The Free Version of LastPass is About to Get Less Useful
- Paul Thurrott
- Feb 16, 2021
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130
LastPass has long offered both free and paid versions of its password manager, but the free version is about to get a lot less useful.
“As our community of users continues to grow, we need to adapt our offerings to keep up with the constantly evolving digital world,” LastPass’ Dan DeMichele writes in the announcement post. “With that, we have some changes to our LastPass Free offering.”
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And those changes are going to dramatically impact this product for the worse: Starting March 16, LastPass Free will only support an unlimited number of computers or mobile devices, not both. Today, this offering works across an unlimited number of both computers and mobile devices.
LastPass will determine which is your active device type based on which type of device you sign-in to first starting on March 16. After that, you’ll have three opportunities to switch your active device type.
Additionally, LastPass Free users will lose access to email-based support starting on May 17. As of that date, only LastPass Premium and Families customers will have access to email-based support. And LastPass Free users will be limited to accessing the self-help resources on the LastPass Support Center and getting help from other customers and LastPass specialists in the LastPass Community.
Obviously, this change is intended to entice LastPass Free customers to upgrade to LastPass Premium, which also includes web monitoring, emergency access, unlimited device type access, a security score dashboard, dedicated personal support, advanced multi-factor authentication and more. LastPass Premium costs just $3 per month when billed annually, but LastPass is offering a limited time discount, bringing the cost down to $2.25 per month (when billed annually, so you’ll be paying $27).
You can learn more about this change on the LastPass Support website.
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Conversation 130 comments
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pachi
Log in to Reply<p>Never understood how the business model was viable once they gave free users unlimited everything. Think I’ve still been paying for premium throughout LOL</p>
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thesecondaccountant
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613570">In reply to pachi:</a></em></blockquote><p>If you're not paying for the product, you are the product. Must have been trying to monetise our data in some. (not selling our passwords but e.g. how many times auto-fill was used for a given domain or something).</p>
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pachi
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613702">In reply to thesecondaccountant:</a></em></blockquote><p>I agree, and I would love to know, maybe someone can dig thru TOS and figure it out. I find it disturbing.</p>
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behindmyscreen
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613702">In reply to thesecondaccountant:</a></em></blockquote><p>If they can collect that telemetry then they can get our password information.</p>
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SRLRacing
Log in to Reply<p>I'm all for paying developers for their work but enticing me to go from a free tier to a paid tier must be done through earning my business with value added, not by taking things away. I will be switching from Last Pass, any suggestions on a good password manager to switch to? </p>
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jdmp10
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613572">In reply to SRLRacing:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Been using LP for years, mostly the Premium tier and when my subscription lapsed, got lazy to renew since the main reason I got the Premium was for the push 2FA notifications. I don't think too many people will be affected by these changes or care to be honest. Majority of people don't have LP installed on a dozen devices, generally a smartphone, a desktop/laptop and maybe a tablet but if they will now be limiting it to say 1 device only from the unlimited before then that alone is enough for me to switch just for the principal of how badly they're screwing over Free tier customers.</p>
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ram42
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613577">In reply to jdmp10:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>The new free restriction is limiting account usage to one type of device–multiple types of that device, but just the one type. E.g. if you sign in to Lastpass from your laptop on March 16, your account can only be used with desktop or laptop computers. If you sign in from a mobile app on March 16, you are locked to mobile apps only. </p><p><br></p><p>I recently started using Chromium Edge as my primary browser, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to try out Edge password storage with the Microsoft Authenticator app. The Authenticator app worked well, pushes login notifications to my Apple Watch, that's an upgrade. Everything's looking good–until I discover that you cannot manually add passwords to Edge. The browser has to detect a login situation and offer to save credentials, or you are just out of luck. Thanks Microsoft, talk about crippling a product–that's useless.</p>
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jdmp10
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613584">In reply to ram42:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Yeah that's a big bummer there. LP is running a special for free users who want to upgrade. I will probably just go through with doing that since I have so many accounts and other info in there already which won't export out so nicely to a new service.</p>
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ram42
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613589">In reply to jdmp10:</a></em></blockquote><p>I did see that in the email notifying of the change, although it does note that discount is just for one year, then we'd pay normal price. I'm not against them charging for their service, I don't care for how they've chosen to compel people to move over–and frankly there's an element of monthly subscription fatigue in that annoyance as well.</p><p><br></p><p>Not sure where I'll end up. I and my family have Apple mobile devices and a mac mini, so iCloud Keychain works fine there. Apple's upcoming iCloud for WIndows 10 release adds support for an iCloud Passwords Chrome extension, which would fill the bill on my home desktop–unfortunately work restricts Microsoft Store apps, so that likely won't be a solution there. It's too bad Microsoft doesn't integrate an equivalent password manager into Office 365.</p>
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behindmyscreen
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613584">In reply to ram42:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's an initial feature rollout. Calm down.</p>
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bats
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613572">In reply to SRLRacing:</a></em></blockquote><p>Huh? There is extra value with Last Premium, ya know. It's not like your being backed into Premium. LOL.</p>
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ram42
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613609">In reply to bats:</a></em></blockquote><p>There were additional features with Free vs Premium, but–arguably–for many users Premium did not add value. I cannot speak to SRLRacing's particular use case, but I used Lastpass as a password vault available across multiple devices, and to autofill credentials, credit cards, and access secure notes. I have no need to share with many users, use their encrypted file storage, dark web monitoring, etc. Those are all additional features available, but–for me–they add no value. </p>
