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Comment by jf | Hacker News Reader

As someone who has used 1Password for many years, how does Bitwarden compare?

I have been using Bitwarden because its free for about 1.5 years. The UX experience is so bad on both mobile and extensions. If the extensions closes, like when you copy the password and paste it into the box, it looses its location, so you have to re-find the account, click on it, and then copy the username. You get what you pay for.

I don't understand. Don't you have the site URL stored with the password to allow bitwarden to automatically find the password entry for you?

> If the extensions closes, like when you copy the password and paste it into the box, it looses its location, so you have to re-find the account

That's not my experience. The account details stay open for me.

For me the UX is not amazing, but ok. A bit better than LastPass, a bit worse than 1password.

This happens to me on Firefox.

https://recordit.co/QdK2FrRoYX I copy the password, go to paste it in and it loses the selected account:

https://recordit.co/jrvUFWCPkS Here, I go to add an account. I generate a new password and then I try to paste it into the text box to verify it meets the website's password rules. I then go back to hit save, confirming that it worked and it loses the entry.

Sooo frustrating.

You can just right click on the text box and use the context menu to make this task much easier.

oo that is a cool trick! but it doesn't work if you're looking for an account that doesn't match the current URL (like if you created the account on the mobile app)

In that case it's simpler to find the right password entry, click edit on it and add the current domain to the list of domains it keeps for the entry. That way you won't need to mess with the copy/paste button.

I use Bitwarden myself and I only need the copy/paste button for stuff like email and WiFi passwords. If you're manually copying and pasting data, you're probably overlooking one of the many (sometimes not clearly indicated) features Bitwarden has.

Hope this helps!

At least you get a Linux client

Don't forget about the Alt-Shift-U keyboard shortcut to open Bitwarden in a Firefox sidebar. Using that, the extension doesn't close when you click elsewhere in the page.

I tried it back in May this year - I was looking for alternatives having just moved f/t onto Linux given 1Password doesn't have a proper Linux app. Though Bitwarden seemed fundamentally sound, I was pretty unimpressed by the client. It wasn't then in 1Password's class. I don't remember which part of my informal Electron app screening it failed on (ctrl-a perhaps), but I do remember I couldn't live with it then. I can live with poor affordances for occasional apps, but not for something used as frequently in a typical day as a password manager.

The Bitwarden apps (native and web) aren’t as polished but they function well. I would recommend Bitwarden to anyone except the most handholding-needing of users.

I used (paid for across Windows/macOS/iOS) 1Password for years but switched to Bitwarden because AgileBits kept openly making progressively more hostile moves against customers like me, and weren’t remotely apologetic about it. I would strongly advise anyone considering use of their products against it. Capturing and controlling use is more important to them now than serving users.

> AgileBits kept openly making progressively more hostile moves against customers like me, and weren’t remotely apologetic about it.

I'm genuinely curious about some examples of these "hostile moves"?

On my opinion no reason to switch if you paid for the licensed version and don’t use safari on Mac.

Definitely consider it over the $5/month subscription to 1Password or if you need shared vaults.

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