Dashlane vs Keeper: A Tussle At the Top in 2020
When it comes to managing your passwords, it’s hard to top Keeper and Dashlane. Both tools are at the top of the password managing game, with excellent security and slew of unique features. In this Dashlane vs Keeper comparison, we’re going to throw them both into the ring to see which comes out on top.
We gave a nod to both in our best password manager guide, making this Keeper vs Dashlane comparison long overdue. Over the next few thousand words, we’ll compare the two tools point for point, covering features, pricing, security, user-friendliness and more, all before declaring a winner.
The long answer is, well, long, so keep reading if you want to see how evenly matched the two are. For the short answer, Dashlane is the better option, though only by a bit. If it piques your interests, you can always sign up for an account with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Before getting into it, make sure to read our Keeper review and Dashlane review if you want more information about either option.
Setting Up a Fight: Dashlane vs Keeper
As with all of our comparisons, Keeper and Dashlane will duke it out over a series of rounds, each worth a point. Whichever competitor comes out with more points in the end will be our winner. That said, there is some wiggle room, especially when it comes to options like Keeper and Dashlane.
Both tools are excellent password managers, leaving many rounds up to personal preference. Although we’ll try to be as objective as possible, there are certain aspects of the one service that you may prefer over the other.
Because of that, we’d recommend reading through each round rather than just skimming the winners. We’re going to award points based on what we think is most important for each round (that’s why we’re here, after all). That said, you could blindly pick either one and come out with a great password manager.
- 1
- 2FA
- Zero-knowledge
- Multi-device sync
- Mobile apps
- Free plan
- 2
- 2FA
- Zero-knowledge
- Multi-device sync
- Android/iOS Mobile apps
- Free plan
1. Security
Dashlane and Keeper will both keep your passwords protected, unlike LogMeOnce, which doesn’t even specify the key size for its encryption (read our LogMeOnce review). Although both are fit with AES-256 encryption and a zero-knowledge security model, there is a clear winner for this round.
Starting with Keeper, your passwords are protected with the best of the best: AES-256 (read our description of encryption for more on that). Your passwords are locked behind a master password, which Keeper never sees nor stores. In order to authenticate your account, it uses 100,000 iterations of PBKDF2 to generate a key, which it then ties to your master password.
In theory, this means that Keeper can’t restore your account if you forget your master password. However, there’s a workaround. When you sign up, Keeper also generates a data key based on a security question and answer. Again, only the key is stored, not your question or answer. In the event you lose access to your account, you can use this question to restore it.
Although it’s an interesting take on account recovery, security questions are usually weak, as we point out in our six tips to prevent identity theft guide. Thankfully, you can bypass the issue by enabling two-factor authentication on your account. On that front, Keeper has plenty of options, including support for the best 2FA apps. Furthermore, you’ll need to enter a verification code before answering the security question, adding another layer of security to account recovery.
Dashlane’s Proprietary Security
Dashlane goes a step further. It uses a two-secret-key model, which means you need your master password and a unique device key to unlock your account. This device key is generated based on hardware and software specifications when you download Dashlane, and it is stored locally in an encrypted format.
This security model is similar to 1Password, adding a form of two-factor authentication that happens in the background (read our 1Password review). Unlike 1Password, however, Dashlane makes use of the more modern Argon2d hashing algorithm, as you can see in our Dashlane vs 1Password comparison.
Although Dashlane and Keeper are both secure options for storing your passwords, Dashlane stacks the deck more in your favor. Online security is all about odds, and on that front, Dashlane comes out on top.
