LastPass Review: Easy to Use, but Should You? (2023)

Home Media 29/11/2021 15h22

With over 30 million users, LastPass is the most popular password manager on the market, but that doesn't mean it's the best password manager for you.

It has one of the lowest-priced family plans, as well as subscriptions for individuals and companies. Paid users get key features at a reasonable price, keeping the LastPass app and browser extensions on many laptops, phones, and tablets. However, the company has scaled back customer service for free users and limited how they use the service.

We'll walk you through the pros and cons of this password manager and also list some alternatives.

LastPass serves more than 30 million users and 85,000 businesses. It was created in 2008 and later acquired by the Boston-based companylog in, the owner ofGo to the meetingmiGoToWebinar.

Like other password managers, LastPass encrypts and stores your passwords, credit cards, and other valuable information in a secure vault protected by a single master password. It rose to fame thanks to a solid free plan, but the company has stopped offering some of the best features of the free plan.

A security breach in 2015 damaged the company's reputation, as well as a more recent admission that the companyincorporates trackersin your apps. Trackers are intended to improve performance and do not collect or log username or password information. A spokesman said customers canRemoveanalytics in your account settings.

We on the Home Media review team tested the LastPass Business plan on the iOS app, the Safari extension on MacOS, and the Firefox and Chrome extensions on Windows. We rate the password manager for its ease of use, accessibility, strength of security, and ease of getting help if needed. While all apps worked fine across all platforms, we did notice a small bug using the web vault in Safari and had to restart the browser.

LastPass has fallen behind when it comes to their plans, customer support, and reputation. In August 2021, LastPass discontinued customer support for free subscribers after restricting them to one device type.business usersare the only LastPass customers who receive phone and email support; personal paid plans receive email support only. Many free and paid subscribers complain about poor customer service on consumer review sites like Trustpilot.

LastPass Reputation

LastPass reviews ontrusted pilotShow how the public reacted to the company's mistakes. With an average of 1.6 out of 5 stars from nearly 300 reviews, LastPass's reputation seems dismal. It does better on the App Store (4.5 stars) with an average of 2.9 stars on Google Play. A LogMeIn spokesperson said that LastPass is committed to providing the best possible password management tool.

The changes that LastPass has made to its free plan are generating a lot of reaction. Free plan users must choose between using LastPass on a mobile device or on their computer(s). While other password managers impose device restrictions on free plans, we haven't seen other companies block users from using just one type of device. It is a strange limitation that has not been well received.

Free plan users must also fix software problems themselves using support articles and videos or theLastPass Community. The community forums are overseen by the LastPass team.

Despite negative LastPass reviews or changes to your free plan, LastPass's password manager is still a reliable way to keep your many online passwords handy so you don't have to remember them or, worse, recycle the same one. website password. Try it out for yourself by signing up for afree premium headsofree assessment for families. After creating an account, follow these steps:

Step 1: Import passwords

import your passwordsfrom another keyring or database, or enter passwords manually. LastPass browser extensions may also capture your login information for an account after you first enter your credentials.

If you want to create a new password for an account, LastPass uses apassword generatorto keep your passwords safe and random. One of the best things you can do for youronline family safetyis to make each of your passwords unique. That way, if a password is compromised, you only have to change that password. LastPass makes it easy to select unique passwords.

Step 2: Sync passwords between devices

Once your passwords are saved in the vault, add the LastPass app or browser extension on all devices. Any time you make changes to passwords or documents on one device, those changes will automatically appear on other devices.

Step 3: Enable AutoFill

Depending on your device type, you may need to disable native password padding and replace it with LastPass. After enabling autofill, you'll see the LastPass icon in the username and password fields of a website. Click on it to autofill passwords, credit card numbers, and other information you've uploaded to the vault.

Despite previous security incidents, LastPass is a trusted company that uses industry-standard security protocols, including 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard, or (AES)-256, the same level of encryption used by government agencies. and the armed forces for their safety.

