Bitwarden and Dashlane both show up on every "best password manager for teams" list, and they sit in genuinely different parts of the market. Bitwarden is the open-source value pick — fully auditable, self-hostable, with a free tier that actually scales. Dashlane, by contrast, is a polished consumer-grown app now positioned as a bundled credential security platform with built-in VPN and dark-web monitoring.
This comparison is written for the people actually making the call: founders, IT leads and ops folk at startups, agencies and small teams. No affiliate rankings, no "best of" filler — just the trade-offs that matter once more than one person touches the vault.
Quick verdict
Pick Bitwarden if teams who want linear pricing, open source, or self-hosting. Predictable per-seat cost and an auditable client. Admin UI is plainer.
Pick Dashlane if non-technical teams who want vpn + dark-web monitoring bundled. Pricier per seat, but bundles can offset if you'd buy them anyway.
Both are zero-knowledge and both have a defensible recent security story. The choice is almost never about cryptography — it's about collaboration model, governance, and how much per seat per month you want to spend.
Team pricing at a glance
| Feature | Bitwarden | Dashlane |
|---|---|---|
| Smallest team planAll prices USD, billed annually unless noted. Verify on vendor sites before buying. | Teams: $4/user/mo | Business: $8/user/mo |
| Next tier for growing teams | Enterprise: from $6/user/mo | Enterprise: custom |
| Free tier available | Yes (1 device) | |
| SSO (SAML / OIDC) | Enterprise only | Business and above |
| SCIM provisioning | Enterprise only | Business and above |
Collaboration model
| Feature | Bitwarden | Dashlane |
|---|---|---|
| Shared vaults / collections | Yes — Collections | Yes — Spaces + Collections |
| Per-item permissions | ||
| External / one-time secure share | Yes — Bitwarden Send | Limited |
| Group-based sharing | ||
| Activity / audit log | Teams and above |
Security & transparency
| Feature | Bitwarden | Dashlane |
|---|---|---|
| Zero-knowledge end-to-end encryption | ||
| Cipher | AES-256-CBC + HMAC | AES-256-GCM |
| Key derivation | Argon2id (default) or PBKDF2 | Argon2d |
| Open-source clients | ||
| Self-hosting option | ||
| Published independent audit | ||
| Publicly disclosed vault breach | No customer vault breach | No customer vault breach |
Pricing for teams: where the real difference is
Bitwarden's Teams plan is a flat $4/user/month from seat 1 to seat ∞, with Enterprise around $6/user/month adding SSO, policies and directory sync. Linear and predictable, with no seat-count cliff.
Dashlane Business starts at $8/user/month, with VPN and dark-web monitoring bundled. Enterprise is custom-priced. Per seat it's one of the pricier mainstream options, but the bundle can offset if you'd buy a VPN anyway.
For a fast-growing team, the slope matters as much as the starting price. Model it at the size you actually expect to be in 12 months — not the size you are today.
How teams actually share credentials
Bitwarden. Organisations with Collections give per-item RBAC, Bitwarden Send handles one-time external sharing with no recipient account, and audit logs are available from the Teams tier upward.
Dashlane. Spaces, Collections and group sharing with per-item permissions, plus the Omnix browser security layer aimed at phishing and risky-paste detection. External one-time sharing is weaker than peers.
The everyday question is: when a contractor joins on Monday and leaves on Friday, how much work is it to give them access to exactly the credentials they need, watch what they touched, and revoke cleanly? That's where the daylight between these two shows up.
Security architecture
Bitwarden. Bitwarden's clients and server are fully open source under AGPL/BSL — you (or any security firm) can read exactly what runs. Argon2id is the default KDF, which is materially harder to attack on GPUs than PBKDF2.
Dashlane. Dashlane uses AES-256-GCM with Argon2d (memory-hard, GPU-resistant) for key derivation. Closed source, but the security paper is detailed and the architecture is conservative.
If you're forced to choose on cryptography alone, modern AEAD ciphers (AES-GCM, XChaCha20-Poly1305) paired with a memory-hard KDF (Argon2id) are the bar. Both vendors are inside that range; the harder differences are open-source posture, audit history, and whether you can self-host.
Admin & governance for teams
Both products support some flavour of role-based access, forgotten-password recovery, and audit logging on the right tier. Where they diverge is on the boring-but-critical stuff: SSO, SCIM provisioning, and whether group policies can keep up with how your team actually grows.
