Setting secure passwords is great; remembering them later is a chore. Password managers are a handy way to store passwords, and while I’ve tried a few, Bitwarden remains my daily driver.

What Is Bitwarden?

Bitwarden is a password manager that can generate and store your passwords. You can download Bitwarden as a browser extension, which is the main way I use it; however, there is also a mobile and desktop app worth checking out.

Once you set up a login for a website, you can invoke Bitwarden to fill in your details automatically when you log in. It saves a ton of time typing in your details and lets you use secure and unique passwords without needing to remember them all.

Why I Use Bitwarden Instead of Other Password Managers

So, why do I use Bitwarden over every other password manager? Well, it does a few things very well.

1. It’s open source. When it comes to my security, I’d prefer to entrust my data with an open-source app. That way, I know the company isn’t doing anything shady with my personal information without my knowledge or permission.
2. It has a generous free plan. While some password managers ask for a monthly payment to unlock basic features, Bitwarden gives you everything you need to get going for free. When comparing free versus paid password managers, Bitwarden makes a great argument for using free ones.
3. Its premium tiers are very cheap. If you do decide to pay for Bitwarden, you’ll find that it’s highly affordable. $10 a year gets you an authenticator app, attachments, emergency access to your account, and more.
4. It hasn’t suffered a security breach. Unlike some of its competitors, Bitwarden has never had a data breach where someone made off with user passwords.
5. It works nicely on both PC and mobile. When I’m on PC, I can use the browser extension to automatically fill in my details. On my phone, Bitwarden automatically detects when I’m looking at a log in page and adds a shortcut to automatically fill in my details on the keyboard.

While I’m sure there are other password manager apps that can check these same boxes, Bitwarden hasn’t given me any reason to search for alternatives. Plus, it lets me avoid using my browser’s password manager with very little additional effort.

How to Use Bitwarden to Create and Save Secure Passwords

To give you an idea of how easy it is to use Bitwarden, here’s how to create and save a secure password using the browser extension.

The process starts when I’m signing up for a website. I fill in all my details normally, but when it’s time to enter a password, I click the extension icon and then go to the generator tab. This will automatically generate a secure password, so I click the two papers icon beside the password to copy it.

Once it’s on the clipboard, I paste it into the password field during the signup process and continue as normal. Once I’ve created my account, Bitwarden automatically asks me if I want to save my login details for the website to the vault. I click on “Yes,” and it saves my login information. If Bitwarden doesn’t display the notification, I can trigger it to appear by logging out of the website and back in again.

That’s it—now, when I want to log into the website again, I can click the extension button. Bitwarden knows what website I’m on and automatically suggests the account I’ve just made. I click “auto-fill,” and Bitwarden populates the fields with my login data.

Some Advanced Tricks When Using Bitwarden

Bitwarden is fantastic when used at a basic level, but if you want to get the most out of it, here are some advanced tips.

1. If you only have one account stored for a website, you can speed up the auto-fill process by pressing CTRL + Shift + L. This fetches your login details and automatically adds them to the correct fields without opening the extension.
2. If you lose your generated password before you can save your details to Bitwarden, you can check out the generated password history in the generator tab. This will show you every password you’ve created, alongside a timestamp for each one. You can use this information to re-find the password you generated when you first created the login details.
3. Be sure to give the password generator a once-over. There are a few variables you can tweak, such as the length, the characters used, and a checkbox to remove characters that look too similar to one another.
4. Try the passphrase generator if you want something more memorable than a jumble of letters and numbers. This gives you three English words separated by a hyphen, which makes for a strong yet readable password. There are some good benefits of using a passphrase versus a password, so give it a try if you’ve never used one before.

When it comes to recommending a secure, useful, and user-friendly password manager, Bitwarden does a lot right. And given how I have zero issues with it, I see myself using this handy app for years to come. Hopefully, you can now see why Bitwarden takes the crown as my favorite password manager as a security expert.