Padloc vs Passbolt (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Padloc grades higher than Passbolt: 2.8 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Padloc grades higher on the free plan, features and ease of use. They get the same grade on value for money and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Padloc
Open-source, end-to-end encrypted password manager with team plans
Passbolt
Open-source password manager for teams, self-hosted or cloud
Which one is for you
Pick Padloc if
- Fits if you want a free vault across every platform
- Works for small teams that want shared vaults and directory sync
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you store files, as encrypted storage is 1 GB on Premium and Family, 5 GB on Team and 20 GB on Business
- Watch out: shared vaults are capped at 20 on Team and 50 on Business
- Watch out: the page does not say whether Team and Business prices are per user
- Skip it if you want customization, as it is Enterprise only, with no published price
- Watch out: the free plan lists encrypted file storage but not its size
Pick Passbolt if
- Fits if your team has someone who runs servers and wants open-source code
- Works for data that must stay in the EU, or secrets pulled into pipelines through an API
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you're one person, because no paid plan is aimed at individuals
- Pricey if you're a team of three or four, as every paid plan bills for at least 10 users
- Not for you if nobody wants to maintain a server and you won't pay, since free means self-hosted
- Tight if you stay free, as single sign-on, LDAP, account recovery and the activity log are paid
- Watch out: the browser extension is required, the desktop app is Windows only, and offline mode is beta
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAPadlocGood | 2.2GPAPassboltFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPremium is $34.90 a year, about $2.91 a month, level with the middle of password managers. Family is $59.50 a year. | CPro and Cloud Business are both $4.90 a user a month billed annually, above the $3.99 where this category's dear quarter begins, and every paid plan bills for at least 10 users, so a team of three pays $588 a year. The free Community Edition costs nothing, if you host it. |
| Free plan and trial | AFree means unlimited vault items and devices, shared vaults, multi-factor login, a security report and built-in one-time codes. The file storage size is not given. | BThe Community Edition is free for unlimited users, with sharing, folders, groups, mobile apps and the API, so a team could really live on it. You have to install and maintain it yourself, and single sign-on, account recovery and the activity log are paid. |
| Features | BEnd-to-end encryption, shared vaults, an authenticator, a security report, markdown notes and directory sync. Listing shows no gap in the core job. | CSharing covers passwords, one-time codes and notes shared with users and groups under fine-grained permissions, plus an API and CLI that feed secrets into pipelines. But its own pages name the rough edges. The browser extension is required, the desktop app is Windows only, and offline mode is still beta. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. You make an account and move your passwords in. | DNo rating on record, and the free route is a Linux server, a Docker container or a virtual machine that someone has to keep running. Paying to have it hosted means at least 10 seats, and either way everyone has to install the browser extension before anything works. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android and a browser extension, but no API or integrations list. | BWeb, iPhone, Android, browser extensions, an open API and a CLI, with hooks into Active Directory, OpenLDAP and OpenID. The desktop app is Windows only, though, so Mac and Linux people live in the browser. |
| Best for | a password vault with a free plan | open-source team passwords you can host yourself |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Padloc and Passbolt. How we grade
Price against what you get
Padloc starts at $2.91 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Passbolt starts at $4.90 a month for each person and scores 2.0.
Padloc scores higher and starts $1.99 a month lower. Of the other password managers on the chart, 8 score higher than Padloc for less, and 21 score higher than Passbolt for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Passbolt is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Padloc also covers notes and Markdown.
At a glance
| Padloc | Passbolt | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $3.49 per month, or $34.90 per year (Premium) | $4.90 per user / month, billed annually (Pro, 10-user minimum) |
| Free plan | Free: unlimited vault items and devices, shared vaults, multi-factor login, a security report, built-in one-time codes and markdown notes. | Community Edition: free and open source under AGPLv3 for unlimited users, self-hosted on your own server, with password sharing, folders, users and groups, mobile apps and community support. |
| Free trial | 30-day free trial on paid plans | 14-day free trial of the self-hosted Pro Edition; 7-day free trial of Cloud Business |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| Linux | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | MaKleSoft UG | Passbolt SA |
| Price read from | padloc.app | passbolt.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 5, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Padloc
- Encrypted file storage is capped by plan: 1 GB on Premium and Family, 5 GB on Team and 20 GB on Business.
- Shared vaults are capped on Team (20) and Business (50); the page does not say whether prices are per user.
- Enterprise has no published price, and customization is only offered there.
- The pricing page lists encrypted file storage on the free plan but does not give its size.
Passbolt
- Every paid plan has a 10-user minimum, and there is no paid plan aimed at individuals.
- The free Community Edition has to be installed and maintained on your own server and comes with community support only.
- The browser extension is required to use Passbolt, the desktop app is listed for Windows only and offline mode is labeled beta.
