1Password is a middle-of-the-road password manager that does pretty much what you’d expect it to. The program stores passwords for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android systems, complete with browser plugins and some fingerprint verification features. Windows users can get better programs, but for Mac users, it’s not bad. Good news, then, for Mac users: the program now offers a $3-per-month subscription, although it’s not as good of a bargain as it may sound.
The company updated its pricing structure on its website, and you need not read too carefully to figure out that $3 per month really means $36 per year. 1Password charges an annual fee, not a monthly one. In its defense, however, you do get the first six months free, which should be plenty of time to determine whether you want to shell out the cost of a moderately good dinner for it.
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Although you can still purchase a standalone license for $64 (the option is buried way, way in the bowels of the 1Password site), the $36-per-year subscription is more similar to 1Password’s existing $5-per-month family plan. You can use the program on an unlimited number of devices, with automatic syncing between all of them, as well as offline access, email support, 1 GB online storage and the ability to restore deleted items for a year. Naturally, the single-payer subscription doesn’t include the family plan’s sharing, permissions and account recovery controls, since they wouldn’t be necessary for a lone user.
As for whether the new subscription price is a good deal, it depends on what you want out of a password manager. 1Password is user-friendly and fairly comprehensive, although it’s not the best program out there. Even at its new price, it’s far from the cheapest. If you plan to use it for more than two years and don’t mind manually syncing passwords with a service like Dropbox, you’re probably better off just buying the license and calling it a day.
