Dashlane is a good product and this page says so more than once. It picked the right kind of key derivation years before most of the category did. The reasons people leave are usually the free plan, the bundle, or a preference for a native Apple app, so those are what this page covers.
None of these are security failures. Dashlane has no breach on record and is independently audited, which is more than we can say for ourselves, and we would rather write that here than let you find it elsewhere.
That makes it a trial rather than somewhere to keep your life. Ours is five items, which is smaller, but on every device you own. Neither free plan is a home, and it is worth knowing that before you pick either.
Dashlane derives your key with Argon2d at 32 MB of memory, three rounds and two threads, per their own security white paper. Ours starts at 256 MB. That is eight times the cost of every single guess against a stolen file, using the same family of method. Memory is what decides how many attempts fit on a graphics card at all.
The paid plan bundles a VPN and dark web monitoring. If you would buy a VPN anyway, that is genuinely good value and you should stay. If you would not, you are paying for a product you will not use, attached to one you will.
Dashlane moved its desktop experience into the web app and extensions. That is a reasonable engineering choice for a product on every platform, and it is a different feel from a Mac app with real menus and a sidebar.
Three good reasons, and we are not going to argue you out of any of them.
If none of those decide it, the difference comes down to what one guess against a stolen file costs, and to how the app feels on the device you actually hold.
Zen Passwords and Dashlane, side by side
| What is being compared | Zen Passwords | Dashlane |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | iPhone, iPad and Mac | Apple devices, Android and every major browser |
| Account | None. You never create one | A Dashlane account, held on their servers |
| What one guess costs an attacker | Argon2id, up to 256 MB of memory per guess | Argon2d at 32 MB, three rounds, two threads source |
| Where the vault lives | Your own private iCloud, or on the device alone | Dashlane servers, encrypted, with no breach on record |
| What you can store | Logins, passkeys, authenticator codes, payment cards, bank details, Wi-Fi, software licences and secure notes | Logins, payments, personal information, IDs and secure notes |
| AutoFill | AutoFill for logins, one-time codes and passkeys in Safari and other apps, on iPhone, iPad and Mac, plus save-password prompts | AutoFill on mobile, plus browser extensions on desktop |
| Sharing | None. A personal vault only | Item and folder sharing, and a Friends and Family plan |
| 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 | Recovery through your Dashlane account |
| Free plan | Free for up to five active items, then Zen Premium for unlimited items. Apple shows the price and the billing terms before you buy. | 25 passwords, on a single device |
| Extras in the price | A vault. Nothing else is bundled | A VPN and dark web monitoring |
Facts about Dashlane were checked on against their own site. Products change, so check theirs before you decide.
Half an hour, and do not cancel the Dashlane subscription until the last step is done.
Dashlane exports to CSV and JSON from the web app. Whichever you choose, the file is your vault in readable text. Keep it on the machine, do not drop it in a shared folder, and delete it when you are finished.
Settings, then Import from other app, then pick the generic CSV or JSON source and choose your file. A preview shows the row counts and what will be skipped before anything is written.
Payment cards and identity documents usually come across with fewer fields than they had, because every product names them differently. Open two or three and fix the gaps while the old vault is still there to compare against.
Enable AutoFill so logins, one-time codes and passkeys fill in Safari and other apps. Then save a recovery key or set up social recovery, because nobody here can reset your master password for you.
Once you have opened a few logins from the new vault and AutoFill is filling, delete the export file and close the Dashlane account. If you are mid-term, let the subscription lapse rather than cancelling into a gap.
In theory Argon2id is the recommended variant for password hashing. In practice, for a vault file attacked offline, the difference between the two variants is small next to the difference in the memory setting. Compare 32 MB with 256 MB rather than arguing about the letter.
Not on record, and we are not going to imply otherwise. They are also independently audited and we are not. The difference we claim is structural: we hold nothing, so there is no vault of yours on a server we run.
Yes. We sell a password vault and nothing else. If the VPN is something you actually use, that is a genuine reason to stay with Dashlane, and we would rather say so than pretend a bundle has no value.
No. Zen Passwords runs on iPhone, iPad and Mac. If you need Windows, Android or Linux, Dashlane covers them and we do not.
No. Zen Passwords is a personal vault, with no shared vaults and no family plan.
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 comparisonOpen 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 comparisonWhat to change before you switch, and why the old vault still matters.
Read the comparisonTwo products that agree nobody should hold your vault. The difference is the key.
Read the comparisonThis page assumes you are leaving Dashlane. If you are still weighing the two up, the verdict page answers that instead.
Zen Passwords vs DashlaneEvery 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 Dashlane 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.
