Evaluate and Compare Password Managers

Security concerns and lost passwords have led you too look for a solution. You have decided you need a password manager. How do you choose which password manager? There are dozens of password managers available in the marketplace. How do you choose the one that will work for you. The information on this page is designed to help you make an informed choice. It presents criteria you can use to evaluate and compare password managers and make an educated decisione. 

Password mangers can be divided into three broad categories: storage only, login managers, and full featured.

Storage only password management solutions have fallen out of favor because there are a number of high quality and inexpensive "login manager" and "full featured" password managers available. The main advantage of "storage only" solutions is price. Prices for freeware and shareware products range from free to $9.95. Here are the features you should look for in a "storage only" password manager.

• Edit/View passwords
• Easy to understand interface
• Quick copy and paste
• Print passwords facility
• Backup facility
• Data encryption

Managing web site login information is the most frequently used password manager facility. Web sites that allow access to confidential information protect that information by requiring users to enter a password or a username and password combination to access the information on the web site. Some common example of web sites that use this protection are: banks, brokerage firms, insurance companies, auction sites, schools, and hobby and special interest sites. Login managers store the web login information and fill it in for you when you navigate to a protected web site. The login information is protected by a "master password". The "master password" is required to access the protected login information and is the only password the user is required to remember. Login manager prices range from $10.00 to $29.00. Here are the features to look for in a login manager:

• Auto-fill
• Auto-save
• Auto-submit
• Export
• Import
• Removeable Device support
• Quick Launch
• Notes
• System Tray

Full featured password managers add some important features to the facilities offered by the login managers. The most important feature is form filling. This feature fills your name, mailing address, e-mail address, telephone number, credit card and other common personal information into web order and registration forms. If you order products from e-commerce sites, you know the tedium of entering your personal information every time you place an order. The password manager form filling feature fills that information in for you, so that you do not need to type it. "Full featured" password managers range in price from $19.00 to $79.00. Here are the features to look for in a full featured password manager: 

• Form Fill
• Multiple Users
• Multiple Credit Cards
• Password Generator
• Exclude Sites
• Browser toolbar
• Highlight Fields
• Multiple Languages
• Multiple Browsers

After you have found the password managers that have the feature sets that meet your requirements, you should take a close look that the company that produced the product. You should ask the following questions:

1. How long has the company been in business?
2. What other products has the company produced? (It is dangerous to purchase a product from a company that has its future tied up in a single product in a very competitive marketplace.)
3. What type of support does the company provide? E-mail, telephone, FAQ page, tutorials, online help? You may want to e-mail in a question and see how long it takes the company to respond to your e-mail.

Once you have narrowed the field to the products and companies that are worthy of your consideration, it is time to test drive the products. Try to narrow the field to 3 or 4 products. Attempting to evaluate more that 4 products will take too much time and be too confusing. Most products offer some type of trial version. The trail may be limited by the capacity of the data base or the time period it is allowed to run. In either case, running a trial version will give you a feel for the product's features and quality. It is foolish not to take advantage of trial offers as what better way to evaluate a product than actually using it. Approach the trial as if you have purchased the product. Put the product to work and see what benefits it provides. Make sure you can understand the help file and any tutorials. Give the features you are interested in a good work out. After you have given each product a test run make your choice. If you have followed the steps above, you should gain the maximum benefit for a reasonable cost.