Compare the things you will use: devices, sharing, storage, recovery and cost. The judgments below are ours, as the maker of Zen Passwords; they are not an independent test.
Zen Passwords
2
rounds won
3
draws
Proton Pass
5
rounds won
Our scoring, of our own product against a competitor, so read it with that in mind. Every round below says exactly what it was scored on. Facts about Proton Pass checked against their own published documentation on .
The verdict
Choose Proton Pass when cross-platform access, shared vaults or independently audited open-source software are priorities. Consider Zen Passwords for a personal vault on Apple devices with local storage and optional private iCloud sync. A key-derivation algorithm alone does not establish which whole product is more secure.
Proton Pass and Zen Passwords make different storage and platform choices. Proton uses an encrypted service across platforms. Zen Passwords stores a vault on your device and offers optional encrypted sync through your own iCloud. Neither description is a complete security assessment.
Proton publishes its app code and audit reports. Zen publishes its cryptographic core, but the app is not open source and no independent audit is claimed. We do not present our own reading of the code as equivalent evidence.
For daily use, decide whether you need sharing, non-Apple devices or email aliases before comparing lower-level details. Those requirements can settle the decision before a migration begins.
What we would actually tell a friend
Start with the devices and people who need access. Proton Pass suits a shared or mixed-platform workflow. Zen Passwords suits a personal Apple-device vault when its storage and daily workflow match your needs.
Then the same 10 in detail, with what each side actually does and why the round went the way it did.
Round
Zen Passwords
Proton Pass
Winner
1. Key derivation and the limits of this comparison
Argon2id with device-calibrated settings
bcrypt-based user-key protection
Draw
2. What is actually encrypted
Item contents, and titles and tags sealed separately
Everything, including web addresses and usernames
Draw
3. Where your vault actually sits
On-device; optional private iCloud sync
Proton's servers in Switzerland, end to end encrypted
Zen Passwords
4. Whether anyone else has checked
Crypto is open source. App is not, and no audit yet
Open source, and audited by Cure53
Proton Pass
5. What it costs
Five active items free, on all your devices
Unlimited logins, notes and cards, free, unlimited devices
Proton Pass
6. The devices it reaches
iPhone, iPad and Mac, plus a read-only terminal tool on macOS and Linux
iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux and five browsers
Proton Pass
7. Sharing with the people you live with
Nothing
Limited free vault sharing; paid options available
Proton Pass
8. Hiding your real email address
Nothing
Hide my email aliases, ten on the free plan
Proton Pass
9. Getting back in when you have forgotten
A printable recovery key, plus trusted people who can help
Account recovery phrase and recovery file
Draw
10. How it feels on the device you actually hold
Built with Apple's own tools, for three devices and nothing else
One app that has to work everywhere
Zen Passwords
Final
2 rounds
5 rounds
Proton Pass
Round 1
Key derivation and the limits of this comparison
Zen Passwords
Zen Passwords uses Argon2id with device-calibrated memory settings of up to 256 MB. Its published cryptographic core documents the implementation.
Proton Pass
Proton’s published security model describes bcrypt-based protection of the user key and a separate authentication exchange.
Draw
Even. Different designs, not a measured ranking. Memory settings alone do not establish the cost of attacking the whole system. We have not conducted a comparative attack-cost benchmark or an independent audit.
Round 2
What is actually encrypted
Zen Passwords
Item contents are sealed, and list titles and tags are sealed separately from the body, so the list itself is not readable either.
Both of us do this properly. This is the round LastPass failed.
Proton Pass
Everything, explicitly including usernames, web addresses and notes, so that Proton cannot tell which services you use. They say so directly and they are right to make a point of it.
Draw
Even. Even, and both of us are doing this properly. This is the round LastPass failed, and it is worth saying that Proton took it as seriously as we did.
Round 3
Where your vault actually sits
Zen Passwords
On your device by default. Optional sync uses a private iCloud database under your Apple account; Zen does not host your vault.
Your own iCloud, because we do not run a server to put it on.
Proton Pass
On Proton's servers in Switzerland, end to end encrypted, under a company with a genuine record on privacy and a legal home that helps rather than hurts.
Winner
Zen Passwords. Zen Passwords for the reader specifically seeking this storage arrangement. It is a preference about custody, not proof that one complete system is safer.
Round 4
Whether anyone else has checked
Zen Passwords
Since 26 August 2026 the cryptography is public at github.com/zenproductsai/zen-vault-core: the key derivation, the two secret scheme, and vectors generated by the shipping app so a stranger can verify our claims rather than trust them. The app around it is closed, and no independent auditor has reviewed any of it.
Proton Pass
Open source, so anyone can read the code, plus an independent audit by Cure53 and a public bug bounty.
Winner
Proton Pass. Proton Pass, still, and by a smaller margin than before. They publish everything and Cure53 has been through it. We publish the part where a mistake would be unrecoverable, which is worth something and is not the same thing. Until an auditor who does not work here has looked, this round is theirs.
Round 5
What it costs
Zen Passwords
A free plan that keeps five items fully openable, and you choose which five. Premium beyond that.
Proton Pass
Free, with unlimited logins, notes and cards on unlimited devices, on every platform, plus ten hide my email aliases and alerts for weak and reused passwords.