LastPass also includes:

• PBKDF2— a fancy way of saying that LastPass turns your master password into an encryption key. It stands for Password-Based Key Derivation Function 2 with 256-bit Secure Hash Algorithm (PBKDF2-SHA256).
• “Zero knowledge” security model— means that LastPass never has access to your master password or encryption key. They are only stored locally on your device and are never uploaded to LastPass cloud servers.

That last item is important because after data breaches like the one with LastPass in 2015, anyone who gets your encrypted information won't be able to use it since they don't have the keys stored on their device. It also means that LastPass will never be able to access your account without your authorization.

LastPass put abug bounty programimplemented after the 2015 breach to detect and fix any security vulnerabilities. However, unlike some rivals likeNordPass, does not publish independent security audits for public review.

free plan

LastPass used to offer a great free plan, but its current offering has been stripped of unlimited device access and customer support. This means you'll have to decide if you want to use your mobile device or your computer with LastPass.

The free plan even comes with LastPass' strong password generator andmultifactor authentication(MFA), plus unlimited password storage, but you can only share passwords and items with one other account (known as one-to-one sharing). Another drawback is that MFA is limited: if you want to use your fingerprint or Face ID to authenticate your LastPass account, you'll need a Premium plan.

Premium Plan (US$36/year)

last stepAwardit increases the limits for sharing devices or passwords, and you can use Face ID to unlock your passwords. It also contains:

• 1 gigabyte (GB) of encrypted file storage— think financial documents, licenses, passports and more
• emergency access— Designate an emergency user who can access your passwords and documents if something happens to you.
• security dashboard— monitors the security of your passwords and thedark webfor any data leaks of your personal information
• Email customer support

Family Plan ($48/year)

For just $12 more per year than the Premium plan, six people get their own encrypted password vault and file storage. Plus, you can easily group and share passwords through a familiar control panel.

familiesit's a better deal than most password managers, including close rivals1 password. Plus, it's easy to set up family members via email.

Teams ($48/year per user)

teamsit is for organizations with 50 users or less. Each user has their own password vault, plus shared folders, two-factor authentication, a security dashboard, and dark web monitoring for email. An administrator has visibility and control over the privacy and security policies of the organization. A choice of 10 security policies allows the administrator to customize employee access.

While not as generous as the 30-day free trial for personal plans, a14 day free trialit's a great way to experience LastPass Teams.

legal recourse: We like how LastPass allows offline access for Teams users. This feature is beneficial when you are traveling or working somewhere without an internet connection.

Business ($72/year per user)

last stepThe businessIt's more expensive than Teams, but it's a better value overall, given the sheer number of extra features included. User limitation has been removed and you will be able to access more than 100 security policies to better customize your company's security standards. Advanced reports on user activity are also available. What's New in LastPassadoption panelprovides a visual representation of whether employees are applying.

legal recourse: Business users get a free Families plan for personal use. LastPass separates plans so families can't see business account information and employers can't access personal accounts.

The Business plan stands out for its federated login, application programming interface (API) access, and directory integrations that verify employee identities and work in conjunction with your company's systems. The Business plan offers unlimited single sign-on (SSO) for apps, resulting in a friendlier experience and fewer headaches for your business.

Lastly, business plans come with a customer success manager to help you set up and customize LastPass to best meet your business needs.

Business and Teams users receive the highest level of customer support with email and phone service. You can also use a chat feature onLastPass.comfor sales questions.

Personal Premium users receive email support, but free users mostly rely on LastPass.online resourcesand community forum. A support agent may call you by clicking the "Contact Support" button at the bottom of most help pages. Finally, you can uselast stepchatbot on the website for general questions.

Despite a downgraded free plan and previous security issues, LastPass is still a solid password manager for many home and business users. We like its affordable family plan and the fact that business users will get a password manager for work and home for one price.

Customers looking for a free plan should look elsewhere; recommendguardianif you are tech savvy andNorton Password Managementr for a safe and simple option. People willing to pay a little more for a password manager will find a nifty mobile app withPremium de Dashlanemore thanvirtual private network.