1Password

Overview

1Password was created by AgileBits Inc., a software company founded in Toronto, Canada, by Dave Teare and Roustem Karimov. The company’s password manager was first released on June 18, 2006, for macOS, predating the wave of cloud-synced password managers that followed. Early versions relied on local encrypted storage files that users synced manually or through services like Dropbox, before AgileBits introduced its own hosted syncing infrastructure.

The product moved to a subscription-based pricing model with the release of 1Password 7, replacing the perpetual-license model used in earlier versions; 1Password 8, released in 2022, dropped local vault storage entirely in favor of an account-based architecture, which drew criticism from some long-time users who preferred offline-only vaults. AgileBits (later rebranded as 1Password) has continued to expand the product’s scope beyond personal password storage, adding business and developer-focused offerings such as secrets management and SaaS application discovery. In November 2022, the company acquired Passage, a passkey authentication provider, and has since built passkey creation and sign-in support into its core apps. By late 2025, the company reported surpassing $400 million in annual recurring revenue.

Key Features

• Encrypted vaults — Passwords, notes, documents, and other sensitive items are organized into vaults protected by a master password and a locally-stored secret key
• Watchtower — Ongoing security monitoring that flags weak, reused, or compromised passwords and alerts users to known data breaches affecting saved accounts
• Travel Mode — Temporarily removes vaults not marked as safe for travel from a device, intended for crossing borders or other situations requiring reduced data exposure
• Passkey support — Generates and stores passkeys for passwordless sign-in, built on technology acquired from Passage
• Browser extensions and autofill — Extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Brave, and Opera that autofill credentials and generate random passwords
• Secrets management — Tools for developers and automated systems to store and retrieve API keys, tokens, and other secrets outside of source code

Use Cases

• Individuals — Storing and autofilling personal logins, payment cards, and identity documents
• Families — Shared vaults for household accounts with individual privacy for personal items
• Businesses and teams — Centralized credential management, access provisioning, and offboarding controls for employees
• Developers — Managing API keys and secrets used in application code and CI/CD pipelines outside of plaintext files

Who It’s For

1Password is aimed at individuals, families, and organizations that need to manage passwords and other sensitive credentials across multiple devices and platforms. It is distributed through subscription plans covering individual, family, and business/team use, with apps available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and as browser extensions.