IT AI Index
Index › Identity and access › Password managers › Small business › September 2026 Edition

Business password managers for small business buyers

Asked as “business password manager”, and as “team password vault”, on behalf of a small B2B company. 45 first choices recorded across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, twelve models each.
Standing
1Password
Clear leader
42% of first choices, clear leader.
ShowinginAll 67 categories →

By buyer segment

The same question asked on behalf of a different buyer. Each standing is computed within its segment; they sit side by side and are never added together.
Small business1Password42%Clear leaderThis pageMid-marketBitwarden49%Clear leaderStanding →EnterpriseBitwarden43%Clear leaderStanding →

01The standing

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts, over all twelve models, for a small B2B company. Ordered by share.
ProductFirst-choice shareNegative rateLabelsQuadrant
011Password42%3%60endorsed leader
02Bitwarden38%3%65endorsed leader
03NordPass11%3%39accepted challenger
04RoboForm2%0%24accepted challenger
05Proton Pass2%0%12accepted challenger
06Dashlane2%25%24criticized challenger
Show the two products at 0%, ordered by negative rate
08LastPass0%91%23criticized challenger
07Keeper Security0%0%45accepted challenger
Bars are the share of first choices, 0 to 100Every product with at least 10 labels here. Every product name links to its vendor page.
Head to head
Bitwarden vs 1PasswordBitwarden vs NordPass1Password vs NordPass

Recommended versus criticized

Every product with at least 10 labels here, on both axes. The 30% line names a quadrant, not the verdict above: that one needs more than 40%.

Criticized challengerCriticized default
Negative label rate →
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
Accepted challengerEndorsed leader
0%First-choice share → · lines at 30% share and 25% negative60%
Key
011Password42%
02Bitwarden38%
03NordPass11%
04RoboForm2%
05Proton Pass2%
06Dashlane2%
07Keeper Security0%
08LastPass0%

02What they warned about

Five of twelve models held their first choice under the paraphrase. Claude Haiku 4.5, Grok 4.1 Fast, Mistral Small, DeepSeek V4 Flash, Llama 4 Maverick, Kimi K2 and GLM 4.7 FlashX changed. A high negative share on a product with few labels is a warning. A low share on a product with many labels is salience, not sentiment.
LastPass
91%
21 of 23 labels negative · 12 of 12 models · 17 hard negative
“being especially careful with **LastPass**-type choices, because a password manager stores your highest-value credentials, and past compromises can increase risk” GPT-5.4 mini, negative prompt
Google Password Manager
100%
7 of 7 labels negative · 6 of 12 models · 6 hard negative
“Browser-built-in password managers like Chrome, Google Account sync, Apple Keychain... are commonly flagged as unsuitable for business” Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt
Apple Passwords
100%
5 of 5 labels negative · 5 of 12 models · 4 hard negative
“commonly flagged as unsuitable for business because they lack centralized admin control, granular visibility, and reliable offboarding” Perplexity Sonar, negative prompt
Dashlane
25%
6 of 24 labels negative · 4 of 12 models · 1 hard negative
“Companies to Avoid Entirely ... these findings are cause for caution.” GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt

03What they cite

Citations exist only for the models that return a source list: twelve of the twelve in this edition, and all six flagship models on the expanded tier.

Sites the answers cite

65 of 72 answers in this category came back with a source list, from 12 of 12 models: citations where the model returns them, or the search results it consulted. 5 of those lists are Google grounding redirects that name no site and are left out of the counts. 809 links across 186 sites, every framing counted. Ranked by the number of answers carrying the site or page.

pcmag.com
38 answers · 41 citations · 9 models
security.org
38 answers · 41 citations · 10 models
petronellatech.com
26 answers · 26 citations · 9 models
passwordmanager.com
24 answers · 24 citations · 9 models
bitwarden.com
vendor site · Bitwarden20 answers · 36 citations · 8 models
b2breviews.com
20 answers · 20 citations · 9 models
ifeeltech.com
19 answers · 20 citations · 8 models
techbullion.com
16 answers · 16 citations · 7 models
blog.lastpass.com
vendor site · LastPass15 answers · 23 citations · 6 models
reddit.com
14 answers · 27 citations · 8 models
1password.com
vendor site · 1Password14 answers · 19 citations · 7 models
pwdfortress.com
13 answers · 13 citations · 7 models