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MikeCerm
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613572">In reply to SRLRacing:</a></em></blockquote><p>Like others have said, Bitwarden is the best drop-in replacement for LastPass. It does all the same stuff, still has a free version that works, is cheaper if you do want the Premium or Family version, and it's open source, which I've always believed is essential for a product like this. The other best option is KeePass with whatever cloud storage you currently use (OneDrive, Google, Dropbox), but it's not as user friendly as Bitwarden.</p>
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ecumenical
Log in to Reply<p>Oh good lord. Give me a two or three device limit if you must, but making it PC only or mobile only destroys the value. Off I go to find an alternative.</p>
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mattbg
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613573">In reply to ecumenical:</a></em></blockquote><p>Bitwarden is getting a lot of mentions lately. But really, I would not expect anything from a company I was not paying for the service and password security is a pretty important thing to me.</p>
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gartenspartan
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613582">In reply to mattbg:</a></em></blockquote><p>Most password managers offer a free tier. That's what this article is about in fact. Bitwarden has a paid tier as well. It's just that they're an open source platform and their free tier is more generous than most. </p>
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navarac
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613673">In reply to gartenspartan:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's no use having a useless free tier though!</p>
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gartenspartan
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613723">In reply to navarac:</a></em></blockquote><p>Agreed, I'm a proponent of bitwarden, which is full featured at the free tier. </p>
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behindmyscreen
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613723">In reply to navarac:</a></em></blockquote><p>The whole point of a free tier is to get conversions for the paid tier. </p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to ReplyExactly right.
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jwpear
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613573">In reply to ecumenical:</a></em></blockquote><p>Exactly!</p>
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jgraebner
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613573">In reply to ecumenical:</a></em></blockquote><p>Destroying the value of the free product so that people need to either pay for the product or switch to something else is likely the whole point of this.</p>
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ecumenical
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613663">In reply to jgraebner:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Sure, and I'm happy to take the latter path. </p><p><br></p><p>But I think there's a different way they could have structured things that would have been more likely to get me to pay for it. It's not like I have any issue paying for things that are worthwhile. I mean I subscribe to this site because I get value out of it.</p><p><br></p><p>Unfortunately LastPass has been getting increasingly annoying with the "hey upgrade to Pro!" and now they want to force it with an effective break, rather than relying on the quality of the product, and hearing what other people are saying about silent price increases I'm fine to look for an alternative. Even it's paid, it only needs to be cheaper than LastPass.</p>
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naven87
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613663">In reply to jgraebner:</a></em></blockquote><p>What is the value of a free product?? For those discussing conversion to paid version, I'll be they have plenty of data which answers the question of how valuable that is.</p>
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Stokkolm
Log in to Reply<p>I used to be pretty high on LastPass…until I tried 1Password. Their UI designers are sane people with design sense, which makes actually using it a pleasant experience. This is especially apparent when comparing the Enterprise offerings from both. </p>
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garymaker
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Great people should pay for it. I worry about depending on free products. (Remember Google Reader?) I have paid for it for probably 5 years. </p>
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jaredthegeek
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#613578"><em>In reply to GaryMaker:</em></a><em> </em>I have had plenty of paid for items abandoned over the years.</blockquote><p><br></p>
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behindmyscreen
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613578">In reply to GaryMaker:</a></em></blockquote><p>Google made more money off reader using the data for ad sales than a subscription would have given them.</p>
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mattbg
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I wonder if this business of password managers in general is under pressure. Dashlane is expanding their paid offerings significantly, is abandoning their PC desktop app, and has either cut back support or is not expanding it to keep up with sales. I was locked out of my account recently when it failed to auto-renew and had no way of getting urgent support to have it fixed. I ended up being able to renew a 2nd time as a workaround, but I still haven't had a response more than 1 week later. It would not surprise me if they were focused on corporate sales/accounts at this point.</p><p><br></p><p>LastPass is part of a public company, at least. Dashlane and 1Password are still private. I assume there's going to be consolidation or acquisition at some point.</p><p><br></p><p>It's nice to think that MS Authenticator will have this covered at some point, but having a smooth password manager experience with a frictionless UI is something that these companies have been developing for years. I'm not too confident Microsoft will do a better job, or at least not for awhile.</p>
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behindmyscreen
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613579">In reply to mattbg:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yeah…I really like the ability to store all the important information in one place, not just passwords. MS will get there for sure. </p>
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zahrobsky
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Bitwarden (https://www.bitwarden.com) is an awesome alternative. Open Source, Desktop, Browser and Mobile support. Paid version adds some extras (i.e TOTP) for $10 a year. </p><p><br></p><p>Not a paid spokesman but a registered user.</p>
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geekwithkids
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613580">In reply to zahrobsky:</a></em></blockquote><p>I've been quite happy with Bitwarden. They even offer self-host on the free plan. </p>
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kingv84
