Dashlane Review: Features, Pricing, Pros & Cons

I'll preface this by saying that I've used LastPass, 1Password, Bitwarden, and even—only IT companies would recognize—IT Glue & MyGlue (a premium solution starting at $150/mo).

I first started using LastPass over a decade ago, got most of my family/friends on it, and eventually even customers as well (as a way to securely share passwords between companies).

The thing is, LastPass got acquired by LogMeIn and started becoming stagnant. It also went through what felt like a never-ending series of major data breaches over the years to follow.

This was when I started seriously evaluating alternatives (like Dashlane), as I knew it was going to be a heavy lift to switch—consisting of migrating myself (personal + work), family, friends, and even some customers all over to it from LastPass and MyGlue respectivel

For those more technical (or running an IT company) and considering IT Glue/MyGlue—it's great, but as a password manager, it's overkill. It's more of an IT infrastructure documentation tool, which they acquired a password manager, and rolled it into the mix. So you're paying a huge premium if you're planning on only using it as a password manager (as I was during the later years of pivoting away from the MSP side of the business).

Differentiation

Dashlane started as a password manager for consumers (B2C)—as at the end of the day, people need to manage passwords their many passwords across personal/work—and in the past few years, they've been focusing their efforts in building out the B2B (team management) component of Dashlane.

This is important because having used password managers built for companies, not people (e.g. IT Glue/MyGlue), you see first-hand that a powerful password manager is nothing if the end-user doesn't actually, well, use it... User-adoption is the most critical factor for a password manager to be successful.

That's where Dashlane stands out, because they were first-and-foremost a B2C company that built an exceptional end-user experience for everyday people, and have moved to the B2B market. This gives them a unique advantage in the space.

Take the mobile app (for iOS and Android), it's far and above the most modern and visually appealing of all the other password managers I've listed here.

That said, there is one area that lacking a bit with Dashlane (likely because they haven't been in B2B as long), and that's their API.

API

The clear winner in this category seems to be 1Password from what I've been seeing. For example, if you try using a tool like Raycast that has a 1Password app on their store, you'll see that it's a native integration (looks like Raycast). But then the same app made for Dashlane is really just a shortcut to open up the Dashlane app.

So that makes it pretty clear that 1Password has a proper API, while Dashlane hasn't quite gotten there yet. To be fair, it is a bit uneasy trusting a third-party developer with API access to your password manager, although I'm sure it's fine, especially in the Raycast example because all of the code is open-source and can be audited.

Security

Once you're using a password manager like Dashlane, you can also set up 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) from right within the existing password that you save for a site. So instead of using the insecure SMS 2FA (which won't work if you're without or in spotty cell connection, which also brings with it sending delays of up to 5 minutes. Not to mention being prone to spoofing, phishing, and social engineering attacks), you can instead set up a time-based code, which will even autofill when logging into a website while still adding a second layer of security (e.g. if your password leaks, someone still cannot login to your account without the additionally changing code). From over a decade in the IT space, I know all too well that never does higher security also mean higher convenience, but with Dashlane, it actually does:

Final Verdict

If a powerful API is important to you, 1Password is probably where it's at. If you care more about having the most modern UI/UX and a team that is constantly evolving the product, Dashlane is our top pick.