Pages the answers cite

The ten pages named in the most answers, by full address. A page here is one the models returned with a recommendation, not one the index endorses.

pcmag.com/picks/the-best-password-managers-for-businesses
37 answers · 9 models
security.org/password-manager/best/business
37 answers · 10 models
petronellatech.com/blog/best-password-managers-for-business-2026-comparison…
26 answers · 9 models
passwordmanager.com/best-small-business-password-managers
23 answers · 9 models
b2breviews.com/password-managers
20 answers · 9 models
ifeeltech.com/blog/best-password-manager
19 answers · 8 models
techbullion.com/best-password-manager-business
16 answers · 7 models
pwdfortress.com/en/blog/best-password-manager-for-business
13 answers · 7 models
allaboutcookies.org/best-password-managers-for-businesses
12 answers · 7 models
cybernews.com/best-password-managers/business-password-managers
11 answers · 6 models

04How they answered

Six framings of the same buying question, each sent to every model in a fresh session with search on. One row per model, so a row shows whether it held its answer under rewording, what it named when cost was the constraint, and what it argued against. Computed from the raw judge labels.
ModelDirect“What is the best business password manager for a small B2B company?”Paraphrase“Which team password vault would you recommend to a small business that sells to other businesses?”Comparative“What are the top business password managers for a small team and how do they differ?”Budget-constrained“What is the best business password manager for a small company with a tight budget?”Scale-constrained“We are a 30 person company evaluating a business password manager. What should we look at?”Negative“Which business password managers should a small business avoid or be cautious about?”
Claude Haiku 4.5NordPass, RoboForm
Two alternatives1Password, Keeper Security
against: Bitwardenno first choiceChangedRoboForm
Four alternatives1Password, Bitwarden, Keeper Security, NordPass
against: DashlaneBitwarden
Four alternativesKeeper Security, NordPass, Proton Pass, RoboForm
no first choiceagainst: 1Password, Bitwarden, Dashlane, LastPass
GPT-5.4 miniBitwarden
Two alternatives1Password, LastPass
BitwardenHeld
One alternative1Password
1Password
Three alternativesBitwarden, Dashlane, NordPass
Bitwarden
One alternative1Password
against: LastPassno first choiceagainst: LastPass
Gemini 3.5 Flash1Password
Two alternativesBitwarden, Keeper Security
1PasswordHeld
Two alternativesBitwarden, Keeper Security
1Password
Three alternativesBitwarden, Keeper Security, NordPass
1Password, Bitwarden
Two alternativesProton Pass, RoboForm
1Password
Two alternativesBitwarden, Keeper Security
against: Apple Passwords, Dashlane, Google Password Manager, KeePass, KeePassXC, LastPass, Microsoft Edge Password Manager, Mozilla Firefox
Perplexity Sonar1Password
Three alternativesBitwarden, NordPass, RoboForm
1PasswordHeld
Four alternativesBitwarden, Keeper Security, NordPass, Passpack
1Password
Four alternativesBitwarden, Keeper Security, NordPass, RoboForm
Bitwarden
