Dashlane vs LastPass: The ultimate password manager showdown

Do you think you’ve got a good password system? Think again. Even if you somehow manage to make all your passwords unique and hard to crack, you’ll still lose precious time entering, managing, and updating dozens of credentials. It adds up. Fortunately, there’s a solution in the form of password managers, and today we’re pitting against each other two of the best: Dashlane vs LastPass.

Dashlane and LastPass are two of the most popular password managers, and for a good reason. Both are packed with features and security measures. You can’t go wrong with either, but you’ll want to learn the differences if you’re going to get the most out of your money and time.

Here’s what you need to know about Dashlane vs LastPass.

Also read: The best password managers around

Editor’s note: This post is current as of April 2022. We’ll be updating this comparison between LastPass and Dashlane regularly. 

1. LastPass vs Dashlane at a glance

2. Features

The first thing you’ll want to know when you compare Dashlane vs LastPass is how good these services are at their primary task: managing passwords. The good news is they’re both stellar.

Both LastPass and Dashlane make it easy to store, manage, update, and fill passwords across your PCs and mobile devices. On PC, you’ll mostly interact with them through browser extensions, available for all the popular browsers (more about compatibility below). With one click, you’ll be able to interact with your “vault,” the secure space where your passwords are stored, and access additional features. On mobile, LastPass and Dashlane offer dedicated apps for Android and iOS.

The basic functionality is similar between Dashlane and LastPass, so we won’t dwell on it. Both services will detect password fields in web pages and apps and offer to fill out your credentials. Instead of remembering and entering dozens (if not hundreds) of passwords, you’ll only need to remember one, your “master password.” This frees you to make all your passwords unique and complex, boosting your online security.

Both services include handy password generators that can create strong passwords for you. They are accessible either from the respective extensions or by clicking on the icons overlaid on password-entry fields. You can configure how many and what type of characters you want to use in your unique password. LastPass even has an option to make passwords “pronounceable” but still secure if you need to memorize them. LastPass also offers to generate unique usernames for you.

What about additional features?

The best Dashlane features

Automatic password changer — Dashlane tries to make the dream of zero-effort security a reality with its automatic password changing feature. This works on select websites — at the time of this writing, about 380 — where Dashlane can log in on your behalf and automatically adjust the password to something secure. You can set it to do this automatically or on-demand. While the list of supported sites includes a few big names, it’s still a relatively small selection, meaning you won’t be able to rely on it entirely. From the 450 or so credentials I have stored in Dashlane, the tool only worked for a handful, including Reddit, IMDB, and Vimeo. Your mileage may vary. LastPass offers a similar function.

Security dashboard — Like all good password managers, Dashlane has a security report that analyzes your passwords (or, rather, their encrypted “fingerprints”) and compares them against databases of security breaches and password dumps. Say you used an email-password combination on LinkedIn, which was thoroughly hacked in 2012. If you have used the same credentials on other services since then, those services are vulnerable. Dashlane tells you which passwords are compromised, weak, or reused across services. You can then easily visit the respective services and update them.

Dark web monitoring — Some hacks go undiscovered for years, so you won’t know that you need to update your password until it’s too late. For these cases, Dashlane can monitor the various password dumps that regularly pop up online and search for your credentials. You can enter up to five email passwords, and the service will alert you when they surface, meaning your data has been stolen.

Basic built-in VPN — Dashlane goes above and beyond other password managers thanks to the VPN it integrates with its apps. Considering VPNs can cost $10/month or more, this is a great value. The catch is Dashlane’s integrated VPN is pretty barebone, lacking features found in dedicated VPN apps and only offering a small number of server locations. It will definitely work in a pinch, though, and we liked that it doesn’t have the bandwidth or device number limitations. If you don’t have specific requirements and need a VPN for occasional, non-critical use, Dashlane will work. But maybe don’t sign up for the service just for it.

Related: The best VPN for every use case

Desktop app — Not all password managers have solid desktop apps. Dashlane does (Windows and Mac), and they’re pretty great. We mention it because it gives you access to many features in an intuitive yet powerful package. The onboarding experience is especially nice — the app makes it a breeze to create an account, set it up, and get all the extensions and apps you’ll need. On the downside, certain browser extensions can only be used if you’re running the desktop app. That can pose problems if you need to quickly use it on a computer belonging to someone else — details in the compatibility section.

Emergency contacts — If you’re sick, incapacitated, or can’t access your devices, you can give friends or family emergency access to your credentials in Dashlane. You can select which credentials you want to share and whether you want to require your approval to share them or set a waiting period of up to 60 days. The data is only shared on request, so you’ll be in control unless something terrible happens.

The best LastPass features

Great free plan — We’ll talk more about LastPass’ free plan in the pricing section, but it’s worth highlighting here as well. Unlike Dashlane, LastPass’s free plan has everything most people want for personal use. Free LastPass is simply a great value that I have used for many years. However, the company is now changing to only use the service for free on desktop or mobile, rather than both.