Winner
Proton Pass. Proton Pass, outright. Unlimited items on unlimited devices for nothing is an offer our five item plan does not compete with and is not trying to.
Round 6
The devices it reaches
Zen Passwords
Native apps for iPhone, iPad and Mac, plus a read-only terminal tool for macOS and Linux. No Android or Windows app and no browser extension.
Proton Pass
iOS, Android, Windows, macOS and Linux, with add ons for Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge and Brave, and a web app.
Proton’s own listing. It runs everywhere. We do not.
Winner
Proton Pass. Proton Pass, by a distance. One Android phone in the house settles it.
Round 7
Sharing with the people you live with
Zen Passwords
Nothing. Your vault is yours alone.
Proton Pass
Proton offers vault sharing on its free plan with limits, and broader options on paid plans. Check its current sharing documentation for the limits that apply to you.
Winner
Proton Pass. Proton Pass. It offers shared access, including limited free vault sharing. Zen Passwords does not offer shared vaults.
Round 8
Hiding your real email address
Zen Passwords
Nothing at all. If you want a throwaway address for a signup, you will make one somewhere else.
Proton Pass
Hide my email aliases, ten of them on the free plan and unlimited on paid, generated as you sign up so the site never sees your real address.
Proton’s own listing. We have no answer to this at all.
Winner
Proton Pass. Proton Pass. This is a genuinely good feature that we do not have in any form, and for anybody who signs up to a lot of services it may be the whole decision.
Round 9
Getting back in when you have forgotten
Zen Passwords
A thirty two character recovery key you can print and keep in a drawer. It leaves out the characters people mix up, so there is no zero, capital O, one or capital I to type wrong. Nobody stores it anywhere, us included. Or you can use social recovery, which splits that key between people you trust. A few of them together can help you back in. None of them can get in alone.
A recovery key you keep, or people you trust. Never us.
Proton Pass
A recovery phrase and a recovery file tied to your Proton account, which is a well built system used across their whole product family.
Draw
Even. Both offer prepared recovery routes. Read and test the setup that applies to your account before relying on either one; a recovery feature is useful only when you can access the material it requires.
Round 10
How it feels on the device you actually hold
Zen Passwords
Built with Apple's own tools, for iPhone, iPad and Mac and nothing else. Real Mac menus and a proper sidebar. Panels that slide the way you expect. Make the text bigger in your settings and the whole app lays itself out again properly.
The app itself, not a rendering of it.
Proton Pass
One product that has to be itself on ten systems at once, which is an achievement and a constraint at the same time.
Winner
Zen Passwords. Zen Passwords. Being on one platform is a limitation everywhere except here, where it is the whole advantage. We only have to be right on Apple devices, so we are.
So who should choose what
Choose Zen Passwords
A personal vault on Apple devices
You use iPhone, iPad and Mac for your personal vault.
You want local storage with optional sync through your own iCloud.
You do not need shared vaults or team administration.
You have reviewed the lack of an independent Zen Passwords audit.
Recommended
Choose Proton Pass
It is free, with no item or device limit.
You want open-source apps and published independent audits. Zen publishes its cryptographic core but claims no independent audit.
It runs on Android, Windows and Linux, which we do not.
Hide my email aliases, which we have nothing like.
If you are still weighing it
Ask what you weigh most
Need sharing, non-Apple devices or independently audited apps? Start with Proton Pass.
Want a local personal Apple-device vault? Test Zen Passwords with a few accounts before moving more.
Common questions
Is this an independent security comparison?
No. It is written by the maker of Zen Passwords, using product documentation. The judgments are ours, and we have not run a comparative attack-cost benchmark. Proton publishes independent audit reports; no independent Zen Passwords audit is claimed.
Is bcrypt insecure?
No. bcrypt is a respected password hashing function and Proton's implementation is described as a strong one. It simply uses a small, fixed amount of memory, and memory cost is what makes a modern cracking rig inefficient. That is the whole of round 1 and it is the reason we chose Argon2id.
Will Zen Passwords be audited?
We want one and we have not had one. Publishing the cryptography in August 2026 is not a substitute: it means you can read and test it yourself, not that a professional has. Until an auditor has, round 4 stays lost. We will publish the result when there is one, whatever it says.
Will you add email aliases?
Not today, and we are not going to promise a date. Right now if you want aliases, Proton Pass has them and we do not.
Is my data on a Zen server?
There is no Zen server. Your vault syncs as encrypted data through your own private iCloud, on your Apple ID. The industry term for this is zero knowledge, which means the company cannot read what it stores for you. We take it a step further, because there is nothing on our side to read in the first place.
Choose for your devices and your recovery plan. Test a few accounts before switching.
How every round was scored, and where the facts came from
Reviewed on 17 September 2026. Product features can change; the official pages below are the source for Proton claims. Our judgments are separate from those facts.
Active-item limits and the opt-in Premium breach check.
These are our own readings of our own implementation, current as of this writing, offered in the interest of transparency rather than as a substitute for independent review. Corrections and questions are welcome.
Everything claimed about Zen Passwords here is what the app does today. Everything claimed about Proton Pass is limited to things that have been true of it for years, checked against their own documentation. There are no prices on this page, because a price nobody re-checks goes wrong in public. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
