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You Need a Password Manager — Just Don’t Use LastPass

Thankfully, there are many good options to choose from

Owen Williams
Debugger
4 min readFeb 18, 2021

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Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Popular password manager LastPass dropped an unwelcome surprise this week. In March, the company will restrict access to its services for users on its free tier, forcing them to either pay a regular subscription fee or limit password management features to mobile or desktop. Free users will no longer be able to use both without paying, and they will also lose access to customer support via email.

This is a hostile move that should make anyone using the software consider moving elsewhere before coughing up. What else will the company change to juice its subscription numbers?

Of course, password managers are worth paying for. They hold the keys to your digital life and help keep your information secure. Paying for software means investing in its continued development and support, which provides stability and should help avoid unexpected changes like the one affecting free users of LastPass right now.

The issue, then, isn’t so much that LastPass wants people to pay for its service — it’s that LastPass is demonstrating a willingness to mess around with your access to your most sensitive information in order to try upselling users who are already locked in. The company created a product that…

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Published in Debugger

Debugger is a former publication from Medium about consumer technology and gadgets. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Owen Williams
Owen Williams

Written by Owen Williams

Fascinated by how code and design is shaping the world. I write about the why behind tech news. Design Manager in Tech. https://twitter.com/ow

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