I actually find this somewhat understandable; and I'll be continuing my subscription; as long as all source continues to be available and personal self-hosting remains a viable option.
Yes, I'd much prefer full open source, but "all source available; some restrictions on commercial use" is still miles better; the OSS funding and incentives problem is still unsolved.
Just look at Elasticsearch -> AWS ElasticSearch; or Redis -> ElastiCache; etc.
It's like leeching: a big corporation, with far more distribution and brand takes your codebase; and their structural advantages (in terms of distribution) makes it an extremely difficult uphill battle for you to compete.
I struggle to think of solutions: yes, they are doing everything by the license; so the main viable solution seems to be... changing the license.
Very insightful blog post listed by another user as a sub-comment. Worth posting as a top-level comment:
Great find. This blog post - and specifically the background of the new management team - convinced me to start looking for a Bitwarden alternative. I’m watching the same “boil the frog” strategy unfold at Namecheap, and erode much of the brand trust they had built up over a decade, and it’s a shame.
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Okay, it’s good they have the open source because if you rewrite the Chrome extension you can get it to load in under 100 ms after you click the button. If you use the standard Chrome extension you’re not having that happen on an M1 Max. Their stuff is far too heavy. Full JS framework to display a small box.
Any more details on this? Like did anyone build a better extension or are you just guessing?
I’d be interested in hearing about this too.
This was always inevitable when they took funding.
Correct.
Circa earlier this year I found this blog post, and have – as a paying customer nonetheless, mind you – continued to expect a 180-degree turn (which to be clear, this not yet is) ever since:
I’m willing to commit money to a project committed to release free builds without these shenanigans.
Bitwarden is still releasing free builds but yeah you'd need a new project with a new name to use it from the Play Store or App Store.
Turns out Keyguard, an alternative Bitwarden client is already on the Play Store.
IMO Bitwarden really isn't that well engineered software, and I now use Keyguard on Android/Vaultwarden server instead. Reminds me of Subsonic, with many competing clients/servers. Hopefully someone will write a third party browser extension as the current one is quite slow/buggy.
What about it isn't well engineered?
Isn't Vaultwarden using the same clients?
Keyguard appears to be alternative Bitwarden compatible clients.
Yes but this person is using an alternative Android client as well.
This is enshittification but I'm not gonna drop Bitwarden unless they do something really bad. I'm already on the F-Droid version from their GitHub for my GrapheneOS phone because that one has no Google services/telemetry.
One of the family members I set up with Bitwarden has said it changed their life and they can't imagine not using it. I would guess that would apply to any crossplatform password manager but Bitwarden is quite good and the one that stuck.
I probably wouldn't move to one of these [1] because I don't like the UI of Proton Pass, the convenience of KeyPass, and 1Passsword is obvious. I'm interested in AliasVault as it seems to be a more privacy-focused password manager, which is cool, but I'd have to look more into it.
[1] https://www.privacyguides.org/en/passwords
[2] https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/aliasvault-open-source-e...
I'll be moving to PearPass ... there's really no reason for any company to hold my passwords for me.
I don't understand the point or the motivation. They don't list any.
It's very badly explained what actually changes
This seems like the beginning of the end, what password manager is recommended now?
KeepAssXC + SyncThing works well if you don't mind tinkering and like independence from corporations
Otherwise 1Password if you like paying money
> KeepAssXC + SyncThing works
From a quick look, that seems to be Desktop only.
Not desktop only, KeePass uses an encrypted file, all you need is a way to decrypt it. You can store it in iCloud or whatever you like to sync files between devices.
iOS has a good open source app KeeForge to open the encryped password files. I use SyncTrain on my phone to connect to my SyncThing network.
Well seems like Bitwarden is dying. A clear move towards enshittification. I was fine with the premium subscription existing while i was self-hosting Vaultwarden, but now every step seems to make that worse. Now new features will be under the commercial license an everything else will be slowly neglected. Time to jump ship.
I have been eyeballing PassPony[0] as a replacement.
The fact that they still do not support Yubikeys is holding me back from switching, but I expect this to be ironed out soon.
Looks far too sloppy for me to trust this software with my passwords...
I do not like the idea of self-hosting VaultWarden because I generally do not like the idea of application software requiring so much random access memory for even the simplest tasks. So, my idea was to use something like pass[0] or passage[1] (pass[0] + age[2]) on a remote server, but the problem arises when Yubikeys come into play.
I am in no way, shape, or form, endorsing this PonyApp thingy and cannot vouch for it as I haven't audited it. But judging by what it says on the tin, it does appear like a candidate to solve the specific problem I have.
[0]: https://www.passwordstore.org/
Any suggestions or ideas for where to?
Rust based vaultwarden awaits.
Unless they pull the LastPass crap, this is not a big deal for regular users.
The problem with this license change is that it is unenforceable, now that developers believe they can vibe-code their own.
Only a matter of time until we see "OpenWarden", just like we saw the migration from Redis to Valkey.
But let's be honest. "enshittification" here really means "I don't want to pay for my tools and I want it completely for free forever."
Just look at the reactions towards the single UI change made in Firefox on HN [0] and already the complaints are there. Even if you charge your users $1 to remove tracking it is somehow "enshittification" because $1 is too much to pay for software maintenance.
The real cost of maintenance is the amount raised in VC capital (Bitwarden raised $100M) or $600M a year (Google paying Firefox). Donations won't cover the capital needed to fund Firefox or Bitwarden's development at all.
"Open source" is only sustainable when someone else is paying for that maintenance.
Yet another elasticsearch. Or terraform. Or redis. I guess?
Oss trying to protect itself from scalpers?
The new owners are just seeing how gradually they can boil the frog before the userbase moves elsewhere. Gotta maximize returns.
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The thing I always think about is that they wouldn't have to change the license and tighten the screws if people paid for it. Getting mad that the free hosted password manager has changed the deal a little bit I find to be quite arrogant.
Pay the $20/yr or whatever to have them host it and the whole world keeps turning.
I would be with you if they didn't change the owner to private equity in the last year.
I’m conflicted. On one hand I’m grateful for the years of trustworthy (and pay-what-you-want) password management. On the other this feels like an attempt to EEE the free version.
That's my concern as well. I have no problem with the current license change if they continue to publish all the code as they claim. My concern is that this is usually step 1 in a boil-the-frog strategy to eventually split and break off enterprise features. I'll give them some trust until they give me a reason not to (I think they've earned it), but the concern remains.
They don't?
"Some future components will be published under the commercial license and will exist only in that build."
(From that thread)
Sorry but the elasticsearch thing was a big stupid take of elastic. It was big corpo against big corpo not the poor elastic company.
Changing licenses is a sick move and companies doing that should be fucked over, because the license made them big. Changing it later on means that they got greedy nothing more nothing less.
Without oss bitwarden would be a paid cloud like all the others that probably would’ve had a hard time getting trusted.
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