Hot Take Things Are Quietly Changing at Bitwarden, and People Are Worried

[lokamoka820]

For a lot of people, Bitwarden became the go-to password manager after the LastPass fiasco. Free, open source, and trustworthy, it has gained a reputation by offering a free tier, keeping the code open, and not pulling the rug.

But that comes at a cost; any hit to its image matters a lot when we are talking about software that holds extremely sensitive information.

So when things start looking a little off, people pay attention. And over the past few months, a few things have looked a little off.

The first change worth noting happened in February. Bitwarden's longtime CEO, Michael Crandell, stepped back to an advisory role. The company said nothing about it publicly, and one would have to check his LinkedIn profile to find out.

Then there's the other issue of values being quietly changed. Bitwarden has used the GRIT acronym to describe its company culture for years, standing for Gratitude, Responsibility, Inclusion, and Transparency.

For such a sensitive piece of software, unannounced leadership changes and a values rewrite are the kind of thing that should make you nervous. But unless Bitwarden does something drastic like axing the free tier or pulling a Cal.com, there is not much to act on just yet.

Things Are Quietly Changing at Bitwarden, and People Are Worried

The password manager swapped its CEO, rewrote its core values, and briefly pulled "Always Free" from its pricing page.

itsfoss.com

 

[n8chavez]

All of these changes seem worrying, especially the changes at the top not even being announced.

 

[Wrecker4923]

They did respond to the exposure:

My first 100 days at Bitwarden | Bitwarden

My first 100 days at Bitwarden from the CEO

bitwarden.com

That said, if this were obviously good news for most people, they’d have announced it right away. The “obvious” read is that investors are looking for an exit.

Besides reaffirming the open-sourced model and always having a free version (pushing the idea that everyone should have an unlimited basic password manager), here are some new angles (the announcement when making changes is ironic):

Bitwarden already has a strong foundation here in making the right choices to help millions of users, and I believe we can go further. The goal for Bitwarden is beyond just being the most trusted password manager. It's to be the easiest one to love.

Trust is everything here. Bitwarden is a company people invite into the most sensitive corners of their digital lives: every password, every credential, every secret. That trust is not given lightly, and it must never be taken for granted.

When you pay for Bitwarden, you get the best value in the market. Bitwarden paid plans for individuals, families, and businesses, will continue to deliver more capability, more security, and more trust per dollar than any alternative. We welcome being judged on it.

There will be changes. A company that stops evolving stops being relevant, and standing still is not an option. What I can promise is that change at Bitwarden will always be grounded in the commitments above, and to our open source foundation, to an easily accessible product, to value, and to the trust you've placed in us. When we make changes, we'll tell you why.

 

[Zero Knowledge]

Yeah rats usually jump a sinking ship, maybe he got outvoted or vetoed on the changes and decided to step down.

People don't like change that is number #1. But I guess you gotta eat or go to a IPO? So charging more is only natural. But people are obviously unhappy right now!

Look @ OpenAI now, there is zero talk now for being for the benefit of humanity. Now it's all Things change, money blinds people!

Saying that I would probably invest in a Bitwarden IPO & it's shares, same with Anthropic and OpenAI.

 

[Sorrento]

As i don't use Bitwarden, what changes would users not want to see??

 

[Zero Knowledge]

As i don't use Bitwarden, what changes would users not want to see??

Continued subscription price rises with no net benefit or new features to justify rises.

 

[lokamoka820]

As i don't use Bitwarden, what changes would users not want to see??

In my opinion, if the free version of Bitwarden start to has limitations similar to those found in other password managers' free versions, such as limiting the number of devices that can synchronize or imposing a cap on the number of passwords that can be used.

 

[Wrecker4923]

what changes would users not want to see??

I think people generally dislike changes to what they've already adapted to or adopted. Price hikes — most people won't like. UI changes that disrupt what you've been doing — not so much. New features with no price hike — great. New features with a price hike — not so much. Bitwarden has been adding consumer features over the years and continues to do so.

