Proton Pass
The Swiss open-source password manager with unlimited free devices and built-in email aliases.
About
Proton Pass is the password manager from Proton AG of Geneva, Switzerland, the company behind Proton Mail and Proton VPN. It launched in 2023 and has grown fast on a simple proposition: Swiss jurisdiction, fully open-source clients, and a free tier with unlimited passwords across unlimited devices. The cryptography uses AES-256 in GCM mode with end-to-end encryption that covers metadata (URLs, usernames, all fields), not just secret values, and it was independently audited by Cure53 in 2023, with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications.
Its standout feature is hide-my-email: free users get 10 aliases via the SimpleLogin integration, and paid users get unlimited aliases, so sites never see your real address. Paid plans add dark-web monitoring, Proton Sentinel AI login protection, the built-in 2FA authenticator, and secure link sharing with non-users. Pass Plus runs about $2.49 per month, Family about $4.99 per month for six users, and there is a $199 lifetime plan; the whole Proton suite (Mail, VPN, Drive, Pass) is bundled in Proton Unlimited. Reviewers note it is younger than 1Password or Bitwarden, with business admin features and SSO still catching up, and no standalone desktop app on the roadmap at the time of review.
What it can do
- AES-256-GCM with full metadata encryption
- Swiss jurisdiction under Proton AG
- Open-source clients, independently audited by Cure53
- Free tier: unlimited passwords and devices
- Hide-my-email aliases (10 free, unlimited paid)
- Proton Sentinel AI-powered login protection
- Dark-web monitoring (paid)
- Passkey storage and management
- Secure link sharing with non-users
- Bundled with Proton Mail, VPN, and Drive in Proton Unlimited
Setup
Create a free Proton account at proton.me/pass, install the browser extensions and mobile apps, and import from your browser or another manager. Pass Plus or Proton Unlimited unlocks unlimited aliases, dark-web monitoring, and Sentinel.
Prerequisites
A Proton account; the desktop experience runs through browser extensions rather than a standalone app.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 8/10
Scored 8/10 (metrics tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: 2026 reviews confirm the Swiss jurisdiction, open-source clients, AES-256-GCM with full metadata encryption, the Cure53 2023 audit, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001, unlimited free devices, 10 free aliases, Pass Plus ~$2.49/month, and the $199 lifetime plan. Strengths: best free tier plus best privacy jurisdiction, metadata encryption most rivals skip, audited code, honest pricing with a lifetime option. Docked for: (1) launched 2023, so the track record is short and business admin features lag 1Password; (2) no standalone desktop app, browser-extension only; (3) fewer enterprise SSO and third-party integrations. License: open-source clients (GPL-family) with proprietary backend.
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 7.0/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 9.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 10.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 8.0/10
- · Proton AG, Geneva, Switzerland; launched 2023; Cure53 audit 2023; SOC 2 Type II; ISO 27001
- · AES-256-GCM with full metadata encryption (URLs, usernames, all fields) per 2026 comparisons
- · Free: unlimited passwords/devices + 10 hide-my-email aliases; Pass Plus ~$2.49/mo; Family ~$4.99/mo; Professional ~$4.49/user/mo (SSO/SCIM); $199 lifetime plan
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.