Keeper evaluation: The security-enthusiast’s password manager

Best Prices Today: Keeper

Editor’s observe: This evaluation was up to date on 3/7/23 to replace pricing and plan particulars.

Keeper has all the time emphasised safety, greater than another password managers. But previously that generally got here on the expense of issues that buyers prize like ease-of-use and crowd pleasing aesthetics. Thankfully, the password manager has made some good updates because the final time I reviewed it, together with modernizing its interface, whereas strengthening its already spectacular security measures. Its pricing has additionally dropped to $34.99 for the Personal Plan and $74.99 for the Family Plan.

Note: See our roundup of the finest password managers to study competing merchandise, what to search for in a password manager, and product suggestions.

Keeper’s guided multi-step setup will get you up and working shortly. You’re first requested to import any passwords you’ve gotten saved in your browser. Given the inherent dangers of storing passwords this manner, all customers ought to fortunately oblige. You also can import passwords from 15 different common password managers, together with Dashlane and LastPass. Next, it walks you thru the method of putting in the Keeper browser extension, creating your first report, and including your private and bank card info for auto type filling. Finally, it prompts you to activate two-factor authentication; it helps a number of totally different authentication strategies, together with textual content message, Google Authenticator (TOTP), Smart Watch, RSA SecurID, and DUO Security and FIDO Universal 2nd Factor (U2F) appropriate {hardware} safety keys.

As with different password managers, Keeper’s foremost utility is capturing your credentials everytime you log in to an internet site. When you first go to a safe website after putting in Keeper, you may have it save your login when prompted or create a brand new username and password straight in Keeper by clicking the lock icons that seem in these fields. Keeper will generate a password of 8 to 51 characters utilizing a mix of upper- and lower-case letters, numerals, and symbols. When you save the report, Keeper routinely fills the positioning’s login fields with the brand new credentials.

Keeper

Once you’ve saved your login credentials for an internet site, Keeper will floor a pop-up immediate every time you come back, asking if you’d like it to autofill the credentials. If you’ve gotten a number of logins for a website—a financial institution the place each you and your partner have accounts, for instance—you may view all of them by clicking the lock icon and choose the suitable one for autofill.

Keeper additionally acknowledges while you’ve accessed an internet site’s “change password” web page and surfaces a one-click update-and-save choice to retailer the brand new password in your vault. It doesn’t, nevertheless, help automated password updates as this violates Keeper’s “zero knowledge” coverage—to make sure your sovereignty over your passwords, the password manager eschews any options that might expose your login credentials to the corporate. As a Keeper contact defined to me, computerized password updates require passwords to briefly reside on Keeper’s servers and that’s anathema to the corporate.

The Keeper browser plugin is pretty minimal. At the highest is a search subject for wanting up password information by web site title. Beneath that may be a toggle for enabling/disabling the lock icons that seem in web sites’ login fields, and buttons for accessing your vault, numerous Keeper settings, a person information, and a logout button.

Keeper

Clicking on “vault” within the browser extension opens Keeper’s net interface. The vault shows all of your passwords in a listing or as tiles, and you may group information into folders if you wish to manage them additional. Every password report lets you connect information and images, create customized fields, and add notes. The vault additionally retains an entire report of each password you’ve used for a website and lets you restore them. It maintains model histories of all hooked up information, as nicely. Personal info and bank card information are saved in their very own part.

The Security Audit part of the interface assigns a password energy to every entry so you may simply establish weak and reused passwords and alter them. It additionally shows how lengthy it’s been since every password was modified, although NIST tips not advocate usually altering you password and advise you to do it solely after you already know it’s been compromised. Keeper’s BreachWatch characteristic makes it simpler to find stolen passwords, by scanning the Dark Web to see if any of your credentials have been present in earlier breaches.

Keeper helps safe sharing of any password with anybody who has a Keeper account. If you attempt to share a report with somebody who doesn’t, they are going to be instructed to enroll in a free account. By default, the recipient will have the ability to use the login however not change it. You can broaden permissions on the report as much as making the recipient its proprietor. You also can share a number of passwords by making a shared folder, with permissions working a lot the identical as with a person report. Keeper’s Emergency Access characteristic lets you grant entry to as much as 5 trusted contacts, who can log in within the occasion you may’t for no matter cause.

Keeper

Keeper’s free model gives entry to your password vault on limitless gadgets and safe sharing. It’s price beginning there to find out if you wish to pay for the service. For $34.99 a yr, the Personal plan provides limitless password, fee, and identification data storage; fingerprint and face ID login; emergency entry; and 24/7 help. The Family plan included every thing within the Personal plan and provides 5 non-public vaults, 10GB Secure File Storage, and the flexibility to share folders and information, and handle permissions, for $74.99 a yr.

Should you utilize Keeper password manager?

Thanks to some welcome options updates, Keeper is among the strongest password managers accessible. While significantly security-minded customers stand to get probably the most out of its strong options set, even these simply wanting a neater approach to handle their passwords shall be safer for utilizing it.

Editor’s observe: Because on-line providers are sometimes iterative, gaining new options and efficiency enhancements over time, our opinions are topic to vary with the intention to precisely replicate the present state of the providers.