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613580">In reply to zahrobsky:</a></em></blockquote><p>I also use Bitwarden and it offers syncing to desktop and mobile devices for free.</p>
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ubelhorj
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>That's the most ridiculously arbitrary "feature" ever. What if I run my mobile browser in desktop mode? What if I run mobile apps on Chrome OS? </p><p>LastPass had already been annoying me with still not working with Vivaldi mobile. I tried paying for premium once. They took the money and left me in the free version anyway. I think I'll be looking at alternatives.</p>
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fishnet37222
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613581">In reply to UbelhorJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>They also don't work with the new Firefox for Android.</p>
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jwpear
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Some bright folks at LastPass. LastPass, there are better options to demonstrate the value of your offering:</p><ol><li>Provide a full featured trial for 45 days, or whatever duration is just long enough to entice the highest rate of conversion to paid.</li><li>Limit the total number of devices on the free version. Feels like this is what you're going for, but maybe you have an off by one error. Seems that this ought to at least be two to demonstrate the full value and eventually entice a conversion to paid.</li><li>Limit the total number of passwords that can be managed on the free version.</li></ol>
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jgraebner
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613585">In reply to jwpear:</a></em></blockquote><p>The full-featured trial would definitely make a lot of sense, but I strongly suspect that the largest percentage of their customers (especially on the free tier) are using a maximum of one desktop and one mobile device. </p>
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jwpear
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613662">In reply to jgraebner:</a></em></blockquote><p>I bet you're right. If it were my decision at LassPass, I'd go with a full featured trial. That will give folks an opportunity to kick the tires and see the full value of the offering. If folks can't afford to convert to a paid subscription, or just don't want to, they move to the newer free offerings from Microsoft or Apple.</p><p><br></p><p>It feels like the days of independent password managers are numbered. They need to show value with unique features. I love the family sharing in 1Password with shared vaults. That's something I can't yet get from the free Microsoft offering–that I know of.</p>
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eeisner
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>This is absolutely ridiculous. I totally expect Lastpass to reverse this in a few days from all the negative PR. If they stick to this I'll definitely be moving my family off of Lastpass and onto another service.</p>
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colin79666
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613588">In reply to eeisner:</a></em></blockquote><p>That’s what they want. Free customers that have no intention of upgrading are just costing them money. </p><p><br></p><p>I was a happy, paying, LastPass customer back when the free tier didn’t include mobile devices. Back then however it was $12 a year and didn’t have unnecessary features. Since LogMeIn took over the price has doubled and tripled with no added value to me except the free tier now included mobile so I actually dropped down. I’d have carried on paying for life if they had just carried on for the same service as before at the same price. </p><p><br></p><p>This is the final straw for me since LogMeIn got involved so I’ll be moving elsewhere now. </p>
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jgraebner
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613588">In reply to eeisner:</a></em></blockquote><p>It would surprise me a lot if they change their mind on this. They had to know that this would cause a backlash, but I also suspect that they aren't too worried about losing customers that cost money to service and were bringing in no revenue. </p><p><br></p><p>If you rely on a service that you aren't paying for, you always need to be prepared for the rug to be pulled out from under you. </p>
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jaredthegeek
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Time to look at the new password manager Microsoft integrated into their authenticator app.</p>
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gregsedwards
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>This would be a prime opportunity for Microsoft to push their Authenticator-based password vault features. I know it's not quite there for families who share lots of passwords (yet), but it's a solid free alternative to LastPass.</p>
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j5
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613597">In reply to gregsedwards:</a></em></blockquote><p>I think Microsoft could cut out a nice profit in the password manager area by having one be a feature of Windows and offer a paid version to sync with mobile devices. </p><p><br></p><p>Millions already use Windows and millions don't use a password manager and millions have smartphones. </p>
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gregsedwards
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613611">In reply to j5:</a></em></blockquote><p>Premium could/should be yet another benefit of Microsoft 365.</p>
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j5
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613626">In reply to gregsedwards:</a></em></blockquote><p>I think syncing across multiple devices, 5 family members for a premium password manager would be a very attractive benefit of paying for Office365.</p><p><br></p><p>But also part of Windows.</p>
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behindmyscreen
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613597">In reply to gregsedwards:</a></em></blockquote><p>Until MS offers the ability to share passwords there is no way I can use them. The wife and I have been using the same login on Lastpass forever and you can't do that with an MS account. It's the same reason I can't use the Apple icloud keychain for password management.</p>
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scovious
Log in to Reply<p>On Windows, someone can download a free Github app to spoof a browser into a "mobile" browser. It's called <span style="color: rgb(17, 17, 17);">UserAgent-Switcher.</span></p>
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behindmyscreen
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613600">In reply to scovious:</a></em></blockquote><p>sounds great for an individual. Sounds like a pain for someone supporting a family's tech needs.</p>
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LT1 Z51
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>With most browsers offering password management built in (or working their way there) Last Pass will eventually fade away. For mobile apps, most people use some sort of Touch ID/Face ID (or whatever the Android equivalents are). I can see why they are doing this, you want features, you pay.</p>
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Thomas Parkison
Log in to Reply<p>I switched from Lastpass to BitWarden several years ago, I've never looked back. The BitWarden free tier is amazing but I still pay for Premium to support the open source side of the house. Oh, did I mention that it's open source? Yes! It's open source!</p>
