“Dashlane's Family and Friends plan is a bargain if you split the cost with others, and it comes with security features I wouldn't expect from a password manager.”
- Excellent security record
- Easy access to logins, notes, and more
- Simple sharing
- Low prices on family plans
- Includes a fast VPN
- Lacks a Windows app
- Free app has a 25-login limit
Dashlane is a password manager that aims to simplify your life by easing the ability to access to all your accounts — without compromising security. That’s a tall order since logins are valuable commodities that unlock your personal and financial data. Dashlane is more than just a password manager. It has features that cross over into cybersecurity, like a VPN and dark web monitoring.
I researched and personally tested Dashlane to find out if it can keep my passwords safe while I visit hundreds of accounts and share logins with others across multiple devices. And after living with Dashlane, I’m confident in saying it’s one of the best password managers around.
Tiers and pricing
Dashlane offers a free version that includes all the features of the entry-level subscription plan. The only restriction is that it can hold a maximum of 25 logins.
Shared logins don’t count toward the limit, so a free Dashlane account could be useful for families that access the same banks, streaming video accounts, and shopping accounts. It’s easy to accumulate over 100 logins, so a free Dashlane account works better as a preview of what you get with a subscription.
Subscription plans start at $60 a year for Dashlane Premium, which includes unlimited password storage, secure sharing of logins with others, a strong password generator, passwordless login on mobile devices with Face ID or Touch ID, dark web monitoring, and a VPN. That’s a lot of features for a password manager.
Dashlane’s Friends and Family plan offers substantial group savings. For $90 a year, I can provide Premium accounts to up to 10 people, including myself. It’s ideal for families or friends that like to split costs. The VPN is only available for the primary account.
For small businesses, the aptly named Business plan might be a better fit. While it’s more expensive at $96 per person annually, it allows provisioning, activity logs, enforceable policy settings, on-demand phone support, and more. For enterprise plans, contact Dashlane for a quote.
There’s no monthly billing option, but Dashlane offers a free 14-day trial of its Premium and Business plans.
Design
I tested Dashlane’s Friends and Family plan with my Windows PC and iPhone, which is a good cross-platform challenge for a password manager. I started on my computer by installing the browser extension and following instructions to set up a master password, export my browser passwords, and import them to Dashlane.
The master password is the key that unlocks my account on Windows, so it’s important to save it as an offline note. On my iPhone, I can unlock my Dashlane vault with Face ID. All my logins synced, and I could add new logins from either device.
Note that the iOS app can’t import passwords from the iCloud keychain, so I needed a Mac or Windows computer to get my existing logins. However, I could import a password file exported from another password manager from Safari.
Features
Dashlane’s primary purpose is to automatically fill in logins when I visit my favorite websites. Autofill works great, but it does much more than that.
I can also store secure notes, addresses, phone numbers, and information from my IDs. In the password health tab, I can find out if any logins have leaked online. The health report also reveals credentials I’ve used elsewhere and those that are at risk due to weak passwords.
My active logins are all good, but I have several duplicate logins and some old, unused accounts I should cancel. Besides making my health score less useful, duplicates can be confusing, and hackers can gather valuable profile data from old accounts.
I tested the included VPN service with Ookla’s SpeedTest.net, after installing the Hotspot Shield Windows app. Since Dashlane doesn’t have a Windows app for password management, I filled in my email and pasted the password Dashlane provided to sign into the VPN.
I got an impressive 448 Mbps download speed when connecting to the recommended server, roughly half my ISP’s 1 Gb internet speed. Also, web searches respected the foreign VPN server location I chose. Hotspot Shield normally costs $8 per month, which is more expensive than my Dashlane Friends and Family account, so this adds significant value.
Support
Dashlane offers various support documents that I can browse or search to help myself. If I can’t find what I need, an AI chatbot called Dashy is always ready to help.
For more personal assistance or account issues, I can log in to my account in the browser and chat with a live agent. Live chat is available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday, but Dashlane notes that may change depending on “agent availability or chat volume.”
Most password managers lack live support, so this is a notable feature. Dashlane Business users can also call to get help.
In my experience, Dashy misunderstood my question about adding more secure storage and instead offered to help remove “unused seats.” When I asked for a human, Dashy collected my name and email address for support. However, there was no way to get a live agent, and I had to wait for an email reply.
Perhaps that Friday at 4:50 p.m. ET was a particularly busy time, but I would have preferred a delay to a dismissal. Despite this anecdotal evidence, Dashlane enjoys a 4.5-star rating on Trustpilot, so customers are satisfied overall.
Privacy and security
Dashlane doesn’t sell or share your personal data to third-party advertisers. However, Dashlane will comply with legal requests for user data and shares data with service providers as required to provide the features you pay for.
Security is critical for a password manager and Dashlane has a perfect record with no breaches in its 12-year history. You can trust that Dashlane is safe and honors your privacy.
Is Dashlane right for you?
There’s no doubt Dashlane is one of the best password managers available. It works seamlessly between multiple devices, simplifying cross-platform account logins. At the same time, its unblemished security track record and strong encryption provides assurance that your passwords are safe.
Dashlane includes features some password managers don’t, but you might already have a VPN and dark web monitoring if you subscribe to a Bitdefender or Norton antivirus plan. It also lacks a Windows app, so you have to copy and paste usernames and passwords when signing into an app.
Dashlane’s subscription prices are a bit higher than some competitors, so if your budget is tight, you might want to check out my review of 1Password to see if its smaller feature set and more affordable price is enough to meet your needs.
