Proton Pass or 1Password: which one should you choose?

1Password is probably the most polished password manager on the market. Launched in 2006, adopted by tech teams, with impeccable apps on every platform. So why do I recommend Proton Pass by default? Because for an individual, the match isn’t decided on polish. It’s decided on price, open code and ecosystem.

The match in one table

Criterion	Proton Pass	1Password
Price	Free (unlimited devices). Plus from $1.99/month (commitment)	No free plan. Individual at $3.99/month, Families at $5.99/month (billed annually)
Source code	Open	Proprietary
Built-in email aliases	Yes (mask your real address)	No
Track record	Young product, evolving fast	Since 2006
Target audience	Individuals, Proton suite customers	Families and teams willing to pay
Ecosystem	Proton suite (Mail, Drive, VPN, Calendar)	Standalone product

What Proton Pass does better

The free plan, first. Proton Pass gives you unlimited devices without paying anything, while 1Password offers no free plan. You also get email aliases: at every sign-up, a disposable address masks the real one. Two-factor authentication codes are handled in the same place. Three tools in one, without pulling out your credit card.

Open code matters too. Proton Pass is open source, so anyone can verify it, where 1Password remains proprietary software. And if you’re building your independence around the Proton suite, the manager joins the same account, with the same model: subscriptions, no ads.

What 1Password does better

Polish, no contest. The interface is very refined, the clients are excellent on every platform, and twenty years of craft show in the details. Travel Mode captures that spirit well: it temporarily removes your vaults when you go through customs.

Families and teams are its home turf. The Families plan at $5.99/month is designed for sharing household access, and it’s in companies that I run into 1Password most often. A mature, rich product with no bad surprises. Its only real limit? Everything is paid, from the very first password.

The real cost of switching

Good news: switching password managers is one of the simplest migrations. You export your vault, you import the file, and it’s done. I imported my passwords in two minutes; the real work was cleaning up the accounts behind them, which took me weeks. And if your passwords still live in Chrome, start with the dedicated guide: same move, with the bonus of getting them out of your Google account.

Verdict

Choose Proton Pass if you’re an individual: free, open source, with built-in aliases and two-factor authentication. It’s my default recommendation, the same as against Bitwarden.

Choose 1Password if you’re equipping a family or a team and you’re happy to pay for the best experience on the market. You’ll get an excellent tool, just closed and paid where others are open and free.

Want open source outside the Proton ecosystem? Bitwarden remains the safe bet. The detailed profiles: Proton Pass and 1Password, with the full catalog of password managers. To place this project in your journey, head to the diagnostic.