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j5
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Makes sense, I mean it costs resources and paying people to maintain it. </p><p>Can't be mad at them.</p>
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kflott
Log in to Reply<p>I was a paid LP user for years. I remember praising them when they temporarily rescued XMarks (RIP). I was then pessimistic when LogMeIn bought them out but decided to give them benefit of the doubt. Increasingly I found the browser plugin (chrome at the time) slow and had a recurring issue where it would stop responding until it was reinstalled.</p><p><br></p><p>With no compelling updates, I realized there was little reason for my continued loyalty to the product. I tried a few alternatives last year and settled on Bitwarden. It has met all my needs and I haven't looked back.</p>
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PaulHewitt
Log in to Reply<p>Enpass. I've been using it for about 3 years. It's a one-off purchase on mobile devices. Think the PC desktop is free. It's awesome. Your vault can be hosted in an encrypted container on your cloud service of choice (mine is on my OneDrive). I like that I retain control of where the data is, there's no subscription payment to worry about, and all the clients are continually being updated and new features added.</p><p>Honestly, I sound like I'm on commission but I think it's the dogs.</p><p><br></p><p>Update – just happened to look at the Enpass website and found they have in fact moved to subscription as well (sigh). I'm lucky in that they're grandfathering existing users so frankly I got a bargain. The software and approach is great, but they're no longer particularly 'good value'. They do offer a one-time payment option but it's frickin' pricey. Sadly it seems to be the way everything goes now…</p>
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DBS
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613616">In reply to PaulHewitt:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>You can still get the lifetime purchase on mobile. And it's attached to the email you choose, so it can be used cross-platform.</p><p>I just bought it lifetime pass from them.</p>
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ivarh
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I used to use LastPass up until when they were bought by logmeout. At that point I swapped to 1password and have stayed with them since then. A password manager is such a essential service these days so the problem is finding one you can trust. I have no trust in logmeout and even though LastPass itself was fine I fear it will be like WhatsApp and Facebook. At one point Logmeout can't keep its paws off LastPass and I dont want to be a LastPass user when that happens. </p>
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vladimir
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>It’s an interesting dilemma. From one point of view is irritating to start paying for something that was given for free. On the other hand LastPass needs to make money to survive. Tbh moving to the “free” offerings of the tech-monster-behemoths it’s not necessarily the best solution. The mobile OR desktop bit is the difficult one to digest, I hope they reverse on that and put a general limit of 2-3 devices, which would be more acceptable</p>
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ourmaninny
Log in to Reply<p>Bitwarden Family Plan. Best deal in password managers and works across virtually everything.</p><p><br></p><p>Left LP years ago.</p>
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evictedkoala
Log in to Reply<p>For the last several years I've paired keepass (keepass2android on mobile) with Google Drive and have been super happy. Free, open source and it syncs between devices. With 2fa enabled on requisite accounts it's as secure as you can hope something like this could be. </p>
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walterwood44
Log in to Reply<p>Been using LastPass for many years and was happy paying them $12 <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">annually</span> or maybe it was $20, I don't remember exactly. Then they said they were adding extra features for a paid pro version with features I did not want or need but, I got to keep what I had for free. I would have been happy to continuing paying for what I had so that was kind of a stupid move on their part. Now they want me to pay even more for stuff I don't want. </p><p><br></p><p>How about letting me keep what I get for free now, but go back to the $12-$20 annual cost? If that is not an option, I will likely look for something else as LastPass has been a little flakey recently. </p>
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filipvh
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613639">In reply to walterwood44:</a></em></blockquote><p>Same as you, I was happy paying the $12 a year, and went down the free path when the price went up because I just didn't care about the extras.</p><p><br></p><p>This whole "everything-as-a-service" model for the price of a coffee a month is all good and well, but I can really only pay for so many coffees, and I want the coffee more than I want Lastpass.</p>
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Ty Lamb
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613639">In reply to walterwood44:</a></em></blockquote><p>It was $12 and I thought that was a solid price for the small amount the service does, then it went up to $36. They tripled the price in 1-2 years. Once you are in it's a pain to try to move. But it's getting to that point where I'm not happy with the service. Time to start looking…..</p>
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bassoprofundo
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Holy crap… I've been a premium subscriber for 9 years and was just about to extol the virtues of going premium and the value it offers compared to the alternatives, when I noticed that my subscription costs doubled in the last 2 years without them ever having notified me. My premium sub was $12 for 7 years, and it doubled in 2018 to $25, after which I moved to a family sub (due to kids going off to college) that was $28/year. Now I notice they've hit me for $50/year for the last two years, auto-charged via Paypal. I always hung with LastPass due to inertia and the value price, but there's no excuse for me not to look at 1Password or Dashlane now.</p>
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rlbumpus
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>What's anyone's experience with RoboForm? They have been around for years, but I never hear them mentioned in articles or comments.</p>
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jgraebner
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613641">In reply to rlbumpus:</a></em></blockquote><p>To give an idea of how old it is, I used to use RoboForm as my password manager back when I was using Palm OS devices. I haven't looked at it in years, though. I'm kind of surprised they are still around.</p>
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rlbumpus
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613812">In reply to jgraebner:</a></em></blockquote><blockquote><em>That's funny. A coworker recommended it years ago. It gets continuous updates. Works on my iPhone and syncs in the cloud. I have lastpass,too, but prefer the experience with RoboForm.</em></blockquote><p><br></p>
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Travis
Log in to Reply<p>Good for them. They are offering a great service at a very reasonable cost.</p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to ReplyThis is the correct response to this news.
