13 August 2026 · Comparison
NordPass vs Proton Pass (2026): Free Tier vs Paid Value
The short answer
if you're ready to pay - cheaper premium pricing, XChaCha20 encryption, and stronger business governance.
if you want the best free tier - unlimited devices and 10 aliases without paying.
Affiliate disclosure: SaaSpicious earns a commission if you purchase NordPass through links in this post. Proton Pass links are not affiliate links. Both tools were evaluated from their public sites and pricing pages at the time of writing.
The Verdict in 100 Words
If you want a password manager for free, pick Proton Pass - it has the best free tier in the category: unlimited devices, unlimited logins, and 10 hide-my-email aliases at €0. NordPass’s free plan is limited to a single device, which makes it a preview more than a daily driver. If you’re ready to pay, pick NordPass - its Premium plan undercuts most rivals while adding multi-device sync, Password Health, Data Breach Scanner, and built-in email masking, and its business plans come with the deepest governance controls (Sharing Hub, item transfer, Splunk/Sentinel integrations) of the two. For families and enterprises the gap narrows differently, so read the sections below before you buy.
Comparison Table
| NordPass | Proton Pass | |
|---|---|---|
| Parent company | Nord Security (Panama) | Proton AG (Switzerland) |
| Launched | 2019 | 2023 |
| Vault encryption | XChaCha20-Poly1305-IETF | AES-256-GCM + OpenPGP/ECC (Curve25519) |
| Zero-knowledge | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | No | Yes (GitHub) |
| Independent audits | Cure53 since 2020 | Yes, published reports |
| Certifications | ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA, GDPR | ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA |
| Free plan: devices | 1 device | Unlimited |
| Free plan: aliases | None | 10 hide-my-email aliases |
| Built-in 2FA authenticator | Business plans | Pass Plus and all business plans |
| Email masking/aliases (paid) | Built-in email masking | SimpleLogin-powered, unlimited aliases |
| Data breach monitor | Yes + credit card monitoring | Yes (email/alias/domain focused) |
| Password health | Yes | Yes (Pass Monitor) |
| CLI | No | Yes (Pass Plus / Professional) |
| Free plan price | €0 (single device) | €0 (unlimited devices) |
| Paid personal price (captured term) | €1.39/mo (2-year intro, €37.53 first 27 months) | €2.99/mo (yearly, billed €35.88/12 mo) |
| Family price (captured term) | €2.49/mo (2-year intro, €67.23 first 27 months, 6 users) | €4.99/mo (yearly, billed €59.88/12 mo, 6 users) |
| Business entry price (captured terms) | €1.79/user/mo (2-yr, 10-user pack) | €1.99/user/mo (yearly, min 3 users) |
| Business min users | Teams 10-pack; Business/Enterprise min 5 | Min 3 on all plans |
| SSO/SCIM | Google WS (Teams/Business); Entra/ADFS/Okta + provisioning (Enterprise) | Entra ID, ADFS, Okta, Edugain (Professional) |
| SIEM integrations | Microsoft Sentinel + Splunk (Enterprise) | On request (Professional) |
| Known breaches | None reported | None reported |
Prices are EUR as served to our location, and reflect the promo/billing term shown on each vendor’s pricing page at capture time. Prices accurate as of August 2026; check the vendor’s site for current rates.
Pricing: What We Captured Live
Both vendors render prices with JavaScript, so we captured the pricing elements directly from the live pages on 2026-08-13.
NordPass Personal Plans
- Free: €0.00/month. 1 user account. Autosave & autofill and secure storage only. NOT included: access on multiple devices, Password Health, Data Breach Scanner, NordPass Authenticator, file attachments. No credit card required.
- Premium: €1.39/month (2-year plan, 53% off). Billed €37.53 for the first 27 months (includes 3 extra months). 1 user account. Includes multi-device access, Password Health, Data Breach Scanner, NordPass Authenticator, file attachments. 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Family: €2.49/month (2-year plan, 58% off). Billed €67.23 for the first 27 months (includes 3 extra months). 6 user accounts, full Premium features including NordPass Authenticator. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Displayed prices do not include VAT. Discount terms apply.
NordPass Business Plans
- Teams: €1.79/user/month on 2-year (save 28%). 10-user pack only. Secure password generation, safe sharing, offline credential access, user activity monitoring, MFA, SSO with Google Workspace.
