During our Dashlane review, it came evident that this software was the best password manager we have tested. It’s secure, easy to use, and has a lot of features on the free plan as well. How does it do under our Microscope?
In this review, we’re going through the features of Dashlane – Deep-dive into the pros and cons.
Dashlane's Features
At the first glance, Dashlane looks like your usual password manager, although packaged in a beautiful form. You have a password generator, auto-fill function, and it’s available on Windows, OSX, iOS and android.
However, it does not stop there.
Real time password monitoring is included in all the plans, including the free plan. If your passwords which you have entered are in any way compromised, the apps ping you immediately, and prompts you to change it. This feature is on the security dashboard.
You can also share passwords with someone you trust, either in a view, or an edit mode. This is especially great for ‘Family accounts’ like Netflix, when one login is used by multiple people.
The secure notes feature allows you to store the notes which you want to keep absolutely private, again, these notes can be shared with others if the need arises.
ID and Passport addon: You can add this type of info as well in Dashlane’s secure environment. Dashlane automatically alerts you if these ID-s are closing to expiration
Payment Info is the place where you store your credit cards, to ease automatic checkouts.
If you’d like, you can upload your receipts too, making these safe and secure at the same time.
We also liked the emergency contact addon, which lets you appoint another person in case something happens with you.
VPN: If you want extra protection, you can use Dashlane Premium’s VPN feature. This does the job well (hides your identity when browsing), but it’s nothing fancy, and certainly does not unlock US Netflix. For these, we have several other options available.
Dashlane Security
Security is where Dashlane really shines. It uses 256-bit AES encryption to secure your passwords, which takes a lot of years to crack even when done with 50 supercomputers at the same time, to be more precise 3×10^51 years in theory. Which means that the Sun will be dark and cold for billions of years, and your passwords are still not cracked.
The second layer of security is the zero-knowledge system implemented. This means that you and only you know the master password, not even Dashlane.
Thirdly, Dashlane has two-factor authentication options (2FA). So, for example, if you or someone else (an unfamiliar device) tries to log in, it sends a unique code to your email address. If you want even more security, Dashlane premium provides support to U2F YubiKeys.
Backup codes can also be provided, to bypass 2FA temporarily – These are not stored by Dashlane and can only be used once.
So we can safely say that your passwords say secure.
Touching on a previous subject – Dashlane’s Security dashboard also provides you the passwords which are weak or too old, or compromised.
For these reasons, we can say with full confidence that this app is the most secure Password Manager we have ever tried, and we are really proud to write this down in our Dashlane review!
Dashlane Price
This is where it starts to get interesting. Dashlane has Free, Premium and Premium Plus plans.
Free Plan
The Free plan is enough for a lot of users: It can store 50 passwords on one device, but has the password generator, password changer, Autofill (even for forms) functions, Security Alerts, Password Sharing and Secure notes functions.
Paid Plans
The Premium plan is a decent buy with $4.99 per month. It might cost more than other password managers, but the services are better. This tier has multi-device sync, VPN, and secure cloud storage functions, with Priority support, and unlimited passwords. The PrivacyHeaven team uses Dashlane’s premium tier currently as it’s password manager.
The Premium Plus plan is a bit of an overkill. It provides an extra Identity theft insurance, which is certainly nice, and is very much needed in these times, but does not justify the 5 extra dollars per month.
Overall, we would recommend the Premium Plan, as this gives you the most for your money.
- Dashlane Free Free
Password Generator, 1 device, 50 Passwords, Autofill, Security Alerts, Password sharing, Secure notes
- Dashlane Premium $4.99 per month
Everything in Free tier + Multi-device sync, Secure cloud storage, Priority Support, Unlimited passwords, VPN
- Dashlane Premium Plus $9.99 per month
Everything in Premium tier + Identity Theft Insurance + Credit Score monitoring
Usability of Dashlane
First of all, Dashlane is available on multiple platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS and Android devices all have native apps. Moreover, with their browser extensions, it’s easy to use them on Chromebook and Linux machines as well.
When you log in to Dashlane for the first time, the app can instantly migrate your chrome and firefox passwords to it’s service, making the transition super-smooth. The User Interface and the experience itself is stellar, everything is at the right place and works as intended. The autofill functions work perfectly.
You can categorize your accounts in different topics if you’d like, otherwise Dashlane shows the websites in alphabetical order – and it’s kind of a pain to go through them one by one, but that’s a thing which only needs to be done once.
The Password Changer works with one-click for several services.
Support at Dashlane
Support is excellent with Dashlane. They have 9AM-6PM EST live chat support, and 24/7 mail support. In the instances we tried to ask dummy questions, the average response time was 3.5 hours. Users on the premium tier receive much faster support, response rate on average is 1.5 hours.
Dashlane Review - Final Verdict
Dashlane finished first in our password manager lineup for a reason: They provide the most services, the price is well justified, the free tier is excellent as well. We highly suggest giving Dashlane a try, especially that you have 30 days of premium available even with the free tier.