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navarac
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613730">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>Come on Paul. There is no "correct response"! We all have different viewpoints that are correct and valid. Last Pass probably had to make up the cost of subsidising TWiT Studios for a year.</p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to ReplyNope. There aren’t always two valid sides to every story.
It is a business reality that LastPass can’t keep paying for users to use its service for free. And you don’t understand at all how much it costs LastPass to maintain free users.
What is debatable is where LastPass landed when defining the benefits that free users get. I’m sure we all wish it was some small number of devices, regardless of type. But the reality is that making that change wouldn’t have moved the needle enough on paying users. It’s better for LastPass to lose some non-paying customers than it is to pay for them to keep using the service for free. Which is what is happening.
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Username
Log in to Reply<p><a href="#613957"><em>In reply to paul-thurrott:</em></a><em> And you don't understand at all how much it costs LastPass to maintain free users.</em></p><p><br></p><p>they store a tiny blob – I bet, factors smaller than size of my comments on your WordPress, which you keep for free too. It's their playground, their rules, fair enough, but let's not call it anything other than a money grab gambit. After the reckoning (ie. their actuary processes the numbers), they'll either keep or reverse with "We didn't communicate well, our bad." </p><p><br></p><p>BTW. Conditions for discount: <em>"*This offer expires on May 6th, 2021. Advertised price valid for </em><strong><em>new users on their first year of LastPass Premium</em></strong><em>. Price </em><strong><em>not valid for renewals or existing customers</em></strong><em>, and cannot be used for other LastPass plans."</em></p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to ReplyIt is a company. There’s no gambit, there’s no conspiracy. They provide a service and they want to be paid for it. There is nothing wrong with that.
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Alastair Cooper
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#614446">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>It's worth nothing that they've also made it extremely to export your data (which I did, migrating to BitWarden). Doing this manually would have been painful to say the least.</p><p><br></p><p>If they had done a bait and switch, encouraging people on to a free platform as an important dependency, then introducing a charge and making it hard to leave, there would have been an issue.</p><p><br></p><p>This is not what they have done. It took me about an hour to switch to BitWarden and Microsoft Authenticator (I wasn't really that happy with LastPass for other reasons anyway) or I could have subscribed to their reasonably priced paid product in a few clicks.</p>
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cayo
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613642">In reply to Travis:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Except you can get better service for lower cost. </p>
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Ty Lamb
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613642">In reply to Travis:</a></em></blockquote><p>I don't feel the same. I think $36 a year is way overpriced for what it is. I don't see the backend being a big cost for them. they've done little to nothing to the software since they've purchased it. the crew that ran it before it was sold has done little to nothing either. I'm currently looking because I'm paying the same for password management that I pay for email and gigabytes of space. Doesn't make sense.</p>
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Travis
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613895">In reply to Ty_Lamb:</a></em></blockquote><p>I use the family plan and it is cheaper than most other family plans. </p>
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Mike Turner
Log in to Reply<p>Used LastPass for years, just signed up for Bitwarden, transferred all my passwords and notes etc. within minutes. Painless transition so far.</p>
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me
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613644">In reply to turnma:</a></em></blockquote><p>just moved over to bitwarden too. was pretty easy and fast.</p>
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cayo
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613644">In reply to turnma:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Same here. Even if they backtrack, not going back to LastPass.</p>
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michael.dice
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I've only been paying $12/year for LastPass Premium for many years. Am I going to get charged more now?</p>
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ph-sth
Log in to Reply<p>Migrated away from Lastpass this very afternoon having received notification of this change.</p>
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Rycott
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Used to use paid LastPass. Then they doubled the yearly rate. Then they doubled it again the next year.</p><p><br></p><p>I switched mostly to Enpass after that but kept the free version of LastPass around for my work PC where I didn't want to have to install the Enpass app.</p><p><br></p><p>Looks like this is pretty much the final nail in the coffin for LastPass for me.</p>
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ponsaelius
Log in to Reply<p>I started paying the premium tier when it was around $12 a year. I felt it was good value. They then made some changes and free included mobile and premium had extra stuff I didn't care about so I stopped paying. About a month ago I saw Microsoft was integrating Edge passwords with authenticator. I switched to test it out and it works quite well. At least as well as the LastPass options I needed. So I have another reason just to stick with Microsoft.</p>
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lindhartsen
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Been using LastPass for a couple of years but considering a move. Willing to see if Microsoft's Edge + Authenticator solution works well, transitioning over is bumpy since there's no apparent way on PC to import passwords from LP to Microsoft.</p>
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conan007
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613677">In reply to lindhartsen:</a></em></blockquote><p>On PC you can use the Microsoft Autofill extension from the Chrome Web Store to import.</p>
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megamuffin
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613677">In reply to lindhartsen:</a></em></blockquote><p>Workaround. Export Lastpass to csv file. Import to chrome. Edge import passwords from Chrome. Also transitioned to MS Edge + Authenticator, Bitwarden also as backup.</p>
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DBS
Log in to Reply<p>I've been using them for a while and although their Android app was far from good, I was happy. I even tried to take advantage of the deal (although it's a sham… It's not $27 for us in Europe… To us it's around 32€ which is $38). But then their website kept giving me a purchase error.</p><p><br></p><p>Well…I've just switched to Enpass, paid for the lifetime key (one-time payment, as ALL software should be) and done. Their apps on both Windows AND Android actually even work better so, problem solved. Best of luck to LastPass. They served me well… Until they got greedy.</p>
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thesecondaccountant
Log in to Reply<p>I used LastPass for about 6 years and was very happy. Stuck with it as it was free and best of the free ones.</p><p>Switched to 1Password because all the Apple blogs (and some purportedly neutral ones) raved about it. I'll stick with it now given the LP pricing change but overall my experience has not been quite as good as LastPass.</p>
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matsan
Log in to Reply<p>I don’t understand the comments here about Lastpass’ pricing vs 1Password. Looking at the companies webpages, I see 1Password is $4.99/mon for a family of 5 and LP is $3.90/mon for a family of 6. What am I missing? </p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to ReplyYou’re missing how entitled people feel to get everything for free.
