Keeper review: The security-enthusiast’s password manager

Best Prices Today: Keeper

Editor’s be aware: This evaluate 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 prior to now that typically got here on the expense of issues that buyers prize like ease-of-use and crowd pleasing aesthetics. Thankfully, the password supervisor has made some sensible updates because the final time I reviewed it, together with modernizing its interface, whereas strengthening its already spectacular safety features. 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 best password managers to study competing merchandise, what to search for in a password supervisor, and product suggestions.

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

As with different password managers, Keeper’s important utility is capturing your credentials everytime you log in to a web site. When you first go to a safe website after putting in Keeper, you possibly can have it save your login when prompted or create a brand new username and password immediately 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 file, Keeper routinely fills the location’s login fields with the brand new credentials.

Keeper

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

Keeper additionally acknowledges once you’ve accessed a web 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 supervisor eschews any options that might expose your login credentials to the corporate. As a Keeper contact defined to me, automated password updates require passwords to quickly 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 discipline for wanting up password information by web site identify. 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 consumer 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 an inventory or as tiles, and you may group information into folders if you wish to arrange them additional. Every password file lets you connect recordsdata and photographs, create customized fields, and add notes. The vault additionally retains a whole file of each password you’ve used for a website and lets you restore them. It maintains model histories of all connected recordsdata, 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 possibly can simply establish weak and reused passwords and alter them. It additionally shows how lengthy it’s been since every password was modified, although NIST guidelines no longer recommend regularly changing you password and advise you to do it solely after you understand it’s been compromised. Keeper’s BreachWatch function 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 file with somebody who doesn’t, they are going to be instructed to enroll in a free account. By default, the recipient will be capable of use the login however not change it. You can develop permissions on the file as much as making the recipient its proprietor. You may also share a number of passwords by making a shared folder, with permissions working a lot the identical as with a person file. Keeper’s Emergency Access function lets you grant entry to as much as 5 trusted contacts, who can log in within the occasion you possibly can’t for no matter motive.

Keeper

Keeper’s free model offers entry to your password vault on limitless units 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, cost, and id data storage; fingerprint and face ID login; emergency entry; and 24/7 help. The Family plan included all the pieces 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 employ Keeper password supervisor?

Thanks to some welcome options updates, Keeper is without doubt one of the strongest password managers accessible. While severely security-minded customers stand to get essentially the most out of its sturdy options set, even these simply wanting a neater strategy to handle their passwords can be safer for utilizing it.

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