Summary
Most of us started using Google Password Manager because it was built into Chrome. It was a no-brainer when a pop-up asked whether we wanted to save our username and password to the browser. The next time we visited the same website, Chrome would auto-fill the credentials, and that was it. Beyond the small conveniences, though, Google’s password manager is pretty basic. As my needs grew from storing passwords to wanting secure notes, file attachments, emergency access, and true cross-platform support, I switched to Bitwarden, which offers more transparency while being as secure as any paid password manager. Secure notes and file attachments More than just a password vault Not everything you want to keep safe is a username and password. Software license keys, Wi-Fi passwords, account recovery codes, safe combinations, private notes: these are the kinds of things you’d otherwise scatter across sticky notes, random text files, or a notes app with no encryption. Google Password Manager has no place to put any of this. It stores login credentials, and that’s about it. You can use Bitwarden as a hub for all your sensitive data. Secure Notes let you store any free-form text you want behind encryption. I use them for API keys and backup codes that I’d rather not leave floating in my email inbox. Beyond notes, Bitwarden also supports Identity entries for auto-filling forms with your name, address, phone number, and email, and Card entries for storing credit card, debit card, or gift card details so you don’t need the physical card at checkout. Premium subscribers (10 per year, it’s significantly cheaper than similar offerings from competitors like 1Password or Dashlane. Google Password Manager doesn’t offer anything like this at all. True cross-platform support Use any browser, any device, any OS Google Password Manager works well if you live entirely inside Chrome and Google’s ecosystem. However, there’s no standalone app for managing your vault on desktop or even on Android. You need Chrome open to access anything. Bitwarden offers true cross-platform support. It has native apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android. For browsers, it covers all the Chromium-based ones like Chrome, Edge, Opera, and Brave, plus non-Chromium options like Safari, Firefox, DuckDuckGo, and even Tor. On top of that, there’s a web vault you can access from any browser and a command-line tool for more technical setups. Also, it’s consistent across platforms. Bitwarden looks and behaves the same whether I’m on my laptop, phone, or switching between browsers. There’s no learning curve when I move between devices, so it’s easy to find what I am looking for irrespective of where I am using the password manager. Organized vaults and sharing Keep it tidy, share it safely The longer you use a password manager, the more cluttered it gets. Google Password Manager gives you a flat list of saved logins and not much else. Bitwarden offers a bit more structure through Collections, which let you group credentials and share different sets with different people. For example, you could create one collection of streaming passwords your partner has full access to, and a separate collection of accounts your child can only view. Free and Premium accounts get two collections, while the Families plan offers unlimited ones. Access can also be scoped by role, with Admin, Manager, and User levels available for more structured sharing. For one-off sharing, Bitwarden Send creates an encrypted link you can send to anyone, even if they’re not a Bitwarden user. You can set an expiration date, a maximum number of accesses, and a password. Free users can share text, while Premium subscribers can also share files. It’s a much cleaner way to share sensitive data than texting a password in plain text, which is what most people end up doing. Passkey support Ready for the passwordless future Passkeys are quickly becoming a better alternative to passwords across major services like Google, Apple, and Microsoft. Google Password Manager does support passkeys, but it stores them within its own ecosystem, and until recently, moving them elsewhere was not an option. As of June 2026, Google has started rolling out passkey import and export using the FIDO Alliance’s Credential Exchange standard, but the rollout is still limited and depends on third-party apps supporting it too. Bitwarden was one of the first password managers to support both creating and managing passkeys. You can set it as your default passkey provider on Android (14 and above) or Windows, and it handles passkey creation and authentication across its browser extensions, mobile apps, and desktop clients. So your passkeys aren’t locked to one platform or one device. The bigger picture here is, of course, portability. One of the main criticisms of passkeys has been that they’re device-bound, making it hard to move passkeys between password managers without starting from scratch. Bitwarden’s early adoption of the Credential Exchange standard means you can move your passkeys in and out without being trapped. For someone like me who is adopting passkeys wherever possible, this is a must-have in a password manager Stop storing passwords in your browser Migrating from Google Password Manager to Bitwarden took me about ten minutes. You export your saved passwords from Chrome’s settings as a CSV file, import it into Bitwarden, and you’re done. The browser extension takes over auto-fill duties right away, and the mobile app handles the rest. While some features do need a subscription, the free plan covers the basics well enough and doesn’t keep bugging you to upgrade every few minutes. If you’re still relying on your browser’s built-in password manager, it might be worth considering a dedicated one. You’ll be surprised how much more they can do beyond just saving passwords