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matsan
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613725">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>Makes sense. I've always considered free services a bonus and not a human right.</p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to ReplyThere you go.
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Usman
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Considering looking at 1Password, Dashlane or even Microsofts Password manager, I put up with LastPass just because it was free, I was contemplating premium because it has Yubikey auth, just going to see if other solutions have a similar option</p>
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jgraebner
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613709">In reply to Usman:</a></em></blockquote><p>I switched to 1Password a couple years ago, mainly because it supports Windows Hello and LastPass didn't (I don't know if that has changed or not). I've been really happy with it.</p>
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Daekar
Log in to Reply<p>Been using KeePass for a while now, with the file hosted in OneDrive. It has been wonderful. I tried using LastPass and put forth a concerted effort to integrate it in to everything, but the experience was inconsistent. Too frequently I would have to manually search for things because it wouldn't insert anywhere. </p><p><br></p><p>I dropped LastPass when the Microsoft Edge and Authenticator combo came out. Much better experience in every way. KeePass is the vault, and the MS apps are a second layer of convenience. </p>
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navarac
Log in to Reply<p>Just getting fed up with constant "monthly subscription" culture. $3 / month might not be much, but they VERY quickly add up. Before long you can be paying thousands per year. It's a racket.</p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to ReplyLooked at from the other side, I suspect those that create things are getting fed up with the “everything we make should be free” culture. It’s not a “racket.” It’s a business trying to survive.
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navarac
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613724">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>Each to their own view. The subscription just makes it seem cheap, when it is not necessarily. If you are going to sell something, sell it outright. As does Thurrott.Com Premium annual cost for instance.</p>
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ken_loewen
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I've been using LP's family plan for a few years and generally pleased with it. My employer uses it also and the ability to link the two accounts makes my browsing seamless. I won't be changing any time soon due to this linkage.</p>
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jm2016
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>The only thing LP did wrong here is cause confusion. It would have been better to withdraw the free tier altogether than make it limited and confusing.</p><p><br></p><p>Having used both, I prefer 1password. Both are good and well worth the cost – but the core value is being able to use them on all my devices. I am sympathetic to subscription fatigue, so I get that – keeping track of dozens of small monthly payments is a pain. I generally opt for annual plans vs monthly.</p><p><br></p>
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chaad_losan
Log in to Reply<p>Bye bye lastpass. Hello bitwarden. Super painless.</p>
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jeffrye
Log in to Reply<p>I've always enjoyed LastPass and recently signed up for families so I could share passwords with my wife – super convenient! I think they offer a great service and I'm happy to support them.</p><p><br></p><p>I looked at other password managers and, for a family plan, only 1 was cheaper than LastPass. The rest were more expensive. So I'm not sure what the complaining is about. I don't mind paying for good service.</p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to ReplyBingo.