2. Pricing
Keeper is one of the cheaper password managers available, offering a personal plan for less than $3 per month. Although more expensive than RoboForm (read our RoboForm review), Keeper is slightly cheaper than most other options, including LastPass and 1Password. You’ll need to pay double the personal price to get the full experience, however.
 | |
Personal
| 1-year plan $ 2.49/ month $29.88 billed every year |
Family
| 1-year plan $ 4.99/ month $59.88 billed every year |
Business
| 1-year plan $ 2.50/ month $30.00 billed every year |
Although personal plans offer unlimited password management, Keeper offers a Max Bundle, which includes the password manager and KeeperChat. Beating the standard password manager, Keeper’s Max Bundle includes dark web monitoring and secure file storage, justifying the $5-per-month price tag.
Unfortunately, $5 per month is where Dashlane starts. Its base plan is expensive, though packed with a lot of features. For the price, you get unlimited password management, dark web monitoring and a virtual private network. The last feature doesn’t stand a chance against our best VPN picks, however.
 | |
Free
| |
Premium
| 1-year plan $ 4.99/ month $59.88 billed every year |
Premium Plus
| 1-year plan $ 9.99/ month $119.88 billed every year |
Dashlane also offers its Premium Plus subscription at twice the price, which is more akin to identity theft protection than a password manager. You get all of the features of the Premium plan, with the addition of credit monitoring and $1,000,000 in identity theft insurance. Although the goodies are nice to see, compared to other password managers, the price is simply too high.
Dashlane and Keeper have similar features at their $5 tiers, though Keeper offers a cheaper point of entry for those who are simply looking for a password manager. Although we’re going to give this round to Keeper, there’s no risk in trying both. Dashlane and Keeper offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
3. Family Plans
Keeper earned a nod in our best password manager for families guide, beat out only by Bitwarden and 1Password (read our Bitwarden review). Many of the features available in Keeper’s Max Bundle make more sense in the context of a family. Thankfully, there’s a multi-user version of the Max Bundle.
The base family plan comes with five encrypted vaults for $4.99 per month, as well as 10GB of encrypted file storage and unlimited password sharing. For twice the price, you can, again, upgrade to the Max Bundle. At $9.99 per month for five accounts, the family Max Bundle isn’t bad, especially considering it includes KeeperChat.
Dashlane doesn’t have anything in the way of a family plan. Although it offers multi-user plans for small businesses — it made the list in our best password manager for small business guide, in fact — there’s nothing targeted at five or fewer users. Because of that, Keeper takes its second win this round.
4. Free Plan
Dashlane missed a spot on our best free password managers guide, beat out by options like LastPass, KeePass and RememBear. Unfortunately, it restricts your entries, like McAfee True Key does, allowing you to store only 50 passwords in your free account. Still, if you’re looking to manage a few logins for free, Dashlane provides that option.
That’s more than Keeper can say, which offers a free plan, though with autofill restricted to mobile devices and no multi-device sync. Although Dashlane Free feels more like “Dashlane Lite,” it’s still an option for those who want to try the service over an extended period of time.
Still, Dashlane’s free plan isn’t an ideal solution. You get 50 entries, but those fill up quickly. Additionally, it doesn’t offer multi-device sync on its free plan, nor any of the features of Premium, such as dark web monitoring. It’s a nice option to have around, but neither of our competitors stand out too much in this round.
5. Ease of Use
Keeper used to be a chore to use, but it has since become quite a pleasant password manager to use. Out of the box, Keeper supports three types of entries: passwords, identities and credit cards. However, it also allows you to add as many custom fields to those entry types, morphing them into whatever you want.
Dashlane takes a different approach, offering a few more entry types but not allowing for custom entries. That said, it has a few more options in how it autofills your logins.
When it comes to ease of use, it’s hard to pit Dashlane vs Keeper. Both offer a wonderful user experience, with plenty of filter options, no-nonsense importing and support for multiple entry types. That said, Dashlane has an advantage when it comes to its browser extension, which acts like a miniature version of the full app.
Dashlane earned a spot in our best password manager extensions guide on the back of its autofill options. With the extension, you can choose whether it fills entries on a singular page or across an entire website. Additionally, you can quickly view your vault contents from the extension.
