Pretty much seen it coming when the new CEO came in and removed the words "Transparency" and "Always Free" from the official marketing.
this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2026
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Whether you believe it or not is another matter, but this very post still includes the words "transparency" and "always free".
Bitwarden remains committed to open source security and transparency
Bitwarden remains committed to a robust, free forever plan for everyone
and a bonus:
The free plan is here to stay permanently
You can already see them positioning themselves to start removing features with the phrase "free plan."
Nothing stopping them from limiting the number of passwords available in "the free plan" or something, pressuring users into "the pay plan."
But I'm pretty cynical.
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I really don’t want to have to switch password managers again.
Don't even know where i'd switch.
Proton -> I already use Proton suite and I like the seperation, the 2 password option doesn't work for me either. I just need a seperate password.
Keepass -> I use quite a few devices and the sync just seems like a nightmare...
Any other options? For now i'll stick as BW is still great but will start exploring others.
Keepass X Syncthing
syncthing runs on everything and is easy to configure.
Maybe it's changed in the year since I tried but I absolutely could not get syncthings to work on android
But thousands of people have it working just fine. Not calling you out but it does work very well. Did you follow a step by step guide? I know websearch makes it hard to learn new tech things these days.
Just keep in mind, set up a default folder and file (filename.kdbx) to share on one device, add Remote Device (QR code helps there), go to Sharing Tab and select Default Folder. If the Default Folder isn't ticked on both devices in the Sharing Tab on each, nothing happens. When you work it out, that folder can be called anything and you can get advanced with how or when it shares or which direction the data goes (think photo backup from mobile to desktop).
New Android app to use is:
https://github.com/chenxiaolong/BasicSync
Use Obtainium- https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium - to install it and keep it updated. Obtainium can update itself the same way.
Convoluted, I know, but so is relying on a company to host for you in the cloud. They just hide all the complexity behind the interface. With Syncthing, once it's set up between all your devices (and there is a way to quickly auto accept setup once further advanced/knowledgeable), it just chugs along in the background. Changes to keepass file appear almost instantly across each device once it's opened.
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A little more than a year ago, Syncthing for Android had a lot of issues, there was a breaking change installed that required updates and the existing clients had issues, it has since been forked.
If you don't need the granular security or family-friendliness it should provide.
Yes I want to say this was right before or during the chaos because I remember reading about the fork after I gave up lol
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Goddamnit, enshittification comes for ALL paid services eventually. Looks like I have another service to start self hosting..
That was written in the sky...
Open-Source is literally used as marketing tool for the under dogs until they reach a critical mass of users.
People were fighting on social media, defending the product, suggesting it, "it's open source", people were doing the marketing for them.
No wonder why people feel like they got raped, after all the hard work they have done for them...
But at least they didn't contribute code, did you? Not me, because I am old enough to never use such products, it's a classic rug pull, bait and switch.
Open source doesn't mean it's good, it must be hold by a bunch of strangers in T-shirt, not in full suite...
Corpo in disguise...
Bitwarden's front-end (Apps, Extensions) must be hard forked before it is too late.
That's quite the disappointment. Probably need to prepare to switch away from bitwarden or at least research options for open source clients for my vaultwarden backend.
Someone can correct me, but this change seems to be targeting people who are repackaging bitwarden and selling it. It does feel like we are trending the wrong direction though.
If you read their announcement carefully you'll find things like
All current features are available in both versions
Which strongly implies that the different versions will start to diverge over time. Then at one point they will just be like maah it's not worth putting more work into the open source thing, we'll focus on building new cool features yada yada yada. And this is how all the open to partly open to closed source rug pulls worked in the last years.
(If you want to do this the worst way possible like MinIO you also squash / delete the Git history the moment you announce you're only working on closed source)
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It just blows my mind how so many comments use the term 'purchase' as if this new enshitification step still allowed for the dictionary meaning of the word.
I used to suggest bitwarden to everyone, now it's basically 'start using KeePass, keep a copy of your db in a USB drive in your safe, have fun'.
The fact that bitwarden raised 100 millions from venture capitalists for "acceleration" and small changes towards a closed license for premium features is a steady step towards enshittification.
The writing is on the wall and every announcement like that is a step further into enshittification to provide value for shareholders at the expense of thrle consumer base.
I still haven't switched yet because life is going fast and I didn't come around to do my backup file server yet, but I would suggest anyone reading this to look for an alternative because it will get worst.
Yep, have been using KeyPass or KeyPassX for at least a decade now and just syncing across all machines (via syncthing). 100% reliable in my experience.
If you are on Lemmy, theres very high probability that you also have the technical abilities required to self host Vaultwarden and stop relying on a greedy company for your most critical aspect.
I could but I don't want. Self hosting something this important? I can't login to any website without this software, including my email. It's super critical.
The vault gets synced to your devices. So even if your Backend goes down you dont lose access to your passwords in an instant
So you have basically a local copy on your phone, for example, that syncs when possible?
yes, exactly. This gives you at least some time that you have to figure out what went wrong with your vaultwarden server/connection
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Does this mean I will, or won't be able to install the FOSS version through GitHub? Trying to stop repackagers from selling your project is one thing, but killing the source available installs would be another.
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Sigh... I hope this isn't the first move of enshitifying bitwarden. I read the comments/replies and hope this is benign but I'm now nervous
The first move was when they hired a CEO who comes from private equity. This is the second move.
I think it is the next move (not the first) in enshittifying bitwarden. I think the first move was the leadership change announced in May.
"bitwarden apps will be the commercially licensed builds." I don't understand how this is going to change anything.
I self-host vaultwarden. I use the official Bitwarden app, it works swimmingly. Going the self-hosted route you get enterprise features (I don't use em).
Doesn't the licensing stuff connect with the backend not the app?
All current features are available in both versions
They will start making changes exclusively to the propriety app, and eventually the proprietary app will be completely incompatible with the FOSS app. They're doing what Google did with AOSP.
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Rest in Peace :(
Fantastic. I'm tired of having to change password managers. DashLane, Keepass, LastPass, etc., they all end up shooting their own foot somehow.
Keepass is open and has many implementations. It's the only remaining cross-platform and fully local password manager, even supporting passkeys.
Interesting thread I stumbled upon from a few years ago where everyone is praising Bitwarden as essential. Times sure do change.
It's still open source
When Bitwarden got a meh "refresh" of the user interface and started vibe coding stuff (I'm not some super hard-line anti-AI person, but dammit, you absolutely should not vibe code security-critical apps), I switched to KeePassX. It was like coming back home! I used to use KeePass and KeePass 2, switched to Bitwarden for a long while, and while it was neat, KeePassX is just neater. (Doesn't have cloud sync, but syncing the vault files with LocalSend is easy enough.)
I guess you mean KeepassXC, because the last release of KeepassX apparently was in 2016.
KeepassXC is also using AI, they even made a blog post about it a year ago.
https://keepassxc.org/blog/2025-11-09-about-keepassxcs-code-quality-control/
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I think all of us can just move to using Vaultwarden, it seems to fix problems even in the old free version of Bitwarden.
The issue is, the bitwarden app you still use is what is affected by this change.
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