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behindmyscreen
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613741">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>I'm not saying they made enough, but definitely more than they would have in a sub scenario. I really think they killed it because they got all the valuable data they needed from it and didn't want to support it anymore…..the OG dev may have moved off to something else as well.</p>
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qaelith2112
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613783">In reply to behindmyscreen:</a></em></blockquote><p>This is really into conspiracy theory territory. You're suggesting LogMeIn bought it, harvested data, and then decided to try to kill it off once they got whatever data you're thinking they were after? I don't see that they got any data from it. What, my e-mail address? There isn't much more than that available to them. If you're imagining LogMeIn paid out to buy a bunch of e-mail addresses, I can't see how that makes sense.</p>
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dipitydo
Log in to Reply<p>Always think of this as a possibility when being offered something for free. </p>
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danwally
Log in to Reply<p>I switched to Premium back when you could only use the Free service on PC's and needed Premium to use it on Mobile (and use Xmarks). The fact that they let you use it anywhere seemed like a nice giveaway. YOU ALWAYS PAY FOR "FREE"! Either with your sold personal info or with a retraction of wanted services in the future. This change seems very reasonable. Free is there to get you to try the service and eventually pay SOMETHING.</p>
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bls
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I've been using KeePass, a fully open-source password manager, for about 10 years. Works great, has roughly quarterly updates (use them or not!), integrates with most browsers and websites, and available on all my devices via OneDrive. On my iPhone I use the KyPass app, which has a one-time cost of a whopping $6. </p><p><br></p><p>Highly cost-effective, and I prefer to trust my passwords to Microsoft's OneDrive than a dedicated password service.</p>
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spork
Log in to Reply<p>I disagree with Paul's assertion on First Ring Daily that there exists "a certain level of entitlement with people" who use the LastPass free service. <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I am likewise unconvinced that people would have complained/bailed en masse had LastPass made a change that limited vault syncing to one computer and one mobile device. </span>I for one am happy to pay for services that add value in my workflow. </p><p><br></p><p>My issue with LastPass is twofold: First, LastPass's statement "we need to adapt our offerings to keep up with the constantly evolving digital world" is bafflegab. Second, LastPass's offer to upgrade people to a premium account at a reduced price was in many cases met with a dead link.</p><p><br></p><p>LogMeIn, which own(ed) LastPass, was sold for $4.3 billion to Elliot Management Corp last August, so this all reeks of EMC bean counters wanking abaci late into the night. I moved to a Canadian-based paid service, <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">nuked my LastPass account, and </span>all is well again. </p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to ReplyYou’re kind of proving my point. But whatever, a dead link is not malicious. It’s a mistake. It’s also not personal.
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cuppettcj
Log in to Reply<p>I used to be a big fan of LastPass after they saved XMarks. I even paid for the LastPass + XMarks combo premium package for several years. After they were bought by LogMeIn, I heard many people online complain that LogMeIn is greedy and will soon start squeezing LastPass customers for more money. Very soon after they bought the company, LogMeIn put the axe to XMarks, which left a bad taste in my mouth. I cancelled my premium subscription at that time, but kept LastPass because it was still serving my needs well. However, over time their browser extension (at least for Firefox) got much worse at autofilling my passwords. Nowadays I find myself copying and pasting my username and password on almost every site I need to log into because LastPass is not smart enough to fill in the boxes. I used to be annoyed at the rare site where LastPass wouldn't automatically fill in my credentials, but now I'm pleasantly surprised at the increasingly rare sites where it actually works.</p><p><br></p><p>Chris Titus did a YouTube video three months ago on why he switched from LastPass to RoboForm. I watched it back then and thought I should try it out, but was too lazy to follow through. This latest decision from LogMeIn convinced me to finally give RoboForm a shot.</p>
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red.radar
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p><br></p><p><br></p><p>I personally use Keepass and keep the database synced with OneDrive. Has worked well for me over the years and it’s one less monthly service fee. </p><p><br></p><p>I do see the appeal of some of the cloud convenance from last pass. </p><p>However it’s not for me. I can’t get over the mental block of letting a cloud company hold my passwords (I do appreciate the irony in that statement). Also the extension that makes it seemless is too easy… I have a hard time trusting it. How do I know it’s not leaking the passwords. I get copy paste from Keepass. I don’t get tools that work like magic. It’s not transparent enough. </p><p><br></p><p> I also feel like the minor convenance isn’t worth 30 bucks especially when the whole experience brings me anxiety and tugs at serious trust issues. </p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
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jboman32768
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613899">In reply to red.radar:</a></em></blockquote><p>I've been using KeePass for ages.</p><ul><li>Free and Open Source</li><li>Works with any browser</li><li>Ctrl+Alt+A puts the right creds into any Windows App by Window title.</li><li>Mobile app for Android is free and great. … although I have used the "Donate a Beer" button a couple of times :)</li><li>Keep your passwords synced with whichever cloud service you use. OneDrive, DropBox, whatever.</li></ul><p><br></p><p>Don't really understand the appeal of paying for the privilege of putting my passwords in the same honeypot with everyone else's – it's just a matter of time before disaster.</p>
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pete
Log in to Reply<p>The fact of the matter is that LastPass has always been a bit too flaky to warrant a subscription for me. I took this opportunity to try out some competitors and found Bitwarden to be much more intuitive. Call me entitled if you want, but I'm just being a smart consumer.</p>
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rob_segal
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>LastPass provides an essential service I gladly pay for. I may try other services and if I find something else I like better, I'll pay and use that. </p>
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crunchyfrog
Log in to Reply<p>I've often said, my whole life is in LastPass, and it's true. I have used the product for many years and have paid for the premium offer back when it was $1 a month.</p><p>I don't know how to react to this but I can say that it's a product that's so useful and critical these days to protect a person's security, it's hard to react negatively to this news. I highly recommend it and always have mainly because it's such a complete security product.</p><p>With all of that said, I am concerned that it has been sold a few times which alarms me a bit and it seems to be clunky these days and I often have to manually enter data so I may look at new options.</p>
