Why people leave LastPass
A veteran password manager now under private-equity ownership, best known lately for a serious 2022 breach that exposed encrypted vaults. It's a US company on AWS, and its security track record is the reason many users have left.
The good news is that Europe has strong password managers, and most cost nothing to start. Here are the four we rate highest, scored on our EuroPoints system and ranked honestly – each with the one thing to weigh before you pick it.
1. KeePass
KeePass is our top score, and it earns it the old-fashioned way: your vault is a single encrypted file that stays on your device. Nothing sits on someone else’s server unless you put it there. It’s German, free, fully open-source, and has been trusted for years.
The trade-off is convenience. There’s no built-in cloud sync and the official app looks its age, so syncing across devices means adding your own storage or a community app. If that sounds like effort, one of the next three will suit you better.
It's completely free, fully open source, and the encrypted vault never touches a server unless you choose to put it there – total control, no subscription, ever. A huge plugin ecosystem covers browser autofill and more.
There's no official mobile app or built-in cloud sync – getting the vault onto your phone means relying on third-party ports and your own file-syncing setup. The interface hasn't changed much in years.
| Service | EuroPoints | Tier | Country | From | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KeePass | 100 | Certified European | Germany | Free | Yes |
 Proton Pass | 92 | Certified European | Switzerland | Free | Yes |
 Passbolt | 90 | Certified European | Luxembourg | Free | Yes |
 NordPass | 83 | Strongly European | Lithuania | Free | No |
2. Proton Pass
Proton Pass is the easiest switch for most people. It’s from the Geneva team behind Proton Mail, fully open-source, and end-to-end encrypted with servers in Switzerland. There are apps for every platform, a genuine free tier, and it folds into the wider Proton account if you already use one.
The catch is that it’s the youngest name here. It arrived after Proton’s mail and VPN, so it has fewer years on the clock than KeePass – though the encryption and the audits are solid.
Every stored password and note is end-to-end encrypted with a zero-knowledge architecture, and built-in email aliases via SimpleLogin mean you rarely need to hand out your real address.
The free plan limits you to one vault and a handful of aliases, and some browser integrations feel a step behind 1Password's polish.
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3. Passbolt
Passbolt is built for teams that share logins. It’s open-source, based in Luxembourg, and you can host it on your own server if you want full control of where the data lives. For a small company leaving LastPass, that combination is hard to beat.
It’s also the most technical option. It’s designed around teams and self-hosting, so a single person who just wants an app on their phone may find it more than they need.
It's built specifically for teams, with granular permissions and GPG-based encryption that a solo password manager doesn't need to worry about, and self-hosting is a genuine free option.
The team-first design makes it overkill for someone who just wants a personal vault, and the interface leans more toward IT admins than casual users.
4. NordPass
NordPass is the polished, mainstream choice. It’s Lithuanian, from the Nord Security family behind NordVPN, with zero-knowledge encryption, biometric unlock, and a clean app on every platform. If you want something that feels like LastPass did – but based in the EU – this is it.
The weakness is openness. NordPass is not open-source, so you’re trusting the company rather than inspecting the code, and it’s venture-backed rather than independent. That’s what keeps it below the other three here.
Biometric unlock and a genuinely clean cross-platform app make daily use painless, and zero-knowledge encryption means the stored passwords can't be read by anyone but you.
It's not open source, so you're trusting the implementation rather than being able to verify it yourself, and some advanced sharing features are limited to the paid Business plan.
The verdict
If you want the most private option and don’t mind a little setup, KeePass is the winner. Want something simple that just works? Proton Pass is the easy choice, especially if you already use Proton. Running a team? Look at Passbolt. Any of them keeps your passwords in European hands – which, after 2022, is the whole point.
Frequently asked questions
What actually happened in the LastPass breach?
In August 2022 an attacker stole source code from LastPass. They used it to reach cloud backups later that year and took copies of customer vaults. Web addresses inside the vaults were stored in plain text; usernames and passwords were encrypted, but only as well as each user's master password and iteration count allowed.
Why was the breach worse than LastPass first said?
LastPass first framed it as a source-code incident. It later confirmed that encrypted customer vaults were copied too. Older accounts used low PBKDF2 iteration counts – some far below the 600,000 rounds now recommended – so weaker master passwords could be attacked offline at the attacker's leisure.
Who owns LastPass now?
LastPass was owned by LogMeIn, which was taken private by Francisco Partners and Elliott Management in 2020 and later rebranded GoTo. LastPass was spun out as a standalone company under Francisco Partners. It remains a US company hosted on AWS.
Which alternative is open-source?
KeePass, Proton Pass and Passbolt are all open-source, so their code can be inspected by anyone. KeePass is the classic offline choice; Proton Pass and Passbolt add encrypted cloud sync.
Is switching from LastPass hard?
Not really. LastPass lets you export your vault to a file, and each of these can import it. You bring your logins across in one step, then delete the old account.
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