Dashlane password manager review
Our Verdict
Dashlane is a premium password director that provides a tiptop-notch experience for users willing to pay its high prices, but its cheaper plans are less attractive for those who demand only basic features.
For
- Nifty user interface across all platforms
- Easy, intuitive setup process
- VPN service for premium users
Against
- Much more than expensive than other password managers
- Major limitations for free-tier users
Tom's Guide Verdict
Dashlane is a premium password director that provides a top-notch experience for users willing to pay its high prices, merely its cheaper plans are less attractive for those who need only basic features.
Pros
- +
Great user interface across all platforms
- +
Like shooting fish in a barrel, intuitive setup process
- +
VPN service for premium users
Cons
- -
Much more expensive than other password managers
- -
Major limitations for gratis-tier users
Dashlane: Specs
Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, Chrome OS
Free version: Yes (limited to 50 passwords and 1 device)
2FA: Aye
Browser extensions: Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Border
Form filling: Yes
Biometric login: Confront ID, Affect ID on iOS & macOS, Windows Hi, fingerprint unlock on Android
Pin code: Yes
Killer feature: Automatic password changer
Dashlane is a top-tier countersign manager with some of the most comprehensive features and the best user experience on the marketplace — but it comes at a premium price.
To get unlimited-device syncing, you lot take to pay a hefty $59.99 per year for Dashlane Premium, which comes with extra services you may not really need, such as a VPN. Meanwhile, Dashlane's costless tier is so restrictive that it's barely worth mentioning.
At $35.99 per year, Dashlane'south recently introduced mid-range Essentials plan is priced the same every bit the summit tiers from 1Password, Keeper and LastPass. But dissimilar those, it's limited to just two devices (one phone and one estimator, for example).
Dashlane would be a top choice if its Essentials program could be used across as an unlimited number of devices. Simply it's hard to justify paying for Dashlane's Premium plan when the other premium choices among the all-time password managers, and even solid free options like Bitwarden'due south, offering more than for much less.
That said, Dashlane Premium is compelling for users who want actress services or who especially value platform design.
Read on for the rest of our Dashlane review.
Dashlane: Costs and what'south covered
Dashlane has 3 paid tiers: Essentials ($35.99 per twelvemonth), Premium ($59.99 per year) and Family unit ($89.99 per year). The Essentials option is priced similarly to the "premium" plans offered by its competitors, but it allows syncing across just two devices.
At that place's also a free Dashlane plan, though its functionality is extremely limited — you tin can store just 50 passwords on a single device. While you practice get some security-monitoring capabilities, the fact that there are more than full-featured free options available with the likes of Bitwarden and Myki make Dashlane'due south free offering far less appealing.
With the $35.99-per-year Dashlane Essentials plan, yous get unlimited countersign sharing, secure notes, a majority password changer and security features like data-alienation alerts and password-health reports. But again, this plan works beyond only two devices, and then if you need password management on your phone, personal figurer, work calculator and/or tablet, you'd have to upgrade to Premium.
If y'all do cull Dashlane Premium ($59.99 annually), you lot'll get unlimited device syncing plus 1 GB of secure storage, dark-web monitoring and VPN services provided by Hotspot Shield — which is where the premium price tag comes from. (To be fair, $20 per year for ane of the best VPN services is a steal.) The Family unit plan ($89.99 per year) is basically Premium with up to six accounts.
Dashlane does allow users to subscribe month-to-month, admitting at a college charge per unit: $3.99 per month for Essentials, $6.49 per month for Premium and $8.99 per month for Family. This is handy if you've used your 30-mean solar day free trial but aren't gear up to commit to a full twelvemonth with Dashlane.
Dashlane is phasing out its desktop apps, so information technology now operates primarily via a spider web app and browser extensions on Windows, macOS, Linux and Chrome Bone — as long as both the extension and browser are up-to-date (within the last 2 major versions). Extensions are available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge as well as other Chromium-based browsers.