Secure Notes — Like Dashlane, LastPass lets you save and manage more than just passwords. The Secure Notes function can keep sensitive information across 15 types, including passport information, credit cards, social security numbers, bank accounts, and even software licenses and Wi-Fi passwords. The best part is you can attach files to these secure notes, which is excellent if you need to store stuff like scans of your passport without worrying that someone could steal them from your phone or PC. Free plans get 50MB of storage for these files, while Premium goes up to 1GB.

Great autofill and autologin options — The best way to increase security is to make it as painless as possible. That’s why password managers, in general, are so good! LastPass does this with its autologin option, which works really well — it fills out your credentials without any input and logs you in automatically (as long as you enable the option). This is great for websites where you only have one set of credentials. You can also save and autofill your credentials on websites, mobile apps, and even Windows applications. The latter didn’t work super well in our testing, unfortunately.

Digital Wallet — LastPass takes the secure note concept a step forward with its Digital Wallet functionality (Dashlane offers a similar feature). This lets you store credit card details and addresses, greatly simplifying the usually tedious process of entering credit card details and personal information on online shopping checkout pages. After you save your details, you’ll no longer need to pull out your physical wallet to complete a purchase.

Great multifactor authentication methods — Compared to Dashlane, LastPass offers more options for two-factor authentication (2FA). These include LastPass’ own Authenticator app, Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, Toopher, Duo Security, Transakt, and even an analog grid you can print out and keep somewhere secure. That’s on the free plan. On the Premium plan, you get YubiKey and fingerprint/smart card support for additional security. Speaking of LastPass Authenticator, it’s a pretty great app for 2FA, but we think it’s better to avoid keeping your eggs in the same basket and use a trusted third-party option instead.

Credit monitoring — US-based LastPass paid subscribers can sign up for a free credit monitoring service. Operated through TransUnion, the service will alert you when changes to your credit score occur, potentially protecting you from identity theft. You don’t get many details in the alert, but you can use your yearly free credit report to figure out unexpected changes. If you want more comprehensive protection, you can also sign up for the premium version of this service, which costs $9.95/month (on top of the regular LastPass fee) and gives you additional details from all three major credit bureaus.

Encrypted file storage — LastPass has a very neat feature for those who want to store essential files and documents safely. Paid subscribers get 1GB of encrypted storage. You can use it for sensitive images, important documents, and more. Dashlane has a similar feature, but it’s attached to Secure Notes. We feel LastPass does it better.

3. Security

Our Dashlane vs LastPass showdown is defined by the security the two services provide. The ultimate purpose of a password manager is to enhance the security of our online lives. We’re glad to report that both LastPass and Dashlane have excellent reputations regarding security.

To our knowledge, Dashlane has never been hacked. LastPass was compromised once in 2015 when attackers stole encrypted records. According to the company, no plain-text (unencrypted) passwords or user data was compromised. That’s because LastPass can’t access the user data stored on its servers. Even in the eventuality of another LastPass hack, attackers would only be able to access heavily encrypted records. Getting the actual user data would require access to master passwords, which are only stored on the users’ devices.

Both Dashlane and LastPass claim to operate on a “zero-knowledge” security model. In other words, the two services only store encrypted data, which, without your master password, is just gibberish. This protects data from hacking attempts and unauthorized access from rogue employees or government access requests.

LastPass and Dashlane put user data through multiple rounds of hashing and encryption using PBKDF2 SHA-256 and AES-256 algorithms. When it comes to data security, these are the industry standard used by governments, companies, and organizations worldwide. On top of that, both services feature other security layers you can read more about in their own words here and here.

More: How to protect your privacy using Android

Handing over the keys to your life requires a lot of trust, so both Dashlane and LastPass are keen to prove you can trust them by subjecting themselves to regular security audits from third-party organizations.

The security chain is as strong as its weakest chain. In this regard, we need to note that some security vulnerabilities involving LastPass and Dashlane apps have surfaced over the years. In 2019, for instance, security researchers found weaknesses in the LastPass and Dashlane applications for Windows PCs, which allowed theoretical attackers to steal master passwords. However, attackers would have required full, deep access to the targeted computer to exploit these vulnerabilities. To our knowledge, these now-patched vulnerabilities have not been exploited in the wild.

While the two services are very close, we’ll give LastPass a slight edge in the security competition against Dashlane thanks to its support for more two-factor authentication apps — six vs three.

4. User experience

In our experience of using Dashlane vs LastPass, both services worked smoothly across web, desktop, and mobile applications.