- Business: €3.59/user/month on 2-year (save 40%). Min 5 users. Adds group-based sharing, shared folders, Password Health, Data Breach Scanner, NordPass Authenticator, Vanta integration.
- Enterprise: €5.39/user/month on 2-year (save 33%). Min 5 users. Adds centralized sharing control, SSO with Entra ID/MS ADFS/Okta, user provisioning, Microsoft Sentinel and Splunk integrations.
14-day free business trial, no credit card. A summer promo banner offered an extra 20% off annual Business and Enterprise plans with code NPSUMMER26 at capture time.
Proton Pass Personal Plans
- Proton Free: €0.00/month. Unlimited logins, notes, and credit cards; unlimited devices; browser, mobile, and desktop apps; password generator; 10 hide-my-email aliases; weak/reused password alerts; passkeys on all devices; easy import. No credit card required. (Compare table: 2 vaults, share with 2 others, 1 GB storage.)
- Pass Plus: €2.99/month yearly (40% off from €4.99), billed €35.88 every 12 months. Adds unlimited aliases, built-in 2FA authenticator, secure vault sharing, secure link sharing, Dark Web Monitoring, file attachment, advanced account protection (Proton Sentinel), Emergency Access, custom alias domains, additional mailboxes, send-from-alias, CLI. 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Pass Family: €4.99/month yearly (29% off from €6.99), billed €59.88 every 12 months. 6 Pass Plus accounts + family admin panel.
- Proton Unlimited: €9.99/month yearly (23% off from €12.99), billed €119.88 every 12 months. Bundle: Pass + Mail + Calendar + VPN + Drive.
30-day money-back guarantee on paid plans.
Proton Pass Business Plans
- Pass Essentials: €1.99/user/month yearly (60% off), min 3 users, billed €23.88. Unlimited logins, notes, and credit cards, apps, secure vault, item and link sharing, built-in 2FA authenticator, Dark Web Monitoring, password health check, passkeys, unlimited hide-my-email aliases.
- Pass Professional: €4.49/user/month yearly (36% off), min 3 users, billed €53.88. Adds SSO and SCIM, detailed activity logs, enterprise policies, advanced account protection, file attachment, SIEM integration, CLI, group sharing.
- VPN and Pass Professional: €10.99/user/month yearly (18% off), min 3 users, billed €875.52/12 mo. Adds VPN Professional features: dedicated server and IP (+€39.99/month), gateway monitor, enforce 2FA.
- Workspace Standard: €12.99/user/month yearly (13% off), billed €155.88/12 mo. All Proton business products: password manager, 1 TB storage per user, 15 custom email domains, calendar, cloud storage, VPN 10 devices per user.
Enterprise plans are custom-priced (contact sales). 30-day money-back guarantee.
Deep Dive: What Actually Differs
1. The Free Tier Is the Whole Argument
This is the cleanest difference between the two tools, and it decides the “free vs paid” framing of this entire comparison.
Proton Pass Free is a real password manager. Unlimited logins, notes, and credit cards; unlimited devices; desktop, mobile, and browser apps; passkeys; plus 10 hide-my-email aliases. The only meaningful caps are 2 vaults, sharing with 2 other people, and 1 GB of storage. You can run Proton Pass Free as your only password manager indefinitely, on every device you own, without paying a cent.
NordPass Free is a single-device preview. One user account, autosave/autofill, and secure storage - on one device. No multi-device sync, no Password Health, no Data Breach Scanner, no file attachments, no aliases. If you only ever touch one computer, it works; the moment you add a phone or a second machine, it doesn’t sync.
The counterweight is price: NordPass Premium is cheap enough that “just pay” is a genuine answer. At €1.39/month for its 2-year intro term (€37.53 for the first 27 months), NordPass undercuts Proton Pass Plus at €2.99/month (€35.88/12 mo) on the monthly-equivalent, though NordPass’s renewal jump is documented. But for someone who wants zero spend, Proton Pass Free is the better free tier, full stop.