SSO tier: Bitwarden — Enterprise only; Dashlane — Business and above. SCIM tier: Bitwarden — Enterprise only; Dashlane — Business and above.
If Okta, Entra ID or Google Workspace SSO is non-negotiable from day one, factor the tier price into the per-seat number — it's often the thing that flips the cheaper-on-paper option into the more expensive real-world bill.
Bitwarden
Pros
- Linear $4/user/month pricing that scales predictably
- Open-source clients and server you can audit or self-host
- Argon2id by default — stronger KDF than the industry norm
- Genuinely usable free tier for individuals
Cons
- Admin UI is functional but less polished
- SSO is gated behind Enterprise
- Some power features hide in submenus
- Self-hosting is great in theory, real work in practice
Dashlane
Pros
- Bundled VPN and dark-web monitoring on Business plan
- Argon2d KDF + modern crypto stack
- Polished UX and aggressive passkey rollout
- Free tier for individuals (1 device)
Cons
- $8/user/mo is steep for small teams
- Closed source; no self-hosting
- External one-time sharing is weaker than 1Password's Psst!
- Plan structure has churned recently — what's bundled can change
A third option worth considering
The Bitwarden vs Dashlane pitch usually hinges on a bundle — VPN, dark-web feed, a productivity suite — that quietly justifies the per-seat price. Pwdly doesn't bundle anything. It's a password manager built for teams, billed at $2/user/month, and that's the whole story.
- Per-project vaults. Most teams don't share "everything with everyone" — they share by client, repo or product. Pwdly makes that the primary unit, not an afterthought folder.
- $2/user/month, flat. No seat-count cliff, no SSO upsell on the cheapest paid plan. See the full pricing.
- XChaCha20-Poly1305 + Argon2id under the hood. The cipher explainer walks through why those defaults matter.
- Trade-offs we own. No breach monitoring (we literally can't read your data), no self-hosting yet, no browser extension on day one. The security page has the honest list.
If the bundle is the reason you're considering either, stick with them. If you just need credentials shared cleanly across a team, Pwdly is the leaner option.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bitwarden or Dashlane better for a small team?
Bitwarden fits best when teams who want linear pricing, open source, or self-hosting, while Dashlane is the stronger choice when non-technical teams who want vpn + dark-web monitoring bundled. Model both at the seat count you expect in 12 months — the cheaper option at 5 seats isn't always the cheaper option at 25.
Which has stronger encryption — Bitwarden or Dashlane?
Bitwarden uses AES-256-CBC + HMAC with Argon2id (default) or PBKDF2. Dashlane uses AES-256-GCM with Argon2d. Both are zero-knowledge. In practice the cipher choice is rarely the differentiator — KDF (Argon2id vs PBKDF2), open-source clients, and audit history matter more.
Does either support SSO and SCIM on the cheapest team plan?
Bitwarden: SSO Enterprise only, SCIM Enterprise only. Dashlane: SSO Business and above, SCIM Business and above. If SSO is non-negotiable, price it on the tier that includes it, not the entry tier.
Has either vendor had a vault breach?
Bitwarden: No customer vault breach. Dashlane: No customer vault breach. A clean record isn't a guarantee, but a known prior incident materially raises the cost of trust.
Keep comparing
- 1Password vs BitwardenTeam-focused, vendor-neutral breakdown.
- LastPass vs BitwardenTeam-focused, vendor-neutral breakdown.
- 1Password vs DashlaneTeam-focused, vendor-neutral breakdown.
- 1Password vs LastPassTeam-focused, vendor-neutral breakdown.
- Dashlane vs LastPassTeam-focused, vendor-neutral breakdown.
- 1Password vs KeePassXCTeam-focused, vendor-neutral breakdown.
Also worth a read: The XChaCha20-Poly1305 explainer, our security model, and the free password generator.
Sources & further reading
- Bitwarden — Business pricing
- Bitwarden Security white paper
- Bitwarden — Encryption (AES-CBC + HMAC, Argon2id)
- Dashlane — Plans and pricing
- Dashlane Security white paper
Worth fact-checking
- Vendor pricing for both Bitwarden and Dashlane has changed more than once in the past 24 months — verify on the official site before purchasing.
- SSO / SCIM tier inclusion can change between plans; confirm with vendor sales for your exact seat count.
Last updated May 2026. Vendor pricing and features change frequently — always confirm on the official site before purchasing. Pwdly is not affiliated with 1Password, Bitwarden, LastPass, or Dashlane.