They both add icons to password entry fields on the web, making it easy to select the proper account and fill it in. We found Dashlane is a bit more intrusive, showing large popups without input from the user. Meanwhile, LastPass’s popups are more discrete and require you to click first. Dashlane is also a bit too eager, showing account-selection popups whenever it detects password fields — on sites like the legacy version of Reddit, which always display a password entry field. This can get annoying.

The browser extensions of LastPass and Dashlane are both fast and efficient to use. Dashlane gets the edge here, as it’s a bit more fresh looking in our eyes.

As for the mobile apps, we have no complaints about either service. Both Dashlane and LastPass integrate with fingerprint readers and facial scanners on Android and iOS, and they work as expected.

5. Compatibility and requirements

Dashlane compatibility

Dashlane browser extensions are available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. Note that, by default, you will need the Windows (Windows 7 or higher) or Mac (Sierra or higher) applications to use the browser extensions. However, you can use the Chrome, Firefox, and Edge extensions without the PC app if you switch to Standalone mode in the extension options. Additionally, Dashlane claims to be working on a Linux app, which will work with Edge at launch.

Using Dashlane extensions in Standalone mode, you’ll also be able to use them on Chromebooks and Linux machines, though Dashlane does not officially support this.

Dashlane apps are available for iOS (iOS 14 and above), iPad (iPadOS 14 and above), and Android (Android 8 and above).

Official Dashlane compatibility details here.

LastPass compatibility

LastPass browser extensions are supported for the most recent two versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Edge Legacy, Safari, and Opera. To download and use these extensions, you’ll need PCs running Windows 8.1 or later, the two most recent major MacOS versions, Linux, or Chrome OS.

The LastPass for Applications and the LastPass for Windows Desktop app (the Modern UI app) is available for Windows 8.1 or higher. The LastPass Mac app works on the two most recent macOS versions, with a 64-bit processor required.

Mobile LastPass apps work on Android 6 or higher, and iOS 13 or higher. Just remember that you can only use the free service on mobile or desktop, not both.

Official LastPass compatibility details here.

6. LastPass vs Dashlane: Pricing

Dashlane is one of the more expensive password managers out there. It does have a free tier, but we can’t really recommend it. Here’s what Dashlane pricing looks like in the United States (Dashlane offers different prices in different countries):

• Free Dashlane plan — $0/month: This plan lets you store up to 50 passwords, but you can only use the service on one device. Unless you see yourself comfortably living with this limitation, we can’t recommend it. Most of us have more than one device (typically at least a phone and a PC), and those 50 passwords can run out fast. The free Dashlane plan doesn’t include the VPN plan and dark web monitoring either.
• Premium Dashlane plan — $3.99/month: This is the mainstream plan most people will want. It includes unlimited passwords and devices and all the other features we’ve mentioned throughout this Dashlane vs LastPass comparison, except identity theft insurance, encrypted storage, and credit monitoring. As a sizeable perk, it includes a basic VPN.
• Family Dashlane plan — $5.99/month: With the family plan, you’ll get up to 6 Premium-tier accounts to manage passwords with.

LastPass is closer to what we consider mainstream in terms of password manager pricing. The service shines when it comes to its free plan. Here’s how it breaks down:

• Free LastPass plan — $0/month: This plan gives you all the key features you’ll want in a password manager, and it’s not limited in terms of how many credentials you can save or devices you can sync. We recommend this plan if you’re new to password managers and see what the fuss is about, especially since it includes a free 30-day Premium trial.
• Premium LastPass plan — $3/month: This plan gives you all the features in the Free plan, plus one-to-many sharing, emergency access, advanced two-factor authentication options like YubiKey, more storage space, and priority support. We recommend this plan if you want to make the most out of your password manager, including in work settings.
• Family LastPass plan — $4/month/6 users: If you want to secure the online presence of your entire family, you can do that with this affordable and powerful plan, which gives you all the perks of the Premium plan and covers six subscriptions.

Both Dashlane and LastPass offer business plans, with pricing starting from $4/month per user. We won’t get into details on business plans, but you can check the official Dashlane business and LastPass business pages for more.

7. Dashlane vs LastPass: Which one is better?

For most users, we think LastPass is the better option. It offers the same key features as Dashlane, and a couple of special ones, at a more affordable cost. The free plan used to be very generous, though it has lost some ground. LastPass Premium is a strong, secure, feature-rich plan that will be great for most people.

Dashlane is just as good as LastPass in most areas, but it’s slightly more expensive. It bundles a VPN, making up the difference, but this pretty basic VPN will only satisfy casual users. More advanced users will want to look into one of the many dedicated VPNs out there instead. The fact that Dashlane doesn’t offer a family plan is a bummer.

Even leaving prices aside, we feel LastPass is slightly better, as it has broader compatibility, more two-factor authentication options, encrypted storage, and a less-intrusive user experience. That said, Dashlane is still an excellent option for those looking for the best password managers out there. The difference is pretty small.