Regardless, for a for‑profit company we'll always see price hikes, whether or not we can tolerate them. When we find changes we don't like in a product, it's usually better to evaluate alternatives and either try to change the product or adjust our own perspective. The complaints don't usually work unless we marshal enough pressure (public, press, political, etc.) against the changes.

 

[lokamoka820]

I'm glad I followed @Jonny Quest's approach and exported my Bitwarden vault to Proton Pass when it was released, and now I have my passwords in both, so if one makes a change that I don't like, the other is there and ready, and let's not forget KeePassXC either.

 

[MIDave]

One change I spotted is that annual pricing for Premium is going from $10 to $19.80. I'm not sure I have used any of the premium features but I figured $10 was a way to support their efforts. I am getting tired of all the increases to subscriptions, so just on principal I will revisit the free version and other alternatives.

Bitwarden Password Manager Pricing & Plans | Bitwarden

 

[TairikuOkami]

I'm glad I followed @Jonny Quest's approach and exported my Bitwarden vault to Proton Pass when it was released

Thanks for the encouragement, I have just did it. It took about an hour, but it works better than Bitwarden, I was getting buried under tons of folders and No Light mode.

 

[Wrecker4923]

I was getting buried under tons of folders and No Light mode.

I think Proton restricts folder use on the free plan. If you can, please let us know what you like and dislike about Proton Pass — other people might want to take the same steps.

 

[lokamoka820]

After using both of them (the browser extensions) for some time, I decided that Proton Pass was more elegant, straightforward, and easy to use. As a result, I have disabled Bitwarden and only use Proton Pass; I only re-enable Bitwarden when I want to create a new login so that both will save the credentials in their vaults.

 

[n8chavez]

After using both of them (the browser extensions) for some time, I decided that Proton Pass was more elegant, straightforward, and easy to use. As a result, I have disabled Bitwarden and only use Proton Pass; I only re-enable Bitwarden when I want to create a new login so that both will save the credentials in their vaults.

Ok. That answers my question. Are these Bitwarden changes, combined with the price increase enough to justify going to protonpass?

 

[lokamoka820]

Ok. That answers my question. Are these Bitwarden changes, combined with the price increase enough to justify going to protonpass?

It's not about Bitwarden's changes for me. I noticed while reading other members' security settings that some of them use two password managers, so I created a new thread asking if I needed more than one and what the reasons were. The recommendation was to keep one as a backup in case something went wrong with the service I was using, so I tried KeePass, but it was more complicated than Bitwarden. So when Proton Pass was released I tried it, and it was easier, so I used it as a backup, but later I liked it more. However, I still use both at the same time.

 

[Wrecker4923]

However, I still use both at the same time.

It appears from searches that Proton pass clients (including desktop in the free plan), don't let you access a cached vault in an offline mode. Is this true for you

Most Bitwarden clients allow offline, read-only access if the client is still logged in.

 

[lokamoka820]

It appears from searches that Proton pass clients (including desktop in the free plan), don't let you access a cached vault in an offline mode. Is this true for you

Most Bitwarden clients allow offline, read-only access if the client is still logged in.

I just checked, and the free version does not have offline access.

 

[TairikuOkami]

I think Proton restricts folder use on the free plan.

Yes, that hit me a bit, but still I find passwords on it faster via search and pinned items are like favorites.

I just checked, and the free version does not have offline access.

I would consider it is as a bonus, but it seems that the desktop client has it.



Dark Web Monitoring is paid, I hate that thing, so I am glad, though it seems to perform some password check on it's own, I hope that it is not an online thing.

 

[BSONE]

I'm glad I followed @Jonny Quest's approach and exported my Bitwarden vault to Proton Pass when it was released, and now I have my passwords in both, so if one makes a change that I don't like, the other is there and ready, and let's not forget KeePassXC either.

I have said this before. An approach that I do is to keep an additional backup password manager in the cloud and do occasional export/imports between them. I do this for the purpose for example that in the instance that my primary password autofill manager goes offline and I need to do something important such as logging into a bank account.

 

[lokamoka820]

I would consider it is as a bonus, but it seems that the desktop client has it.

Could you add/edit items in offline mode or just read items? I haven't tried the desktop client.