Creating strong, unique passwords is essential for cybersecurity in business, but doing so is easier said than done. If your employees reuse the same weak and easy-to-guess passwords across your network, they could be leaving your sensitive information vulnerable to attack from hackers. Luckily, choosing one of the best password managers can drastically reduce these risks.
Offering features such as end-to-end encryption and security alerts, 1Password has more than 80,000 business clients worldwide. In our 1Password review, we look at the provider’s major features, as well as its security and customer support levels. You can then decide if this could be the right solution for your business.
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1Password: Plans and pricing
If you’d like to implement 1Password across your business, you can choose from three plan types: Teams, Business, and Enterprise.
- 1Password subscription options:
- 12 month plan – US$2.50 per month (US$30 total cost)
The Teams plan, which carries a $3.99 per user a month fee, includes features such as unlimited shared vaults and storage. Under the $7.99 per user a month Business plan, you’ll receive additional features such as activity logs to track any changes across your network, and a free family plan for all team members.
If yours is a larger organization, you could opt for the Enterprise plan, which includes a dedicated account manager and customized setup training. You’ll need to contact the company directly in order to receive a customized quote for the Enterprise plan.
The company offers a 14-day free trial on its Teams and Business plans.
Features
1Password enables you to collect all your passwords into a secure, personalized vault, while a password generator tool will also create and store passwords on any new online accounts. As you would expect from solutions of this type, 1Password automatically syncs passwords between all devices in a user’s network.
By switching on the company’s Watchtower notifications, you’ll receive notifications of any security breaches on the websites you regularly visit. Once you have this information, you can immediately take steps to change any passwords or login details on the affected accounts. Remember, you’ll also need to do this across all accounts on which you reuse the same login credentials.
A relatively new feature, Secrets Automation, acts as a “single source of truth” in which businesses can house confidential information such as team logins and infrastructure secrets, including corporate credentials, API (Application Programming Interface) tokens, keys, and certificates.
By housing and managing all this information in one place, you can eliminate the need for fractured audit logs across your organization. Although you’ll receive limited free access, you’ll pay a monthly fee, which ranges from $29 to $299 a month, if you’d like to add this feature to a significant number of your secured vaults.
Interface and in use
As soon as we logged in to 1Password, we were able to quickly locate all pertinent information related to our account and invite other team members to join.
You can create and manage groups within your organization via the dashboard, which enables you to easily delegate responsibilities to your employees. As well as providing you with private vaults, 1Password enables you to create shared vaults in which you can share information with trusted individuals.
Although there is certainly nothing wrong with the interface, it is perhaps less sleek in design than rivals such as Bitwarden, and the interface does appear a little cluttered.
1Password is available as an app for Mac, iOS, Windows, Android, Linux, and Chrome OS. Alternatively, the tool is available as an extension on all major browsers. In one potential downside, we found the solution’s mobile app slightly less usable than other platforms, with certain sections feeling dense and text heavy.
Support
If you’d like to get in touch with 1Password, the company offers 24/7 email support on all its business plans, though doesn’t offer telephone support. With the Business plan, you’ll receive enhanced VIP support, which means your queries take priority over others.
The company’s website also contains white papers and blogs on a range of topics relevant to business cybersecurity, such as data handling and internal security audits.
Security
Like many solutions of this kind, 1Password operates on the basis of end-to-end encryption, which means all information related to your account is encrypted on the devices in your network before being transmitted to 1Password’s servers. This means 1Password will never actually gain access to an unencrypted version of your master password.
You should note that the company’s security features differ across its business plans. If you opt for the more expensive Business plan, you’ll receive advanced protection, which enables you to exercise greater control across your business. We were particularly impressed by a nifty feature that enables administrators to set requirements for all master passwords across their network.
The competition
If you’re looking to implement a password manager across your business, 1Password is in no way your only option. Dashlane provides a strong offering for small businesses, with its plans costing $5 or $8 per user a month.
In one of its most attractive business-specific features, the company enables users to create dedicated spaces to separate their personal and professional usage. Read our Dashlane review to learn more about this platform.
If you’re particularly concerned about security, Bitwarden could be an attractive option. As an open-source provider, the company makes all its code available for third-party inspection. And, unlike many of its competitors, Bitwarden offers a free plan, which includes features such as multi-device syncing and two-factor authentication.
You can read our full Bitwarden review to discover what we made of this password manager.
Final verdict
If you’re a small business owner, 1Password certainly provides all the features you need to increase password security across your organization, and provides these well. As well as strong password management for you and your employees, the company’s extensive security features should prove reassuring for any entrepreneur.
While the solution may not offer many features that distinguish it from its rivals as part of its standard plans, it could certainly be worth signing up for one of the company’s free trials.
