LastPass Review 2024: Has It Earned Our Trust?

Although LastPass is a user-friendly password manager with plenty of features, its suffered too many breaches for us to feel secure about using the product. LastPass was breached twice within months of each other in the latter half of 2022. 

As far as the actual service, LastPass has a host of features like a password generator and dark web monitoring, which serve as useful tools to anyone looking for increased security online. Our testing proved that it was easy to use, although there were some bugs with features like password sharing. 

The free, individual, and family plans all offer convenient ways to store sensitive information that’s easily accessible and supposedly safe. With a manageable price and integrated browser extensions, it’s up to you to decide if you can look past the security issues. 

At a glance

Price	Free–$4.00/mo
Free version	Yes
Number of users	1 to 6
Compatibility	Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
Browser extensions	Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Opera
Password sharing	Yes
Encryption	AES-256
Password generator	Yes
Password strength report	Yes
Autofill	Yes
Digital legacy	Yes
Cloud storage	No
Details	Get LastPass

We last tested LastPass on November 1, 2024.

Our experience

We found LastPass to be fairly easy to navigate and use. We installed the LastPass Business extension on our Google Chrome browser. Every type of information you can input into your vault is clearly labeled on the dashboard.

For testing, we navigated to Amazon and opened the create account page. The LastPass icon popped up on several lines to autofill our information. It also suggested a strong password to use with our account. 

Although the LastPass icon was convenient in this case, we found it popping up when it wasn't needed. We went to save an image on Photopea and the LastPass icon blocked the image name cell. Luckily, LastPass does have a Never URLs section in its settings where you can add sites to whitelist. 

Another issue we encountered was with the password sharing feature. We tried to share one of our vault items but we kept receiving an error. 

Funnily enough, the error only states, "We're not sure what went wrong" and encourages us to contact customer support if the error persists. This was frustrating, especially because we couldn't even get in contact with an agent via live chat. The only option would be to call. 

Overall, LastPass is largely easy to use but some of the issues we encountered make it less user-friendly for inexperienced users. 

How much does LastPass cost?

LastPass ranges in price from Free–$4.00/mo. There's a free version along with a Premium plan and a Families plan. 

The free version of LastPass comes with a surprising number of useful features like autofill capabilities and a password generator. This is great for anyone who doesn’t need to share their passwords with anyone else or use them across multiple devices.

If you do need a little more from LastPass, paid plans come with enhanced features like phone support and emergency access for family members who may have forgotten their password. The Premium plan is for one user but can be installed on unlimited devices. The Families plan can cover up to six users. 

Plan	Free	Premium	Families
Price	Free	$3.00/mo (billed annually)	$4.00/mo (billed annually)
Number of users	1	1	6
Number of devices	1	Unlimited	Unlimited
Password vault
Autofill
Password generator
Two-factor authentication
Encrypted storage
Security dashboard
Dark web monitoring
Emergency access
Personal support
Details	View Plans	View Plans	View Plans

LastPass prices are on par with Keeper and 1Password. All three services charge annually but like to advertise the products by what the annual price equates to monthly. For a truly transparent view of each of these, please look at the starting prices for several popular password managers:

• Dashlane: $4.99/mo

• LastPass: $3.00/mo (billed annually)

• 1Password: $2.99/mo (billed annually)
• Keeper: $1.45/mo (billed annually)
• NordPass: $1.29/mo (billed every two years)
  
• Bitwarden: $0.83/mo

LastPass costs less than Dashlane's personal plans, but other password managers like NordPass and Bitwarden are cheaper.

It's worth noting that Keeper, 1Password, Dashlane, NordPass, and Bitwarden haven't been breached, while LastPass has suffered several security breaches.

LastPass features

Since its humble start as a password manager, LastPass has continued to expand its offerings to provide a number of features aimed at security. For example, the emergency access feature, one that allows you to will your password vault to someone upon your passing, is an especially useful feature as more of our lives move online.

Take a look at some of the other features and what they can offer.

