I’m reviewing my favourite password manager for possible secure sharing of some passwords for family use, and thought I’d give NordPass a try, a new product being pushed to me as part of my NordVPN subscription.
Enpass appears to be a little-known application that is not only free but integrates well into my Windows desktop, Android phone and various browsers. Its focus is to maintain a secure file locally to the computer, though the clincher is that it will work with a shared file on your chosen cloud provider. I use OneDrive to sync between multiple devices.
NordPass is from NordVPN and comes with the same assurances of security as NordVPN, which one just has to believe. VPN providers already use questionable marketing practices against potential new users and existing users (try and find your account login page) so it’s difficult to find out if the product is a good fit without signing up for it. There is no trial period.
I’ll use a product comparison chart, as marketers like to do, to distill the differences:
Enpass | NordPass | |
---|---|---|
Cost | Free | Varies. Appearance of being heavily discounted. Roughly £3.69 per month. |
Stores on own servers | Stores locally, with user-selected synchronisation to cloud | Stored on own servers |
Speed | Fast | Slow – have to assume due to heavier encryption |
Platform availability | Windows Firefox Android iOS | Windows Firefox Android iOS |
Can share passwords | No | Yes – requires other person to have NordPass software |
Automatic form submission | Yes | No |
Memorable password generation | Example: 3Unfounded-Unreached9-woe Remembers selection of “Pronouncable” | Example: pAx-c0Sm063n1c-l4K3d-8A8ul5 Requires selection of “Words”, “Use capital letters” and “Use digits” every time |
Password generation at field | Yes, and retains for automatic addition to file | No |
Templates | Provides templates for varying types and services with optional and optimised custom fields. | None |
The answer is obvious.