Bitwarden vs Passbolt: privacy compared
Bitwarden and Passbolt are both rated in password managers against the same 12 public criteria. Bitwarden is based in the United States (Five Eyes); Passbolt is based in Luxembourg.
| Criterion | Bitwarden Our pick | Passbolt |
|---|---|---|
| Grade | Grade C C (72/100) | Grade C C (67/100) |
| Jurisdiction | United States Five Eyes | Luxembourg Outside Eyes |
| Open source Is all the source code needed to run the product public? | Yes source | Partial source |
| No trackers or telemetry Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default? | No source | No source |
| No ads or data sales Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data? | Yes source | Yes source |
| Independent audit Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years? | Yes source | Yes source |
| Transparency report Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds? | No | No |
| Tells users about requests Does the provider promise to tell users about requests for their data, unless a court forbids it? | No | No |
| TLS configuration Does the website pass the Qualys SSL Labs test with a grade of A or better? | Yes source | Yes source |
| Security headers Does the website pass the Mozilla HTTP Observatory test with a grade of A or better? | Yes source | Yes source |
| Modern web standards Does the website score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl website test? | Partial source | Yes source |
| End-to-end encrypted vault Is the vault encrypted on the device before it is synced, with a key the provider does not hold? | Yes source | Yes source |
| Local or self-hosted option Can the vault be kept locally or on your own server? | Yes source | Yes source |
| Full export Can every item be exported in an open format? | Yes source | Yes source |
Which is more private, Bitwarden or Passbolt?
Bitwarden scores higher on the public criteria: 72 out of 100, against 67 for Passbolt. Bitwarden does better on open source. Passbolt does better on modern web standards. How scoring works
Summaries
Bitwarden. Bitwarden scores 72 out of 100 (grade C) on the password managers criteria. It meets 8 of 12 criteria: open source, no ads or data sales, independent audit, TLS configuration, security headers, end-to-end encrypted vault, local or self-hosted option and full export. It partly meets modern web standards. It does not meet no trackers or telemetry, transparency report and tells users about requests. It is based in the United States: Five Eyes member; subject to the US CLOUD Act. Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A+, Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade A+ and Internet.nl website score 76%.
Passbolt. Passbolt scores 67 out of 100 (grade C) on the password managers criteria. It meets 8 of 12 criteria: no ads or data sales, independent audit, TLS configuration, security headers, modern web standards, end-to-end encrypted vault, local or self-hosted option and full export. It partly meets open source. It does not meet no trackers or telemetry, transparency report and tells users about requests. It is based in Luxembourg: Not in the Five, Nine or Fourteen Eyes; EU member (GDPR). Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A+, Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade A+ and Internet.nl website score 95%.
Compare all 26 password managers