Bitwarden is the answer a lot of people should give, and this page says so more than once. It is open source, it runs everywhere, and its free tier is unusually generous. What it is not is an app built for one set of devices, which is the whole of what Zen Passwords is.
None of these is a flaw in Bitwarden. They are consequences of building for every platform at once.
Zen Passwords is written for iPhone, iPad and Mac and nothing else. Face ID, Touch ID and Optic ID unlock, the split view on iPad, the Mac window: all of it is native rather than a shared layer stretched across six operating systems.
Bitwarden gives you a free account on their service, or the option to run a server yourself. Zen Passwords gives you neither, because there is no account and no server. Sync, if you want it, is your own private iCloud under your Apple ID.
Payment cards, bank details, software licences, Wi-Fi, passkeys, one-time codes and secure notes sit next to your logins, searchable in one place, with no add-on or upgrade needed to hold them.
Bitwarden is genuinely the better answer in more cases than most competitors would admit.
If you are already happy on Bitwarden and you own only Apple devices, the honest reason to move is that you want a native app, not that anything is wrong with what you have.
Zen Passwords and Bitwarden, side by side. Checked on the review date below.
| What is being compared | Zen Passwords | Bitwarden |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | iPhone, iPad and Mac, plus a read-only terminal tool on macOS and Linux | Apple devices, Windows, Android, Linux, browsers and the web vault |
| Account | None. You never create one | A Bitwarden account, or a server you host yourself source |
| Source code | Not published | Open source, with published audits source |
| Sync | Optional, through your own private iCloud under your Apple ID | Through Bitwarden, or your own server |
| What it stores | Logins, passkeys, authenticator codes, payment cards, bank details, Wi-Fi, software licences and secure notes | Logins, cards, identities, notes and passkeys |
| 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 | Organisations, collections and family sharing source |
| If you forget the master password | Nobody can reset your master password, including us, because we never receive it. You get a printable recovery key instead, or social recovery split across people you trust | No reset either, though an organisation can be set up to recover a member account source |
| 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 free tier, with paid plans. Check their site for current pricing |
Facts about Bitwarden were checked on against their own site. Products change, so check theirs before you decide.
The same care applies as any vault migration. The export file is the dangerous part.
Use the web vault or the desktop app. Choose the unencrypted export only if you are going to delete it straight afterwards, because it is your entire vault in readable text.
Bring the file in on your Mac, then compare the item count against what Bitwarden showed you before you started.
Authenticator codes are the thing most likely to need attention after any migration. Open the accounts that matter most and confirm a code works before you rely on it.
A fortnight of using only Zen Passwords tells you what is missing. Bitwarden costs you nothing to leave installed while you find out.
Then empty the trash. It is the least protected copy of every password you own.
Not like Bitwarden, no. Bitwarden publishes its whole client and commissions public audits. We publish the cryptography only, at github.com/zenproductsai/zen-vault-core, MIT licensed and with the vectors to verify it. The app around it stays closed and we have had no independent audit. If reading the code is how you decide, that is still a real argument for Bitwarden and we are not going to talk you out of it.
No, and there is nothing to host. There is no Zen Passwords server. Sync, when you turn it on, uses your own private iCloud under your Apple ID, which is closer to self-hosting in effect than in name.
For most people on mixed devices, you would not, and Bitwarden is the better answer. Zen Passwords is worth paying for if you are on Apple devices only and you want a native app holding cards, bank details and notes as well as logins.
On Apple devices they end up in much the same place: Zen Passwords registers as an AutoFill provider on iPhone, iPad and Mac, so logins, one-time codes and passkeys are offered in Safari and in other apps, and it offers to save a new password when you make one. Outside Apple devices there is no comparison to make, because Bitwarden has a browser extension everywhere and we are not there at all.
Zen Passwords is an app for iPhone, iPad and Mac. There is no web vault, because a web vault needs a server, and not having one is the point of the product.
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 StoreNo account, an Apple only vault, and the three cases where you should stay put.
Read the comparisonWhat the built-in app has nowhere to put, and how to move just that.
Read the comparisonWhat to change before you switch, and why the old vault still matters.
Read the comparisonSame method, eight times the memory, and no bundle you did not ask for.
Read the comparisonTwo products that agree nobody should hold your vault. The difference is the key.
Read the comparisonThe strongest rival we have. One narrow reason to move, stated honestly.
Read the comparisonThis page assumes you are leaving Bitwarden. If you are still weighing the two up, the verdict page answers that instead.
Zen Passwords vs BitwardenEvery 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 Bitwarden 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.
