Although passwords are ubiquitous these days and there is basically no task you can do online without one – be it a privacy sensitive operation like online banking, access to your email and social media accounts or simply logging in to your favorite news website or blog – the vast majority of users seem to not be aware of how important managing the ever-increasing number of passwords is becoming. It is not just about remembering all the right passwords, but more importantly about making sure that all your passwords offer the level of security that you need in this day and age.

One possible reason might be that, while there are pretty powerful and comprehensive solutions out there (like LastPass, or Sticky Password), using their full functionality set usually comes with a yearly subscription model which might drive away potential users. Cyclonis Password Manager (CPM) comes into the picture to fill up this exact gap, by offering a multi-platform (Windows and Mac) solution that offers all the security and data protection features, without a price tag.

Despite being completely free, it offers everything you would expect from a premium, subscription-based password manager, and even some features that paid solutions do not offer. All you need to do is create an account (your “vault”) that will contain all your passwords and sensitive information (notes, credit card profiles, etc.) This information will be encrypted and protected by your “master” username and password (the only password you will really need to remember). We really liked the feature that offers you the possibility to choose where your encrypted vault will be stored: your local hard drive (if you use only one device), or the cloud if you wish to sync a number of devices (compatible with Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, or OneDrive).

Another “premium” feature CPM comes with is integration with all major browsers in the form of extensions, including support for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Microsoft Edge. The extension will fill in the user/password whenever you wish to log in and will also offer password generation assistance to make sure your password is safe enough when you create a new user account. You can also check the safety level (“Strength Score”) of your existing passwords and CPM will tell you which passwords you need to update (and generate them and remember them for you) and make sure you don’t use the same password everywhere.
If you already have login credentials saved in the browser or in another password manager, CPM will let you easily import them into the encrypted vault, as well as export all the data in the vault, in case you want to switch to another password manager.

Pros: Saving the encrypted vault in your own cloud account, password strength analysis, browser extensions and full functionality set without a price tag.

Cons: For now, Cyclonis Password Manager is limited to the desktop, to Windows and Mac OS. There are no mobile apps (iOS and Android) like for some of the paid password manager solutions out there, but since this is a new product, the mobile app versions would most likely come soon in the future.

Conclusion: All in all, CPM is a welcome solution that offers all the premium features that you expect from a password manager, without limitation and for free. It might just be the solution to close the gap and help everyone understand how important protecting your online information is these days, especially since you can now do that without burning a hole in your pocket.