastPass if

you are already a customer, your staff know the product, the policy library or the Business Max monitoring tools are in daily use, and your auditors accept the post-2022 hardening.

LastPass, #10 in the ranking · Visit LastPass →

Where they differ

The 2022 incident and what it means now

LastPass's own notice says an attacker used information from an August 2022 breach to copy a backup of customer vault data, with passwords and notes encrypted but website URLs and account details such as email and billing addresses not. Bitwarden's code is public and audited yearly, with the reports published. An auditor asking about vendor breach history will have an easier conversation about Bitwarden.

Edge: Bitwarden

Where the vault can live

Bitwarden offers both a cloud service and a self-hosted server, so a change of terms or ownership does not lock the vault into one company's infrastructure. Among its business plans, self-hosting is listed for Enterprise only, not Teams. LastPass has no self-hosting, and its roadmap slowed during the ownership changes that ended with independence from GoTo. Only one of these provides a way out.

Edge: Bitwarden

Admin policies and shadow IT

LastPass lists 25 policies on Teams and more than 100 on Business, which adds directory integrations and SIEM reporting. Its SaaS, web and AI monitoring tools, unlimited SSO apps and advanced MFA come only with Business Max. Bitwarden puts SCIM and event logs in Teams, and keeps SSO, enterprise policies and Access Intelligence for Enterprise. On breadth of admin features, LastPass is ahead.

Edge: LastPass

Plans and billing terms

Bitwarden lists Teams at $4 and Enterprise at $6 per user per month on annual billing, says subscriptions can also be billed monthly, and has a free two-person organization. LastPass lists Teams, Business and Business Max, all billed annually, with Teams limited to 50 users and a 14-day trial. Bitwarden gives a small company more ways to start and fewer limits.

Edge: Bitwarden

Tally: Bitwarden 3, LastPass 1, even 0.

When neither fits

If your staff resist new software and you also need deeper compliance reporting than Bitwarden's plain admin views, look past both. Keeper has the most granular policies and compliance reports for regulated firms, and 1Password gets better adoption in tech companies running Okta or Entra.

See Keeper and 1Password among the 12 products in Best Business Password Managers in 2026.

Questions and answers

Should we switch from LastPass to Bitwarden?

If auditors or customers ask about vendor breach history, or you want the option to self-host, the case is strong. If the LastPass policy set and SaaS monitoring are embedded in how IT works, weigh the migration effort and coaching staff through Bitwarden's less friendly interface.

What do Bitwarden and LastPass cost for a business?

Bitwarden lists Teams at $4 and Enterprise at $6 per user per month, billed annually. LastPass showed us euro prices: Teams at 4.42, Business at 6.50 and Business Max at 10.00 euros per user per month, billed annually. The currencies differ, so compare the plan contents before the numbers.

Which has more admin features, Bitwarden or LastPass?

LastPass lists more: over 100 policies on Business, plus SaaS monitoring, unlimited SSO apps and advanced MFA on Business Max, the top tier. Bitwarden answers with a Secrets Manager, a command-line client and a self-hosted server on Enterprise, which matter more to technical teams.

Which Bitwarden plan do we need for single sign-on or self-hosting?

Enterprise. Bitwarden's pricing table puts SSO integration, enterprise policies and self-hosting in the Enterprise plan at $6 per user per month, while Teams at $4 covers sharing, SCIM provisioning and event logs. A company that only needs shared collections can stay on Teams.

Sources

Prices, plan limits and product facts on this page were checked against the vendors' own pages on September 30, 2026. Vendors change both without notice, so treat the figures as of that date.