Note that the Safari extension requires macOS ten.14 or later. On mobile, Dashlane supports iOS fourteen or later, watchOS 6.2 or later on and Android ten or afterward. Y'all can also access your spider web vault in any browser except Net Explorer.
For this review, I tested Dashlane on a 2020 MacBook Air running macOS 10.15.7 Catalina and an iPhone XR. I used Google Chrome for browser testing.
Dashlane: Setup
To set a Dashlane account, you'll exist redirected to install the browser extension. Click the Create an Business relationship button, which will open up a new window and prompt y'all to enter your electronic mail address followed past a master password.
Make sure you lot make the master password memorable or write information technology down someplace condom — there's no account recovery selection downward the line unless y'all've enabled biometrics on your mobile device.
Once your account has been created, you lot'll enter your vault, which includes a guided onboarding process for adding individual passwords and connecting mobile apps. Browse the QR code to open the appropriate app store on your device, or navigate directly there and download Dashlane's mobile app.
If you lot prefer to skip the onboarding and jump right to populating your vault, tap the three horizontal lines in the upper-left corner to open the menu bar and tap My account > Import passwords. Dashlane supports CSV uploads but does not have dissever steps for importing from other password-management tools.
Note that all of this happens inside the Dashlane browser extension. To log into your spider web vault at app.dashlane.com, yous'll enter your email address to receive a security code that authorizes your device earlier you tin enter your principal password. The web interface is about identical to the browser-extension one.
Biometric unlocking on desktop is a beta feature for the extension only, which y'all tin enable in My account > Security settings.
The first fourth dimension you lot log in on a mobile device, yous'll likewise have to enter a verification code sent to your electronic mail address to authorize your device before yous can enter your master password. The app has a similar guided onboarding process for adding passwords and enabling autofill, which you lot have to consummate earlier your full vault loads in the Dwelling section. Turn on biometrics, if available on your device, in Settings > Security.
Dashlane: Desktop
Dashlane on desktop is actually Dashlane via the web vault, as the company is sunsetting its standalone desktop apps. Back up will be bachelor for current desktop users until the web vault is fully functional. You tin can open up your vault inside the browser extension or past logging into the spider web app.
The vault has a collapsible, left-justified menu bar for toggling between detail categories, security tools and settings too as a search bar. Tap Passwords to view vault records, and click on private records to open, view and edit the details. Dashlane will notify you within a record if your password is weak or compromised and direct you lot to change your credentials, though it takes several clicks.
There are likewise granular autofill settings for private records, such every bit machine-login, and you tin share the record or launch the website from this view. Alternatively, you lot can click the three horizontal dots next to the item to quickly launch the website, copy your credentials or share the record.
Dashlane has some back-up for accessing vault functions on desktop — buttons exist in multiple places, for example — but this isn't intrusive and actually makes it easier to quickly find what you need.
To add a new item, click the Add together new button at the top of the vault window. You can share an item from this view too, or within the Sharing Center. Other sections in the primary navigation bar include notes, payment methods, personal info (addresses and emails, for example) and IDs (which currently include ID cards, Social Security numbers, driver's licenses, passports and tax numbers).
Annotation that you must add a tape within the correct category — the Add together item button in Passwords does non take the template for a passport, for example.
Further downward are the security tools, including Countersign Health for weak, reused and compromised passwords and Dark Spider web Monitoring, which scans the night web for upward to five email addresses that may have been leaked in data breaches. You lot have to verify added electronic mail addresses to activate monitoring. If any leaks are detected, Dashlane will guide you to click through to change your business relationship credentials.
Ane of Dashlane's killer features is an automated password changer, currently in beta. (This replaces Dashlane'south original bulk password changer.) Tap the Change passwords button at the top of your vault, and Dashlane will show you which accounts it can automatically update credentials for.