Keeper’s extension is excellent, too, though it doesn’t provide as many options as Dashlane. It’s tough to award a point to either this round, as both Dashlane and Keeper offer an excellent user experience. Solely based on the autofill options, however, we’re going to give the point to Dashlane. They’re both on our list for the best password manager for iOS, though.
6. Features
Most password managers are light in terms of features, offering only a few two-factor authentication options and, if you’re lucky, password sharing. Thankfully, that’s not the case with our competitors. Keeper and Dashlane are both stuffed to the brim with goodies, though you’ll need to pay a premium price to access them.
Starting with Dashlane, the base subscription comes with a limited VPN, dark web monitoring and, of course, password management. However, its most unique feature is the automatic password changer. With it, you can update your logins across multiple sites with a single click.
Keeper doesn’t have anything like that but includes some interesting extras of its own. Most importantly, it offers KeeperChat. This messaging application offers end-to-end encryption, meaning no one can intercept your messages. Additionally, KeeperChat offers message retraction, self-destructing messages and a private media gallery.
You’ll need to pay for the Max Bundle to access KeeperChat, which makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is BreachWatch. This feature monitors data breaches to alert you of any threats against your account. Unfortunately, it’s not included in the base plan. Dashlane, on the other hand, includes data breach monitoring on its Premium plan.
Keeper’s not down and out for this round, though. Keeper offers local autofill, which is a feature more password managers skip over, including Dashlane. You can specify hotkeys in the application that will automatically fill your username and password on local applications, mirroring the browser experience.
Although Dashlane has more features, Keeper’s are more useful. You’ll need to buy a Max Bundle to access everything, but considering it costs the same as Dashlane’s base subscription, that’s not a tough sell. Put simply, Keeper offers more for less, earning it the win for this round.
7. Support
Password managers are simple tools, and because of that, support is often put on the backburner. Like the previous round, though, Dashlane and Keeper offer better support than most. Both have multiple contact options, as well as self-help resources, meaning you can always find an answer to any question you have.
Keeper has 24/7 support through live chat and email, though you should use the latter for any technical questions. Although the live chat reps are helpful and prompt in their responses, they usually just copied information from Keeper’s knowledgebase when we asked about technical aspects of the service.
Similarly, Dashlane also has live chat and email support, but not around the clock. Live chat is restricted to business hours during the work week, though email support is available 24/7. That said, Dashlane offers email support in English, French and German, providing more options for international customers.
You shouldn’t often need to use the contact options with either, however. Both of our competitors have dense knowledgebases, with Keeper also offering video tutorials and support webinars. Dashlane goes a little deeper in support articles, however, often going over 1,000 words to explain complex topics.
Honestly, this Dashlane vs Keeper round is too close to call. Both are at the top of their game when it comes to customer service, with surprisingly robust self-help resources. No matter which option you choose, you’ll have plenty of support resources.
8. Final Thoughts
Out of our seven rounds, each of our competitors came out with four points, with the last round ending in a tie. Keeper and Dashlane are excellent password managers, with top-notch security, excellent user interfaces and plenty of features. When it comes down to it, choosing one is based on your budget.
Dashlane is more expensive, though it comes with a better security model. Keeper, on the other hand, has a few more useful features, but it isn’t as fluid as Dashlane. For our money, Dashlane is the winner, but it could easily go either way.
Winner: Dashlane
What do you think, though? Do you agree that Dashlane is the winner of this Dashlane vs Keeper comparison, or is Keeper a better option? Let us know in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.
Jacob Roach is a Midwesterner with a love for technology, an odd combination given his corn field-ridden setting. After finishing a degree in English at Southern New Hampshire University, Jacob settled back under the Arch in his hometown of St. Louis, MO, where he now writes about anything tech. His main interests are web technologies and online privacy, though he dips his toes in photography and the occasional card game as well. You can reach him at jacob[at]commquer.com.