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Head to head

1Password vs LastPass

The 2022 LastPass breach is the deciding fact here and it is not close. Attackers exfiltrated backups of all customer vault data, giving them unlimited offline attempts against every vault — and accounts still on older, low-iteration settings were meaningfully exposed. 1Password's Secret Key design is specifically what prevents that outcome.

Facts reviewed 2026-08-01. Every row below is sourced, and anything a vendor does not publish is marked as such rather than estimated.

The question that decides it

How much weight do you give a vendor that has already had every customer vault stolen?

Choose 1Password if

you want a vault design where theft of the vault alone is not enough.

Choose LastPass if

you are already invested and prepared to rely on a strong master password and current iteration settings.

Side by side

Comparison of 1Password and LastPass by security and account features
 1PasswordLastPass
Storage modelCloud-synced encrypted vaultCloud-synced encrypted vault
Key derivationKey derivation sets how expensive each attacker guess is. A vendor that does not publish its parameters cannot be independently compared on this.PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256, 650,000 iterationsPBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256; 600,000 iterations is the current standard, but historic accounts carried much lower settings
Source codeProprietaryProprietary
Independent auditsPublishes independent assessments, including a 2020 ISE code review, plus ongoing penetration testing via its Trust Center.Operates a trust centre and disclosure programme; no current full independent source-code audit report was found published.
Free tierNo permanent free tierYes
Main free-tier limitNo free tierRestricted to one device category — computers or mobile devices, not both
Account recoveryReusable recovery codes for individual and family accounts; family organisers and business admins can recover other members.Several paths depending on prior setup: a one-time recovery password cached in a previously used browser, mobile biometric recovery, and SMS recovery where configured.
PasskeysSaves, syncs, shares and uses website passkeys.Stores website passkey private keys in the vault.
PlatformsmacOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, plus major browser extensions.Broad browser extension, mobile and desktop coverage.
Documented incidents“None found” means no authoritative report surfaced during research. It is not a claim that no incident has ever occurred.September 2023: an attacker used a session tied to the Okta support breach to reach 1Password's employee Okta tenant. 1Password reported no compromise of user data.August 2022: attackers stole source code from a developer endpoint, then used that to reach cloud backups — exfiltrating backups of all customer vault data along with an MFA/federation database and its decryption key. Encrypted fields stayed encrypted, but attackers gained unlimited offline attempts against every stolen vault, and vaults on older low-iteration settings were meaningfully exposed.

How 1Password works

A cloud-synced vault encrypted and decrypted on your device with AES-GCM-256. Uniquely, it is protected by two secrets: your account password and a randomly generated 128-bit Secret Key, which means a stolen vault cannot be attacked with the password alone.

Key derivation
PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256, 650,000 iterations
If you forget the master password
Recovery is possible — Reusable recovery codes for individual and family accounts; family organisers and business admins can recover other members.

How LastPass works

A cloud-synced vault with client-side encryption of sensitive fields. Critically, in the backups stolen in 2022, some metadata — notably website URLs — was not encrypted.

Key derivation
PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256; 600,000 iterations is the current standard, but historic accounts carried much lower settings
If you forget the master password
Recovery is possible — Several paths depending on prior setup: a one-time recovery password cached in a previously used browser, mobile biometric recovery, and SMS recovery where configured.
A third option

Both 1Password and LastPass store your passwords. MoolKey does not.

1Password and LastPass differ in how well they protect a stored copy of your passwords. MoolKey answers a different question: it recalculates each password from your private phrase and the site name whenever you need it, so no copy exists to protect. A breach would expose masked account names and integers, not credentials.

That is a real trade, not a free win. There is no autofill, no import of your existing passwords, and no recovery if you forget your phrase — none, by design. your private phrase never reaches the service, so nobody can reset it or reproduce a password derived from it.

How it worksFull comparison

1Password vs LastPass FAQ

What is the main difference between 1Password and LastPass?
1Password uses cloud-synced encrypted vault, while LastPass uses cloud-synced encrypted vault. The 2022 LastPass breach is the deciding fact here and it is not close. Attackers exfiltrated backups of all customer vault data, giving them unlimited offline attempts against every vault — and accounts still on older, low-iteration settings were meaningfully exposed. 1Password's Secret Key design is specifically what prevents that outcome.
Is 1Password or LastPass more secure?
Security here is mostly about verifiable design rather than marketing. 1Password uses pbkdf2-hmac-sha256, 650,000 iterations. LastPass uses pbkdf2-hmac-sha256; 600,000 iterations is the current standard, but historic accounts carried much lower settings. How much weight do you give a vendor that has already had every customer vault stolen?
Can I recover my account if I forget the master password?
1Password: Reusable recovery codes for individual and family accounts; family organisers and business admins can recover other members. LastPass: Several paths depending on prior setup: a one-time recovery password cached in a previously used browser, mobile biometric recovery, and SMS recovery where configured.
Does 1Password or LastPass have a free plan?
1Password: No permanent free tier. LastPass: Yes, though restricted to one device category — computers or mobile devices, not both.
Has 1Password or LastPass ever been breached?
1Password: September 2023: an attacker used a session tied to the Okta support breach to reach 1Password's employee Okta tenant. 1Password reported no compromise of user data.. LastPass: August 2022: attackers stole source code from a developer endpoint, then used that to reach cloud backups — exfiltrating backups of all customer vault data along with an MFA/federation database and its decryption key. Encrypted fields stayed encrypted, but attackers gained unlimited offline attempts against every stolen vault, and vaults on older low-iteration settings were meaningfully exposed..

Sources

Every factual claim above traces to vendor documentation or published reporting. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, this page says so instead of repeating a number from a comparison table we cannot verify.

Make one account easier today.

Start with the password you keep reusing or the bank card that still shares a PIN. MoolKey is free, and you do not need to move everything at once.

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