I currently use KeepassXC that is synced through NextCloud. The sync isn’t very elegant, especially on my phone. So I’m looking for a new password manager, which has a native server sync support that I can self host. What do y’all recommend? I need at least a phone app and a browser integration that can autofill.
Bitwarden
Never looked back.
Bitwarden is excellent and the paid plan is very reasonable unlike with others.
Bitwarden.
My recommendation: Don’t use Vaultwarden (self hostable server side of bitwarden. Really easy to run and use). Why? You’re not a security personal, and securing your vault isn’t your job. You might do a slight mistake that’ll lead to the compromise of your vault.
The people at Bitwarden have their work dedicated to securing the vaults and all they do is security. And they’ll probably do it better then you. When it comes to serious matter, I prefer to trust the professionals.
Just to play devils advocate. Bitwarden.com is a much more valuable target. My instance is behind a VPN. I think its actually far more likely Bitwarden will have a breach similar to LastPass then I will. But I agree with you mostly.
Ignoring the security aspect of it Bitwarden is responsible for hosting a fault tolerant, highly available web app.
They have redundant networking, redundant servers, load balancers, redundant databases.
While you could host this yourself to these tolerances it’s work and it’s not free.
If you’re using your password manager to the fullest you have a different password for every resource out there. It’s more than a minor inconvenience if you get locked out of your passwords.
Their service is dirt cheap and it’s absolutely worth every penny.
VW isn’t the self hostable version of BW. It’s a complete rewrite. I don’t know if it is audited in the same way as BW, so I wouldn’t recommend it until you check that. BW can be self hosted as it is. VW is a rewrite with all the premium features unlocked for free
For native sync, the two good and reputable alternatives are Bitwarden and Proton Pass
I use KeepassXC on desktop, KeepassDX on my phone and keep it all synced with Syncthing. Works great
I also use Unix pass and self host a git repo over Tailscale to keep it synced across devices. Works like a charm so long as I remember to push whenever I edit a password somewhere.
One of the big flaws of snapshot-based VCSs like get is the patch order mattering—which causes conflicts. I would love to see an alternative built on Darcs or Pijul with their Patch Theory-based VCS system that does not have the flaws Git does.
Yeah agreed. I borked my repo a couple times and needed to rollback changes, re-sync everything, and resubmit changes. It was a bit scary, but that’s also kind of the beauty of the system, is it’s just files in a folder. I could move the conflicting files out, do a push/pull and then move the files back in and push. The biggest part is getting in the habit of doing a pull before I make any local changes on a device.
I haven’t heard of the tools you mentioned, but you’ve got me curious, so I’ll definitely be looking into them and a potential fix. I’m sure I could automate things with some simple scripting, but until I make my final move off iOS I’m sort of stuck with the clunky Unix Pass app on that OS which causes most of my issues.
Presumably you could just target the passwordstore folder with any version control, Unix Pass just has some git interaction built in.
Good thing the KeepassXC can be used as a 2nd factor authenticator, though it has TOTP only, doesn’t offer HOTP.
Big fan of Keeppass + syncing program of choice. It has served me well for years. If you don’t like nextcloud pick a different syncing app.
There’s a lot of arguments for one solution or the other based on security or privacy, but let me present a different scenario:
Imagine you’re in a natural disaster. Your home based self hosted server is down because of a general rolling network outage or just irrecoverably destroyed. Your offsite on the other side of the county is in a similar state. Can your cloud hosted backup be accessed at generic, public computer in a shelter or public building?
Bitwarden can. It has specific instructions for doing so as safely as possible.
I’ve been using Bitwarden for years now. Their free tier is amazing, they’re rarely down, and it’s open source with extensions and apps for every platform.
I tried Proton Pass for a minute while Bitwarden was offline, but quickly ran back to Bitwarden. Proton’s extension kept logging out for some reason. I didn’t care enough to troubleshoot it.
Most here won’t like this answer. 1Password.
I’ve used it for years and it just works well for me. Finally convinced my spouse to also use it a couple of years ago. Switching is not an option since it took years of convincing to make that happen.
Keepass2android should be able to handle nextcloud sync from within the app so that might work better than on device sync. If your done with keepass bitwarden or proton pass are common alternatives
Vaultwarden is perfect imo
Selfhosted VaultWarden with Bitwarden browser apps and KeyGuard on my phone, which I like better than the Bitwarden app.
Correct me if I’m wrong: if something happens to your vaultwarden instance, aren’t you at risk of losing everything? I do use bitwarden, but I could never self host it. Too important. ID rather use keepass with syncthing so that more than one of my devices have my passwords
That’s what backups are for. No matter what solution I use, I would need backups. I used to use LastPass, but that just relied on LastPass to do the backups. I backup the database, but you can also periodically export the data and back that up somewhere securely on your own if you want it in a different format.