Password sharing

Even though Netflix may be cracking down on password sharing, it doesn’t mean we won’t continue to share. LastPass has thought of this and created a safe and effective way for you to share passwords with friends, family, roommates, or colleagues.

The Sharing Center within the LastPass dashboard allows you to send passwords to anyone while continuing to keep that information encrypted. It’s way better than pasting the Disney+ password into a text to your mom for the 15th time.

Unfortunately, this feature didn't work at all during our testing. We kept receiving an error with no explanation. Hopefully this is just temprorary. 

With the free plan, you can use one-to-one sharing, which allows you to share your passwords and saved items with one person at a time. With the paid plans, you can also use one-to-many sharing, which allows you to share your saved with multiple people.

Password generator

If you’re an Apple person, you may be familiar with the password generator that comes standard as a part of iOS. LastPass also provides this service with its own proprietary password generator.

As we tested the extension, the generator would pop up if we were creating a new account. Its also easily accessible from the LastPass extension if the generator doesn't pop up on its own. 

When the browser extension is enabled, you can automatically create a secure password directly on a website. These unique combinations make for strong passwords and can help increase your security. LastPass will then save the new password to your vault.

Autofill and form filler

The autofill feature in LastPass creates a profile of you with the information you want, like phone number, address, credit card info, and more. You can fill online forms by clicking the browser extension in your toolbar. 

In addition to this being convenient, it also helps avoid keylogging, which is where everything you type is recorded.

Password strength report

From the Security Dashboard, you can find your Security score. This feature evaluates your passwords, password hygiene, and sharing practices and evaluates your score based on how you use passwords.

For instance, if you use the same password multiple times, your strength score is lowered because there are more chances to breach this password. If you use unique, complex passwords for all your accounts, you’ll end up with a high rating.

Our score was lower because we had some repeated passwords and hadn't enabled multi-factor authentication yet. If you click through on the View passwords button, LastPass will clearly list the issues with your passwords along with a button to correct them. 

Additionally, you’ll need to continue to monitor LastPass as it scans the web for data breaches. If your password appears in a breach, it’ll lower your score and suggest you change the password.

Digital legacy

Digital legacy is a uniquely 21st-century problem. What do you do with a person’s online accounts when they pass away? 

LastPass allows you to grants someone emergency access in case of a forgotten password. You can also grant temporary access or update specific folder permissions to share the passwords within and skip sharing your master password.

You can also name heirs to receive access to your vault in the event of your passing. This can help families or loved ones who are trying to access bank accounts, medical information, emails, and other services. 

Bonus features

Additional bonus features offered by LastPass for business and family accounts are:

• Dark web monitoring: Tracks your email on the dark web for breaches and hacks and sends immediate alerts if a breach is identiifed.
  
• Security dashboard and score: Lets you know how secure your LastPass and other accounts are across the web so you can increase your security.
• 1 GB encrypted file storage: Whether you share files between loved ones or coworkers or just need a secure place to stash the file, the option is available. You can store passports, tax documents, insurance cards, and more.

LastPass privacy policy

Since LastPass has such a robust free product offering, it’s more than likely the company is selling data to recoup profits lost. After reading the U.S. privacy policy listed on the website, it's pretty clear that’s exactly what’s happening. LastPass is even using aggregated data from other parts of the web to create a clearer picture of you for marketing purposes.

Under "How We Use Your Data and Legal Basis," the policy states your data is used to "identify prospects for marketing purposes." 

The description reads, "Analyze our records to identify prospects as well as their presumed or identified needs or preferences and serve ads and other communications that may be of interest to you.” Identifying “prospects for marketing” means selling your data to marketers. 

It’s also concerning that LastPass notes it can “Rectify or correct personal data about you that is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date” you provide along with data it collects from outside sources. Why would a password manager need to “correct and enrich” your personal data? Why wouldn’t it just store your passwords and leave the rest of your identity alone?

These are the types of questions you should ask when looking at a product to which you give so much information. Since you’re sharing personal, financial, health, and other login details with LastPass, selling that information seems counterintuitive to the purpose of its service — keeping your data secure.