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hellcatm
Log in to Reply<p><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I see both sides. On one side you have all the streaming services (video, music, gaming) and then you have services for software and hell my car wash has a monthly service. It's taxing. I also see how else will they make money? There isn't a physical thing you can buy. The thing that bothers me though is the price increase. When they first started the payment model it was $1/mo and now its up to $3/mo and $/4 with family? Inflation hasn't gone up that much in a few years. They also could have had tiers for features because not everyone wants the extra features. I was fine with the features that came with the free account, if they would have charges $2/mo and $3 for the extra features I would have been ok, but this is also an all or nothing world which is what is really getting old. </em></p>
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unfazed
Log in to Reply<p>I used to pay for LastPass when it was $12 a year, I still payed for it when it was $24 a year, I also for a time payed for it when it increased to $36 a year. I then realized that what they offer isn't worth 3x what I used to pay for it and canceled since I no longer use any of the paid features. </p><p>Now they turn around and tell me that I need to pay for it again. I feel jerked around at this point and am looking for alternatives. </p><p>I personally don't feel "entitled" and wanting something for free. </p><p>I guess Paul is someone who likes continuing to pay for services that triple in price without adding additional value.</p>
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peterh_oz
Log in to Reply<p>Quality has a price. They are not a charity. And there is still plenty in the free service, if it can work for you. For me, I'm looking at the many years of "free" I've had and of course there has to be an income somewhere. USD27/year (50c a week) or AUD43/year for something I use constantly on multiple devices is not something I'll be complaining about. If they start chucking ads into the app, that might be a different story. Its less than a quarter the price of youtube premium! I'd love to see a Microsoft version, maybe included in Microsoft 365, but let's see.</p>
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sekim
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#613604">In reply to karlinhigh:</a></em></blockquote><p>Heard Paul talk about this today in the Windows Weekly podcast. I'm still a premium LP user, the odd method they will hinder free users is less of a concern to me than just wondering whether I feel like I want to financially support LogMeIn.</p>
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scovious
Log in to Reply<p>I would personally pay a hundred or even two hundred dollars for Last Pass, but only in the form of a "lifetime" subscription. I don't like paying subscriptions for something that doesn't update, and doesn't add new features.</p>
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Dorm
Log in to Reply<p>Yes, lastpass can do whatever they need to do to stay profit. They don't owe anything to people within the free tier.</p><p>But I also think that there is a place where people in the free tier, that soon to be less useful, to say that shutting down a service (and the way they do that) may say something about their credibility.</p><p>And there is a place to talk about competitors, that offer better options, both for free or paid tires.</p><p><br></p><p>I don't really understand the attack on "entitled" people from Paul. I love reading his opinions, listened to WW for 15 years, I don't come from a negative position. But I really expected to hear from him both sides, and yes, recommend "maybe better" competitors after recommending the paid version of lastpass.</p>
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brucemarriott
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I was with LP for a long time, but, as others have said, I saw them become too greedy and the price went up and up, whereas my core need remained constant. A couple of years back I moved to BitWarden and pay them $10/year for premium and could not be happier – just as good as LP from my perspective and at a good price. I just pray that they don't sell out to a big company who see them as a cash cow – which is what I think LogMeIn has done with LP.</p>
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techguy33
Log in to Reply<p class="ql-indent-1">Cloud based password services are fine for storing your credentials for things such as your login for thurott.com. If you store any sensitive/financial credential info in a cloud based password service you're nuts. Use a solution that keeps your passwords stored in a local file on your machine and has a browser plugin for online form-filling.</p>
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fiddle
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#614248">In reply to techguy33:</a></em></blockquote><p>Why is that the case exactly? Cloud password managers store your data encrypted in the cloud. Even if an attacker tries to make off with it, they can't do anything because they don't have your master password, so they can't decrypt your content.</p><p><br></p><p>Local password managers have their own set of trade-offs against a cloud-based one. Firstly, local password managers don't allow you to access your passwords from any devices (not unless you use a regular cloud storage service as a sync service, which then makes you equivalent to the cloud password manager). Secondly, you have to be responsible to back up your passwords. If you forget to back up or you are too lazy, and your computer dies, tough luck. Even if you back up, you probably won't be doing an off-site backup, meaning you can get caught out by natural disasters like fire or flooding. Cloud based password managers just take care of all of that for you.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p>
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megamuffin
Log in to Reply<p>Chose to have Lastpass on my computers and migrated my passwords to Microsoft Authenticator for use on Mobile as well as Edge on computers. Looks to be a safe alternative. </p><p><br></p><p>What is the general feeling to use MS Authenticator Autofill. May well just ditch Lastpass and go completely with Authenticator.</p><p><br></p><p>Also exported LP passwords to Bitwarden and paid the $10/yr premium and may well choose MS Authenticator or Bitwarden.</p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to ReplyI feel like this market is evolving to resemble that for anti-virus/anti-malware, where the platform (in this case, Microsoft Authenticator plus Edge-based auto-fill and password management) provides the basics but the paid third party services provide extras. If the basics are all you need, there’s no reason to pay. If you need more, the cost is reasonable for the functionality you get.
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Alastair Cooper
Log in to Reply<blockquote><em><a href="#614447">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I prefer to use a third-party password manager (previously LastPass, now BitWarden) for the reason of it not being tied to the OS or browser.</p>
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Paul Thurrott
Premium MemberLog in to ReplyBut none of the first-party password managers are exclusive to that platform or browser.
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arnstarr
Log in to Reply<p>I've been using mSecure for years. works well on all platforms. One time payment.</p>