Why We Recommend 1Password as the Top Password Management App

For years, the team at Interplay has been using and recommending Dashlane as our preferred password management app. However, we’ve been having a few troubles with Dashlane lately, so we switched to 1Password. 

We think you should switch too, and here’s why. 

Wait, Do I Have to Switch? 

Nope, you don’t have to switch at all. Dashlane is fine, we just think 1Password is better. However, let’s clear the air with a couple of need-to-know comments: 

There’s nothing wrong with Dashlane’s security. 

This article isn’t a warning or anything. We still think Dashlane is a great password manager with solid security, and we love its time-saving features… but only when those features work. Lately, Dashlane’s features haven’t been working well for us, so we researched our options and found something better. 

We are NOT getting paid by 1Password for our endorsement. 

We’re pretty excited about 1Password, and we know this article might sound like some sort of paid thing. Let’s be clear: We’re not getting paid to write this, and we have no weird ulterior motives for our endorsement. We just really like 1Password and we want to share the love. ☺

Now, let’s get down to the juicy stuff – here’s why we totally love 1Password. 

Why 1Password Rocks

In general, the reason why we love 1Password is because of its ease of use and security. As we researched and tried out various password management apps, we realized that 1Password was easy enough to use for the novice but sophisticated enough to bend and flex to a power user’s whim. 

Now, let’s talk details: 

1Password’s tools work consistently

Our biggest issue with Dashlane was that the tools didn’t work consistently (and often didn’t work at all). With 1Password, the tools feel very well-coded. They work consistently, on every device, in nearly every situation. (In a few cases, 1Password didn’t fill in logins on a few phone apps during our testing process, but it was really minor.)

In our experience, 1Password never hangs (unlike Dashlane), it never does something without visual feedback, and it never generates weird errors. It just works – and works well. 

1Password is super flexible

Structurally, we think the entire system is well thought out. It’s easy enough to use for the average user, but it can get really sophisticated as needed, directly supporting multiple logins and vaults per user. (Dashlane doesn’t do this.)

The software is fun to use

We know, we know. We’re total nerds for saying that a password management app is fun to use… but it’s true! The software is extremely responsive, allowing us to do everything we needed at the point of password insertion in 95% of cases. We almost never had to open the extension or the full app to change/update/add new sets of credentials. (If you’ve been using Dashlane, you know it’s pretty clunky at this.) 

1Password is deep

We were excited to see that 1Password has a really extensible database that can store a significant amount of information that’s replicated very quickly across devices when needed. In our experience, sync never froze up and we never really had to wait for a password to sync across devices. 

In one particularly awesome testing situation, an Interplay teammate entered a new password into his phone and then tried to log in to a website on his desktop. Immediately, the extension caught on that it needed to sync, and it quickly flashed the new credentials into the login box within a couple seconds without any intervention on the tester’s part. 

We were shocked and amazed because we were just so darn used to fighting with Dashlane all the time about syncing. 

1Password can store a lot of info!

In 1Password, each password in the database is extensible, which allows for a lot more tricks. Maybe you won’t get this extreme with your password management habits, but we loved that you can store as many duplicates of items inside an object in 1Password as you want, so you can store multiple URLs to simplify the login process when the name of the site changes but still uses the same login credentials. 1Password also lets you store multiple one-time passwords (OTPs) if you want to do that, as well as secret keys and challenge questions, free-form text, documents, images – whatever you want. 

Sharing passwords is easy 

In Dashlane, sharing passwords one at a time gets really tiresome really quickly, especially if you need to share a large number of passwords. In 1Password, you can create multiple vaults and attach people to those vaults. After that, you simply drop passwords from one vault to another, even across linked accounts like your personal password vault and your business password vault. 

1Password’s customer support and service work really well

We tried contacting support through multiple channels (including Twitter, which is an official channel!) and they were very responsive with fast turnaround times. When you get a business license with 1Password, you are assigned a “Sales Sommelier,” which is a fancy term for your account manager. In addition, the documentation is good, even though it’s not always easy to find from the app.  

Of course, there are downsides… 

• The business team version of 1Password is $8/user/month, which is costly. However, each business license includes five family accounts per person, which can be linked to the team account. If that price is too steep, there are other levels that are competitively priced with all the other password managers out there. 
• Switching from Dashlane to 1Password will take some relearning. It’s a different setup and luckily you don’t have to learn everything in advance… but some of your staff may be a bit slow and frustrated for a while. Be prepared for that. 
• Initial setup for 1Password is more time consuming than setup for Dashlane. 1Password generates a unique Secret Key for security, so you need to make sure your staff knows what that is and how to safely store it in case of emergency. Fortunately, 1Password is pretty good at explaining the Secret Key, so it shouldn’t be too much to worry about. 
• 1Password doesn’t have that cool “auto-login” feature from Dashlane. Of course, it’s only a cool feature when it actually works, so there’s that, but still. We miss Dashlane’s auto-magical capabilities when it comes to skipping button clicks on login pages. 

Don’t Worry! Dashlane Is Still Great If You Prefer It

Not sure if you have the time or energy to deal with installing, learning, training, and paying for a new password management app? Waiting for your annual Dashlane contract to end before making the switch? That’s okay. Even though we’re excited about 1Password, we still think Dashlane is a great option. 

If you want to stick with Dashlane, there is no problem with that. 

Here’s what we like about Dashlane:

• Tried and true – we’ve used it ourselves for years and have recommended it to many of our clients
• Good security model
• Really good insights into password security (how secure are they?) with lots of assistance available (but 1Password has this too, in spades)
• Has a completely automated login facility that works great when it works
• Has a completely automated password change facility (for select websites) that works great when it works

Why did we switch? For reasons that should sound familiar to you if you’ve been a longtime Dashlane user:

• Too many problems with random hangs and freeze-ups
• Can’t handle multiple accounts simultaneously
• No way to export 2FAs/OTPs or shared password lists
• When sharing, you have to share one password at a time
• “Business” version has minimal management or controls around it and they don’t actually work smoothly (required several trips to support to get things set up properly)
• Business version is really restricted with what you can and can’t do to the data – and there is no way to export account information stored in the “business” area

Ready to Make the Switch? 

The choice, of course, is yours – but if you’re as excited about 1Password as we are, you’ll be glad to hear that it’s super easy to make the switch. When it comes to exports, 1Password handled our Dashlane JSON export file really well, with no questions asked and no hassle. That means it should be an easy export/import process for you to change over to your new password management app. 

However… that being said, if you have any problems or any questions, you know that the friendly IT experts at Interplay are always here to lend a helping hand with whatever you need. 

 

Need help? All you have to do is reach out.