LastPass third-party audits

LastPass claims a significant amount of security certificates and advertises its Bug Bounty program in an effort to show customers how dedicated it is to security.

The most recent third-party security certificate was issued in July 2022, directly before the major hacks that stole source code and encrypted password vaults from LastPass’ servers.

Is LastPass safe to use?

Honestly, probably not. LastPass suffered two major security incidents in 2022 that left customers’ data exposed, with the October breach including encrypted password vaults. Inititally, LastPass didn't recommend any actions at all and just assured userse that the passwords stored with the service were secure. 

The previous cybersecurity incident in August 2022 saw hackers getting away with some of LastPass’ source code.^[1] Source code is the foundational structure, the DNA, of any software. Like DNA, if you alter part of it, you can alter the entire entity.

In March 2023, LastPass released an update stating that no threat actor activity had been seen since October 26, 2022. It also provided security bulletins with recommended actions for LastPass users. But with competitors like Keeper and NordPass having never been hacked, it’s probably safer to go with one of those services.

It’s worth noting that if you're a LastPass customer, changing your passwords may not be enough to protect your accounts. You should enable multi-factor authentication and update your privacy settings to keep accounts safe.

Two-factor authentication

Two-factor (2FA) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) allow you to add extra layers of security to products that handle some pretty private data. This type of passwordless authentication can supplement the security holes found in password security.

LastPass takes advantage of this technology by using 2FA and allowing you to go deeper by enabling multi-factor authentication. LastPass has a proprietary authenticator but also allows for integration of other authenticators, such as biometric logins, which improve the security of 2FA.

LastPass customer service

The least helpful aspect of LastPass is its customer service.

While you have to be subscribed to a paid tier like Premium or Family to access personal customer service, you’re still encouraged to sort through the self-help section before reaching out to the call center. Like most self-help sections of technical sites, finding answers to more obscure questions can be time-consuming and frustrating.

Previously, LastPass noted it was receiving larger than normal call volume. The notice on the support page went on to encourage you to search for your support topic in the self-help section. 

As you may have guessed, you’ll only get general suggestions on the self-help pages instead of direct answers to your questions. If you’re looking for a solution to a less common issue, you may find yourself searching for a while.

LastPass has added a chatbot that links to a live person if you can’t find what you’re looking for in self-help. When we tried to reach out to an agent, the chatbot let us know that no one was available and created a case for us. Considering there's nowhere listing the chat hours, we're not sure how usable this option actually is. 

LastPass compatibility

LastPass claims compatibility with a myriad of browsers, mobile devices, and operating systems. For web browsers in general, the two most recent versions work with LastPass. Anything older than that, and you’ll need to update your browser.

Keep in mind that free users are also limited to one device, so be sure to install it on a device that you use to log in to your accounts most often.

Operating systems and mobile apps

• Android OS 9 or later
• iOS 15.0 or later
  
• iPadOS 15.0 or later
• Windows 8.1 or later
• macOS — two most recent versions and a 64-bit processor is required
• Linux
• Chrome OS

Browsers

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Edge
• Safari
• Opera

Top alternatives

LastPass is a solid password manager but we don't blame you if you're offput by its history of data breaches. Here are some other password managers to consider that haven't been breached (as of this writing):

LastPass FAQs

Bottom line: Is LastPass good?

Even if we could be 100% sure that LastPass fixed its security flaws and we knew changing our passwords in our vaults would keep our accounts safe, LastPass has suffered too many security incidents to feel like a good product.

The fact that the first security breach of 2022 happened a month after LastPass received its third-party audited security certificate is worrying. On top of that, the dicey privacy policy and aggregated collection of data feels out of place for a security-focused company.

That isn’t to say you shouldn’t use a password manager. They help keep everything organized so you don’t lose your passwords. If they contain features like a password generator, like LastPass does, then you have additional security with strong, unique passwords suggested and saved for you.

See how LastPass compares to more secure password manager options:

• LastPass vs. NordPass
• LastPass vs. Roboform
• LastPass vs. 1Password