Two alternativesNordPass, RoboForm
no first choiceagainst: Apple Passwords, Google Password Manager, LastPass
Grok 4.1 Fast1Password
Two alternativesBitwarden, Keeper Security
against: LastPassBitwardenChanged
One alternative1Password
against: LastPass1Password, Bitwarden
Four alternativesDashlane, Keeper Security, NordPass, RoboForm
against: LastPassBitwarden
Four alternativesKeeper Security, NordPass, Proton Pass, RoboForm
against: 1Password, LastPassBitwarden
Two alternatives1Password, Keeper Security
against: LastPassagainst: Apple Passwords, Dashlane, Google Password Manager, LastPass, Norton Password Manager
Mistral SmallNordPass
Two alternativesBitwarden, RoboForm
1Password, DashlaneChanged1Password
Five alternativesBitwarden, Dashlane, Keeper Security, NordPass, RoboForm
Bitwarden, NordPass
One alternative1Password
no first choiceagainst: LastPass
DeepSeek V4 FlashBitwarden
Four alternatives1Password, Keeper Security, NordPass, RoboForm
1PasswordChanged
Two alternativesBitwarden, Keeper Security
1Password
Four alternativesBitwarden, Keeper Security, NordPass, RoboForm
1Password, Bitwarden
Two alternativesNordPass, Zoho Vault
no first choiceagainst: Apple Passwords, Firefox, Google Password Manager, LastPass, Microsoft Edge Password Manager
Llama 4 Maverickno first choiceBitwardenChanged
Two alternatives1Password, Dashlane
no first choiceNordPass
Two alternativesBitwarden, RoboForm
no first choiceagainst: ExpressKeys, LastPass, ManageEngine Password Manager Pro
Qwen 3.7 Flash1Password
Two alternativesBitwarden, NordPass
1PasswordHeld
Two alternativesBitwarden, SealedKeys
against: LastPass1Password
Four alternativesBitwarden, Dashlane, Keeper Security, NordPass
Bitwarden
Two alternatives1Password, Keeper Security
against: LastPass1Password
Three alternativesBitwarden, Dashlane, Keeper Security
against: LastPass, ManageEngine Password Manager Pro
Kimi K21Password, Bitwarden
One alternativeDashlane
1PasswordChanged
Two alternativesBitwarden, NordPass
1Password, Bitwarden
Three alternativesKeeper Security, NordPass, RoboForm
NordPass
Two alternativesBitwarden, Keeper Security
1Password, Bitwarden
Two alternativesKeeper Security, NordPass
against: LastPass
GLM 4.7 FlashX1Password
Three alternativesBitwarden, Keeper Security, Proton Pass
TeamPasswordChanged
Three alternatives1Password, Bitwarden, Keeper Security
1Password, Bitwarden
Three alternativesKeeper Security, NordPass, RoboForm
against: DashlaneProton Pass
Three alternativesBitwarden, NordPass, RoboForm
no first choiceagainst: Dashlane, Firefox, Google Password Manager, LastPass, Microsoft Edge Password Manager, NordPass, Norton Password Manager
MiniMax M2.51Password
Three alternativesBitwarden, Keeper Security, Proton Pass
against: LastPass1PasswordHeld
Two alternativesBitwarden, NordPass
Keeper Security, NordPass
Three alternatives1Password, Bitwarden, RoboForm
Bitwarden
Three alternativesKeeper Security, Proton Pass, Securden Password Vault
no first choiceagainst: Apple Passwords, Google Password Manager, LastPass
Bold is the first choiceAlternatives are counted; the count opens them.What the answer argued against