- Single sign-on, LDAP provisioning, account recovery and the activity log are not part of the Community Edition.
Key features
Padloc
- More than passwords
- Stores credit cards, banking details, rich-text notes with markdown, license keys and documents alongside logins.
- End-to-end encryption
- Data is encrypted before it leaves your device, and the vendor says neither it nor anyone else can read it.
- Shared vaults
- Share vaults with family, coworkers or clients. Team and Business plans add groups for permission management.
- Built-in authenticator
- Generates one-time passwords for two-factor logins inside the app, and supports multi-factor login to the account.
- Security report
- A report on stored logins, included on every plan, including the free one.
- Directory sync
- Team, Business and Enterprise plans support directory sync and automatic provisioning of users.
Passbolt
- Granular credential sharing
- Shares passwords, TOTP codes and encrypted notes with individual users and groups, organized in private and shared folders under role-based access control.
- End-to-end encryption
- Passbolt says secrets are end-to-end encrypted through a public-private key architecture, and it requires its browser extension in order to guarantee that.
- Self-hosted or cloud
- Install it on your own Linux server with packages, a Docker container or a virtual machine, or use Passbolt Cloud, which the company hosts in the EU.
- Open source, paid editions included
- The Community, Pro and Enterprise editions are all distributed under AGPLv3, so the entire source code is available to inspect and modify.
- API and command line interface
- An open API and a CLI let DevOps teams create, retrieve and rotate secrets and inject them into CI/CD pipelines as environment variables.
- SSO, directory sync and audit log
- Paid editions add single sign-on with Microsoft, Google and OpenID, LDAP and Active Directory provisioning, account recovery and an activity log.
Plans
Padloc
Free$0
Unlimited items and devices, shared vaults, encrypted file storage, one-time codes and a security report.
Premium$3.49
per month ($34.90 billed per year)
For one person: adds advanced multi-factor options and up to 1 GB of encrypted file storage.
Family$5.95
per month ($59.50 billed per year)
Shares data between up to 5 users, with up to 5 shared vaults and 1 GB of file storage.
Team$3.49
per month ($34.90 billed per year); per-user basis not shown
Up to 20 shared vaults, up to 10 groups, directory sync and 5 GB of file storage.
Business$6.99
per month ($69.90 billed per year); per-user basis not shown
Up to 50 shared vaults, up to 20 groups, directory sync and 20 GB of file storage.
EnterpriseCustom
Price on request: unlimited vaults, groups and file storage, plus customized appearance and features.
Passbolt
Community Edition$0
Self-hosted and open source with unlimited users: sharing, private and shared folders, groups, browser extensions, CLI, open API and community support.
Pro Edition$4.90
per user / month, billed annually
Self-hosted, minimum 10 users. Adds LDAP provisioning, single sign-on, account recovery, an activity log, tags and next-business-day support.
Cloud Business$4.90
per user / month, billed annually ($5.40 billed monthly)
Hosted by Passbolt in Belgium and Germany, minimum 10 users, with a yearly database backup and next-business-day email support.
Cloud Sovereign$8
per user / month, billed annually
Hosted in a sovereign private data center in Luxembourg with ISO 27001 certified hosting. Minimum 10 users.
Enterprise EditionCustom
Self-hosted, with high-availability and disaster-recovery consulting, custom feature development and a 4-hour support SLA.
Cloud EnterpriseCustom
Isolated hosting in Luxembourg with a custom domain, custom backup policies, 24/7 SOC monitoring and a 4-hour support SLA.
Ways to pay less
Padloc
- Annual discount
Yearly billing costs 10 months
On the plans shown, the yearly price is ten times the monthly price, such as $34.90 a year against $3.49 a month.
Passbolt
- Annual discount
10% off Cloud Business with yearly billing
Cloud Business costs $5.40 per user a month billed monthly or $4.90 billed annually; the pricing page labels yearly billing as 10% off.
- Nonprofit
Discounts for non-profits and education
Non-profits, charities, foundations, associations and educational institutions can request a discount on Passbolt Pro or Cloud. The amount is at Passbolt's discretion.
- Other savings
Discounts for open source projects
Maintainers and contributors of public open source projects and communities can request a discount through the same form.
- Other savings
Volume discounts above 100 users
The Pro Edition pricing notes that volume discounts apply after 100 users, arranged through a quote.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Padloc or Passbolt?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Padloc starts at $3.49 per month, or $34.90 per year (Premium), and Passbolt starts at $4.90 per user / month, billed annually (Pro, 10-user minimum). One is priced for each person and the other is not, so which costs less depends on how many of you use it.
Which has a free plan, Padloc or Passbolt?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both Padloc and Passbolt have a free plan.
Which platforms do Padloc and Passbolt run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Padloc lists macOS and Linux apps. Both list a web app, Windows, iOS and Android apps and a browser extension. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.