No More $10 Plan: Bitwarden Hikes Prices to Fund ‘Proactive’ Defense Features

For years, Bitwarden held the undisputed title of the tech world’s best password manager bargain, offering top-tier password security for just $10 a year. But that era officially ended today.

In a major strategic shift, the open-source company announced an immediate price increase that sees its individual Premium plan rise to $1.65 per month—effectively doubling the annual cost—while the Families plan climbs to $3.99 per month.

Here is the old and new price comparison.

	Old Price	New Price
Basic	Free	Free
Premium	$1 per month $10 per year	$1.65 per month $19.80 per year
Family	$40 per year	$3.99 per month $47.88 per year

• The free basic plan remains as is.
• Premium nearly doubles to $20 per year.
• Family increases by about $8 per year.

The company argues the hike is necessary to fund a transition from passive storage to “proactive” defense, rolling out new features like real-time vault health alerts, expanded encrypted storage, and an upcoming phishing blocker designed to stop attacks before they happen.

Here is an overview of the new security features that Bitwarden announced:

Real-Time Vault Health & Coaching

The new feature automates the security process of checking for weak or exposed passwords.

• In-Vault Alerts: Bitwarden shows a risk-icon next to vault items if a password is weak, reused, or was found in a breach.
• Password Coaching: The moment a user logs in a site with a weak or compromised password, Bitwarden will prompt them to change it and guide them through the process.

Phishing Blocker

Upgrades defenses against phishing attacks.

• Proactive Blocking: Bitwarden will attempt to discern legitimate from phishing websites in order to block the latter before filling any credentials.
• Protection Layer: Aims to stop credential theft before it happens.

Expanded Encrypted Storage

Bitwarden Premium and Family plan customers get five times more storage space under the updated plans. This gives each user five gigabytes of secure file storage space, which they may use to store digital copies of passports, backup codes, wills, and other sensitive documents or files.

Advanced Two-Step Login options

Here, users get two expansions to existing support:

• More Hardware Keys: Users may register up to ten hardware keys, e.g., a Yubikey, with Bitwarden. This doubles the old limit of five hardware keys.
• Passkey Support: Improved support for the password-less authentication standard.

Closing Words

Ultimately, this update signals Bitwarden’s growth from a budget-friendly utility into a comprehensive security suite.

While a 100% price jump may sting long-time loyalists, the new ~$20 annual cost remains nearly half the price of top-tier competitors like 1Password and Dashlane.

Bitwarden is softening the blow with a one-time 25% renewal discount for existing users, but the company is clearly betting that active phishing defense and expanded storage are worth the premium. The days of the $10 vault are gone; users must now decide if they are ready to pay double for a smarter, more protective Bitwarden, or if the service’s robust free tier is effectively all the security they need