Explore apps 1Password is good software, and this page is not going to pretend otherwise. It is also an account you sign in to, on a service that holds your vault. If that is the part you want to end, here is exactly what changes, and the three cases where you should stay put.
All three are things Zen Passwords does differently, not things 1Password does badly.
You never create a Zen Passwords account, because there is not one. Optional sync runs through your own private iCloud under your Apple ID, so no vault of yours sits on a server we run. Turn sync off and the vault never leaves the device.
Payment cards, bank details, software licences, Wi-Fi, passkeys, one-time codes and secure notes live beside your passwords, in one searchable vault with the same lock over all of it.
Your vault is sealed on the device with keys derived from your master password. We never receive that password. We cannot open your vault for you, which is the same reason nobody reaching our systems can open it either.
Three cases where switching would be a downgrade. If any of them is you, stop here and keep what you have.
None of that is a criticism of 1Password. Those features exist because the account exists, and the account is the thing you would be giving up.
Zen Passwords and 1Password, side by side. Checked on the review date below.
| What is being compared | Zen Passwords | 1Password |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | iPhone, iPad and Mac | Apple devices, Windows, Android, Linux and the browser |
| Account | None. You never create one | A 1Password account, which your vault is tied to |
| Sync | Optional, through your own private iCloud under your Apple ID | Through 1Password, across every platform |
| What it stores | Logins, passkeys, authenticator codes, payment cards, bank details, Wi-Fi, software licences and secure notes | Logins, passkeys, codes, cards, documents and notes |
| Filling logins | AutoFill for logins, one-time codes and passkeys in Safari and other apps, on iPhone, iPad and Mac, plus save-password prompts | System AutoFill plus browser extensions on every desktop browser |
| Sharing | Personal vault only | Shared vaults, family plans and team management |
| Unlock | Master password, with optional Face ID, Touch ID or Optic ID | Account password and secret key, with biometric unlock |
| If you forget the master password | Nobody can reset your master password, including us, because we never receive it | Recovery paths exist through the account, including family recovery |
| Price | Free for up to five active items, then Zen Premium for unlimited items. Apple shows the price and the billing terms before you buy. | A paid plan. Check their site for current pricing |
Facts about 1Password were checked on against their own site. Products change, so check theirs before you decide.
Do this on a day you have half an hour, and do not cancel anything until the last step is done.
Use their desktop app to export your vault. The file that comes out is unencrypted plain text, so treat it the way you would treat the passwords themselves: keep it on the machine, and delete it the moment you are finished.
Open Zen Passwords on your Mac and bring the file in. Give it a moment on a large vault, then check the item count against what 1Password reported.
Attachments, documents and anything stored in a custom field are the usual casualties in any password manager migration, whichever direction you go. Open ten of your most important items and confirm each one before you trust the vault.
Keep 1Password installed and use only Zen Passwords. If you reach for the old app and find something missing, you have lost nothing. Only when a fortnight passes without needing it should you cancel and remove it.
It is the single least protected copy of every password you own. Empty it out of the trash too.
You import through a file you export from 1Password rather than by connecting the two apps. There is no account on our side for them to connect to, which is the point of the product, and it means the handover is a file you control from start to finish.
Zen Passwords is free for up to five active items, and Zen Premium unlocks unlimited items. Apple shows the price and the billing terms before you buy, and that screen is the one to trust rather than any figure written on a marketing page.
Your vault is on your device and, if you turned sync on, in your own iCloud under your Apple ID. It is not held on a server we run, so it does not vanish with us. This is a fair question to ask any small developer, and the honest answer is the reason the product is built this way.
Yes, on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Switch Zen Passwords on as an AutoFill provider and your logins are offered in Safari and in other apps, the same place 1Password offers them today. It fills one-time codes as well, so you are not copying a code between apps, and passkeys work for both creating an account and signing back in. What you do not get is a desktop browser extension on Windows or Linux, because the app does not run there at all.
No. Zen Passwords runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac. If you need Windows, Android or Linux, 1Password is the better tool and you should stay with it.
No. Zen Passwords is a personal vault, with no shared vaults or family plan. If shared logins are part of how your household works, 1Password covers that and we do not.
A private vault for logins, cards, bank details, codes and notes on iPhone, iPad and Mac. Free for up to five active items.
Download on the App StoreOpen source and everywhere, against one platform built natively.
Read the comparisonWhat the built-in app has nowhere to put, and how to move just that.
Read the comparisonThis page assumes you are leaving 1Password. If you are still weighing the two up, the verdict page answers that instead.
Zen Passwords vs 1PasswordEvery feature, the screenshots, the privacy detail and the questions people ask most often.
Open the product pageEverything claimed about Zen Passwords here is what the app does today. Everything claimed about 1Password is limited to things that have been true of it for years, with no prices, because a price on a page nobody re-checks goes wrong in public. If you find something out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
