Let’s set the scene: You’ve been keeping all your passwords in a notebook or scattered across sticky notes. It’s convenient—until it isn’t. One small slip, and sensitive credentials could end up in the wrong hands. Instead of relying on paper and hoping for the best, it’s time to consider a password manager.
LastPass and RoboForm are products with extensive histories in the password management industry and offer apps with beginner-friendly features and quick, easy setup. Both performed well in my latest round of testing, but which one is best for you? I’m here to compare them across five key categories to help you decide.
Price: Free Perks vs. Affordable Premium Plans
Both services offer free apps with feature limits. You can’t sync your passwords across devices with LastPass or RoboForm’s free plans, and some sharing and emergency access features are also restricted. LastPass wins the free app subcategory, though, because it offers data breach monitoring for free accounts.
As for prices, RoboForm is one of the more affordable high-quality password managers on our recommended app list, so it’s not surprising it wins this round overall. As of publication, a RoboForm personal plan costs $29.88 annually, and a Family subscription costs $47.76 annually and includes access for 5 accounts. You can try the Premium subscription for free for up to 30 days.
LastPass also offers a generous 30-day free trial for its premium apps. After that, a LastPass Premium subscription costs $36 per year, while LastPass Family costs $48 annually.
Winner: RoboForm
Features: What Each Password Manager Can Do
RoboForm can generate and fill in passwords for your accounts across the web, and subscriptions include data breach monitoring for up to five email addresses, emergency access, passkey support, password hygiene tools, phishing alerts, sharing rights, and customer support via email, live chat, and phone.
A RoboForm subscription doesn’t include file attachment storage, unlike LastPass, which offers it to free and premium subscribers. Free plan customers can attach files up to 50 MB, while premium account holders can attach files up to 1GB. Paying LastPass customers also get data breach monitoring, one-to-many password sharing, advanced multi-factor options (biometric and YubiKey support), access to the LastPass Authenticator smartwatch app for watchOS or Wear OS, emergency access, and account support via a chatbot, email, or phone.
Winner: LastPass
Setup: Easy Start or Complicated Steps?
Ever downloaded an app and then never used it because it was too hard to set up and use? You won’t need to worry about that with RoboForm. Throughout my testing period, I was impressed with RoboForm’s tips and hints for maintaining password hygiene sprinkled throughout the app’s interface. For example, if you tap or hover over a credential with a weak password, RoboForm offers instructions for changing the password in your vault and on the associated website, as well as video tutorials for all the app’s features to help people new to password managers.
LastPass’s on-screen instructions also guide you through the setup process in a way that is both instructive and not too simplistic, which is great. For example, after you’ve imported your old passwords, follow the on-screen prompts to visit your check your password list for weak credentials, add another device to your account, or adjust your account’s security settings. The prompts are helpful, but during the last evaluation period, setting up passwordless logins and an additional account-authentication method, such as an authenticator app or a hardware security key, wasn’t straightforward.
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Winner: RoboForm
Platform Availability: Which Devices Can You Protect?
RoboForm works well as a password manager and offers a traditional folder view with a column showing your password strength. RoboForm has browser extensions for Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. It also offers desktop clients for Mac and Windows, as well as Android and iOS apps.
LastPass also offers good-looking apps, but it works on a wider range of devices. LastPass is available as Android and iOS apps, with extensions for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, and Safari. It also offers universal installer apps for Linux, macOS, and Windows that automatically install extensions across all your devices’ browsers. If that’s not enough device coverage for you, try accessing LastPass via the watchOS and Wear OS apps.
Recommended by Our Editors
Winner: LastPass
Data Storage: Cloud, Local, or Both?
We trust companies with tons of our data every day, despite repeat data breaches proving it’s a bad idea. That’s why I like to recommend password managers that offer vault storage options beyond the cloud.
RoboForm lets you choose whether to keep all of your data on the company’s cloud servers or to store it locally on a computer or mobile device. Enable local storage by turning off the Automatic Sync feature. LastPass’s Offline Mode is similar, because it creates a local version of your encrypted vault on your device that you can access without an internet connection.
Winner: Tie
Verdict: RoboForm for Beginners, LastPass for Power Users
Choosing between LastPass and RoboForm ultimately depends on your priorities: simplicity, cost, or device coverage. If you want an easy-to-use, affordable solution with strong fundamentals, RoboForm is your best bet. If you prioritize device coverage, advanced features, and cloud convenience, LastPass is the more powerful option. The good news is that both password managers are solid, secure choices—so your decision comes down to whether you value simplicity and savings or features and flexibility.