You can select private accounts or click Change all, and Dashlane will navigate to those websites, alter your passwords and update them in your vault. This feature works on a limited number of websites, just information technology'southward extremely useful for creating more secure logins speedily.
The browser extension pop-upward from your browser toolbar has about of the bones functions you'll use regularly. Y'all can view your entire vault, search for private items, open and edit records and generate new passwords. Most other functions will redirect you to the spider web app. The extension likewise has a function called "This website," which shows y'all any credentials available for the site you're currently on.
To autofill credentials, click the Dashlane icon in the form field and select the particular you want to fill in. If the icon is light-green, Dashlane has something to fill in. If information technology'southward greyed out, you'll accept to enter the item manually.
In testing, Dashlane occasionally indicated that information technology didn't have a countersign available to autofill for accounts that were, in fact, stored in my vault.
When creating a new account, Dashlane will automatically propose a generated password and ask if you want to save the business relationship to your vault.
Amid Dashlane'southward migration from desktop to web, there are some features that take yet to be fully rolled out , including U2F security-primal back up and the ability to enable or disable 2FA. Dashlane is not adding an emergency-access characteristic to its web app notwithstanding, although it plans to offer an alternative in the future.
Dashlane: Mobile apps
The mobile app is clean and like shooting fish in a barrel to navigate and has all of Dashlane'southward functionality, including total-featured night web monitoring. Some other password managers crave you to view this on desktop only.
The main navigation bar has a Home button that pulls up all items in your vault with an selection to search or add a record. Tap Vault to view records by category and Contacts to see items you've shared. Under Tools, you'll find the Dashlane countersign generator, password changer and your security tools (tap Identity Dashboard) as well as your VPN service.
If you have a Premium plan, this will walk you through the setup process. The final section is your Settings, where you tin can customize some basic security preferences like biometrics.
To enable autofill, set Dashlane as your default password manager in your telephone settings. Dashlane will motorcar-advise credentials or open within your browser to suggest login options. This worked smoothly in my apps likewise. You tin can also create and save new credentials into Dashlane straight from the login interface.
Dashlane: Security
Dashlane uses AES-256 encryption to secure your data, and your information is unlocked on your local device only when you enter your principal password and any enabled two-cistron authentication methods. That means that Dashlane employees never accept admission to your vaults, and hackers cannot see your data fifty-fifty if they manage to access Dashlane's servers.
Two-factor authentication is available for all Dashlane accounts, costless or paid, though free users should exist careful to enable or disable 2FA with the single device they're using for Dashlane, as doing so on a secondary device volition re-encrypt your account and you lot'll lose your data.
Otherwise, 2FA must be prepare up (for at present) on your desktop, though you should be able to enable it in the web app in the future once the transition is consummate.
Dashlane works with time-based one-time password (TOTP) apps like Authy, Google Authenticator and FreeOTP. With the transition from the desktop app to the web app, Dashlane no longer supports U2F hardware like YubiKey for 2FA, though y'all can yet apply a security key in identify of your master countersign.
Dashlane supports Windows Hello and Touch ID on macOS. Fingerprint unlock is bachelor on virtually Android devices, and there'southward support for Touch ID and Face ID on iOS. You lot tin also enable PIN unlocking on your mobile devices.
Dashlane password director review: Bottom line
It'south hard to detect a better password-management user experience than what Dashlane has to offer. But to get the virtually out of Dashlane, y'all take to pay a hefty $60 annually for its Premium tier. If you don't need the extras that come with this plan, it's hard to see its value when competitors charge premium users a lot less for everything you lot'd actually use.
Dashlane has its $36-per-year Essentials program to friction match prices with the premium plans from Keeper, LastPass and 1Password, but it'southward not really a fair comparison considering Dashlane Essentials limits you to only two devices while the others offering total premium services at the same cost.
Plus, Bitwarden offers solid password management for gratis, and NordPass is a decent alternative at both its costless and its $thirty-per-year premium tiers.
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/dashlane
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