Best open-source password managers in 2026
Open source means the code can be read, audited and run by anyone — valuable for something guarding every account you own. Here are the leading open-source password managers in 2026 and how they differ.
Why open source matters
With a password manager you are trusting software with your entire digital life. Open or transparent internals let independent researchers verify the encryption and catch mistakes, and let you self-host or fork if a vendor’s direction changes. License and audit history matter as much as the label.
Bitwarden
The most popular open-source manager: audited annually, generous free tier, cloud or self-hosted. A safe default for most people.
Vaultwarden
A Rust re-implementation of the Bitwarden server under AGPL, lightweight and self-hostable, compatible with Bitwarden’s clients.
KeePassXC
A mature, fully local open-source manager storing an encrypted KDBX file (AES-256 or Twofish). Certified by France’s ANSSI and popular with technical users who want zero cloud.
Passbolt & Psono
Both open-source and team-oriented: Passbolt uses OpenPGP with per-resource sharing (AGPL, EU-built); Psono adds SAML/LDAP and audit logs (Apache-2.0). Either is a strong self-hosted team choice.
Proton Pass
Open-source clients from the Proton privacy suite, with a free end-to-end-encrypted tier — cloud only, not self-hostable.
Where storage-p fits
storage-p is self-hostable with a transparent, documented crypto design: browser-side Argon2id key derivation, XChaCha20-Poly1305 ciphertext on the server, SQLCipher at rest, client-side Ed25519/TLS generation, and confirmable scoped API tokens. It stores far more than passwords — SSH/TLS keys, API keys and TOTP — in one vault you own.
How to choose
Want the biggest ecosystem and easiest apps — Bitwarden/Vaultwarden. Pure local, no server — KeePassXC. Team sharing — Passbolt/Psono. Zero-knowledge self-hosting with keys and API access beyond passwords — storage-p.