05The record

One row per call: the version string exactly as returned, whether the model searched, sources cited, and latency. Full answer text is in the free responses file. Download the record
Seventy-two rows: every prompt, every model, every answer.
PromptModelVersion stringTime (UTC)SearchedSourcesLatency
Direct recommendationClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 11:24yes98 s
Direct recommendationGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 09:53yes55 s
Direct recommendationGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 13:29yes1721 s
Direct recommendationPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 10:24yes204 s
Direct recommendationGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 14:01yes3318 s
Direct recommendationMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:20yes54 s
Direct recommendationDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 11:59yes817 s
Direct recommendationLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 11:51yes52 s
Direct recommendationQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 13:57yes528 s
Direct recommendationKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 10:34yes1023 s
Direct recommendationGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 09:32yes1947 s
Direct recommendationMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 13:35yes1026 s
ParaphraseClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 12:11no04 s
ParaphraseGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 12:43yes34 s
ParaphraseGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 13:38yes621 s
ParaphrasePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 10:04yes205 s
ParaphraseGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 13:09yes3216 s
ParaphraseMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:06yes54 s
ParaphraseDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:34yes813 s
ParaphraseLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:15yes53 s
ParaphraseQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:19yes1558 s
ParaphraseKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 13:28yes944 s
ParaphraseGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 10:33yes2062 s
ParaphraseMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 12:41yes523 s
ComparativeClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:21yes910 s
ComparativeGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 13:35yes711 s
ComparativeGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 09:26yes2730 s
ComparativePerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 12:26yes209 s
ComparativeGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 10:19yes5019 s
ComparativeMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:33yes56 s
ComparativeDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via deepinfra2026-09-17 12:59yes1941 s
ComparativeLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 12:04yes52 s
ComparativeQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 11:53yes536 s
ComparativeKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 10:21yes1036 s
ComparativeGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 13:09yes1556 s
ComparativeMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 10:12yes2351 s
Budget constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:19yes97 s
Budget constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 13:51yes35 s
Budget constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 11:54yes2224 s
Budget constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 11:06yes205 s
Budget constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 13:18yes4520 s
Budget constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 11:21yes54 s
Budget constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 14:12yes1014 s
Budget constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:08yes52 s
Budget constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 09:27no042 s
Budget constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:38yes920 s
Budget constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 09:53yes954 s
Budget constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:02yes525 s
Scale constrainedClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 13:40no07 s
Scale constrainedGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 10:51no07 s
Scale constrainedGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 10:58no016 s
Scale constrainedPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 13:37yes2010 s
Scale constrainedGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 12:00yes1410 s
Scale constrainedMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 12:33no07 s
Scale constrainedDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 11:09yes1015 s
Scale constrainedLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:12yes54 s
Scale constrainedQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 10:47no036 s
Scale constrainedKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:28yes1024 s
Scale constrainedGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 14:00yes1031 s
Scale constrainedMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 10:57yes521 s
Negative framingClaude Haiku 4.5claude-haiku-4-5-202510012026-09-17 10:16yes189 s
Negative framingGPT-5.4 minigpt-5.4-mini-2026-03-172026-09-17 13:49yes27 s
Negative framingGemini 3.5 Flashgemini-3.5-flash2026-09-17 14:07yes2022 s
Negative framingPerplexity Sonarsonar2026-09-17 10:43yes206 s
Negative framingGrok 4.1 Fastspacexai/grok-4.1-fast-non-reasoning via vertex2026-09-17 11:34yes4514 s
Negative framingMistral Smallmistral/mistral-small via mistral2026-09-17 10:36yes54 s
Negative framingDeepSeek V4 Flashdeepseek/deepseek-v4-flash via fireworks2026-09-17 12:53yes1918 s
Negative framingLlama 4 Maverickmeta/llama-4-maverick via bedrock2026-09-17 10:30yes52 s
Negative framingQwen 3.7 Flashalibaba/qwen3.7-flash via alibaba2026-09-17 14:12yes1037 s
Negative framingKimi K2moonshotai/kimi-k2 via novita2026-09-17 11:05yes1932 s
Negative framingGLM 4.7 FlashXzai/glm-4.7-flashx via zai2026-09-17 12:09yes2944 s
Negative framingMiniMax M2.5minimax/minimax-m2.5 via minimax2026-09-17 11:43yes2444 s

Normalization in this category

Every judgment call made between the raw labels and the numbers above, listed so it is visible and reversible.

Category-scoped readings
Keeper read as Keeper Security
Keeper (Business) read as Keeper Security
Keeper Business read as Keeper Security
Keeper Business Starter read as Keeper Security
Microsoft Edge read as Microsoft Edge Password Manager
Securden read as Securden Password Vault
Unresolved, counted raw
Mozilla Firefox
SealedKeys
Discontinued, still offered
No shut-down product was recommended here.

Also in identity and access

The other categories of this function, with the leader in each.
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