Migrating From 1Password To Bitwarden

For more than a decade, I have been a happy user of 1Password for managing my myriad of passwords, account numbers, credit and debit cards, and OTP tokens. It has mostly done what it says on the tin, pretty well.

I, like others, griped when they switched to a SAAS model, but being in the industry myself, I totally understood their position, and continued to be a customer.

Recently, I got this in my inbox.

This is a clean 33.44% increase.

Ouch.

It then triggered the memory that I have for some time been mulling moving all my teams away from the mishmash of secured worksheets and documents and assorted apps for storing things like passwords, IP addresses, usernames, server names, etc.

This is a good time as any to look at a solution for teams.

The pricing doesn’t look all that favorable, as my team is just north of 50 users.

Of all the alternatives, one has always stood out - Bitwarden.

Why?

1. Battle hardened
2. Open source
3. Free compatible server version, VaultWarden (you naturally have to meet all the hosting costs)
4. Very pocket-friendly

Note that you can get Bitwarden for absolutely free, but the integrated authenticator alone is worth the price.

If you really want to use Bitwarden for free, you can. But you will need to get the authenticator separately as a standalone application.

I therefore decided to pull the trigger and migrate.

The process is pretty simple.

Download and install the software

You can access the software here for your operating system of choice.

Once installed, it will look something like this on launch:

Install plugins for your browser

There are plugins for all the popular browsers.

Once installed, you can access it via the toolbar.

From there, you can log in to your account:

Export Your 1Password Data

The next order of business is to export your 1Password data.

Log in to the application and go to the File Menu:

Then enter your password and choose an export format. You probably should stick to 1PUX.

Remember, your export file is unencrypted!

Import Your 1Password Data Into Bitwarden

From Bitwarden the process is the opposite.

Access the File menu:

And click Import.

This might take some time if you have many items stored, so let it run as long as needed.

Once completed, you should see everything in Bitwarden.

One caveat is that the import works flawlessly only if the corresponding functionality is in place.

For instance, 1Password can store software keys and licenses.

Bitwarden does not seem to have this, so all the keys and other information were just dumped in the root.

Once you are done importing your data, DELETE the 1PUX export!

Tweak Your Settings

Next, we change some settings to make the software more usable, as some of the defaults range between baffling and annoying.

The settings are accessible from the Bitwarden menu:

In particular, you might want to enable these settings:

And this:

You also need to tweak your browser plugin settings.

The settings are available here:

Turn this on:

Next, configure your browser to integrate with Bitwarden.

From the browser extension, go to settings:

Then go to Autofill, and turn this on to set Bitwarden as your default password manager.

To verify this worked, go to your browser’s Autofill settings.

In Chrome, it is here:

You should see Bitwarden registered for Enhanced Autofill.

Bitwarden is also available on your favourite phone AppStore - Apple or Google. Install it.

For iOS, go to Settings > AutoFill & Passwords

Turn this ON

And you should now be up and running.

Cancel 1Password Subscription

The last step is to actually cancel the 1Password subscription. If you don’t, the next cycle will bill you, and your term will be renewed.

Log in to your customer profile and go to the Billing tab.

At the bottom is an option to Cancel Subscription.

You will be asked for feedback on why you are canceling.

You will then get a confirmation.

And we’re done!

You could, at this point, also uninstall all the software, but I have chosen to leave the application itself and disable the extensions.

You might have canceled the subscription, but you still have read access to your passwords, so it’s harmless to keep it around. Also, you can re-activate the subscription at any time.

Parting Shot

The software is pretty fully featured and functional, and so far, so good.

However, to be honest, and not to take anything away from the hard-working team at Bitwarden, 1Password is head and shoulders more polished in terms of design, UI, and UX.

But in terms of features and functionality, they are pretty evenly matched.

Happy hacking!