2. Two Trust Models: Transparency vs Track Record
Proton’s pitch is verifiable transparency. All Proton Pass apps are open source on GitHub, independent audit reports are published, and the company sits in Switzerland - outside US and EU jurisdiction, under some of the world’s strongest privacy laws. Every field in the vault - usernames, URLs, notes - is end-to-end encrypted, not just the password. If your trust model is “prove it to me,” Proton is the answer.
NordPass’s pitch is a clean record and unique math. XChaCha20-Poly1305 encryption (the only major password manager using it, per its own security page), zero known breaches in seven years, regular Cure53 audits, and ISO 27001 + SOC 2 Type 2 + HIPAA certifications. The tradeoff is that the code is closed source - you’re trusting Nord Security’s track record and audits rather than inspecting the code yourself.
Neither is wrong; they’re different answers to the same question. The philosophical split matters most to security professionals and privacy purists - ordinary buyers will rarely notice the difference day to day.
3. Aliases vs Email Masking
Both tools ship built-in email protection, which most rivals (LastPass, Dashlane, Keeper) still don’t offer at all.
NordPass’s email masking generates a disposable address you can autofill into signup forms. Proton Pass’s aliases are powered by SimpleLogin (which Proton acquired), and the paid tiers go much deeper: custom alias domains, catch-all/wildcard domains, multiple mailboxes per alias, and sending email from an alias. Proton also gives you 10 aliases on the free plan; NordPass’s masking is paid-only.
Winner: Proton Pass on depth, and it isn’t close. NordPass’s version is fine for basic signup junk-mail; Proton’s is a full identity-protection layer.
4. Business Governance
This is where NordPass pulls ahead - the reason an IT admin should read past the free-tier argument.
NordPass’s enterprise stack includes a Sharing Hub (the owner sees and manages every shared item org-wide), Item Transfer (departing employees’ credentials stay with the org), a customizable password policy enforced org-wide, a network allowlist, activity log API, and native Microsoft Sentinel and Splunk integrations - on the Enterprise tier. Business plans add NordPass Authenticator for all users.
Proton Pass Professional covers the modern essentials: SSO and SCIM (Entra ID, ADFS, Okta, Edugain), detailed activity logs, enterprise policies (share/export/vault-creation rules, enforce 2FA), group sharing, and Proton Sentinel. But there’s no Sharing Hub equivalent, no item-transfer/org-owned data retention model, no network allowlist, and SIEM integration is “activated on request” rather than native.
One structural note in Proton’s favor: its business plans start at 3 seats (€1.99/user/month), while NordPass Teams is a 10-user pack. A 4-person company on a budget pays for 10 NordPass seats or 3 Proton seats.
Where NordPass Loses
- Free plan is single-device. The single biggest structural weakness versus Proton Pass. CNET calls single-device free tiers “practically useless beyond giving you a preview.”
- Closed source. Code isn’t publicly inspectable, and audit reports aren’t fully public - the transparency story belongs to Proton and Bitwarden. (See our NordPass vs Bitwarden comparison for the open-source angle.)
- No CLI. Proton Pass has a free CLI; NordPass is GUI-only. Developers who script their vaults should look at Proton.
- No self-hosting.
- Renewal price jumps. The intro price is great, then renews higher: NordPass’s checkout page states “The renewal price is €35.88/year, VAT may apply” after the initial term. That’s a step up from the €1.39/month promo (which covers the first 27 months), so budget for the jump when the intro ends.
- Authenticator is paid-only. NordPass Authenticator is included on Premium and Family plans, but not the Free tier. Proton Pass Plus also includes a built-in 2FA authenticator.
- Narrower browser coverage - no Brave, Tor, or DuckDuckGo support.
- US-hosted AWS - less of a privacy-jurisdiction story than Proton’s Switzerland.
Where Proton Pass Loses
- Younger product. Launched 2023 vs NordPass’s 2019; shorter track record and a thinner business-case-study bench.
- Less mature enterprise governance. No Sharing Hub, no item transfer / org-owned data retention, no network allowlist, SIEM only on request, and no dedicated account manager below custom/Enterprise.
- Business plans need min 3 seats even if you have fewer people. (The flip side: NordPass Teams forces a 10-pack.)
- No credit card monitoring. NordPass’s breach scanner covers saved cards; Proton’s dark web monitoring centers on emails, aliases, and domains.
- File attachment cap. Proton Pass caps file attachments at 100 MB per file, while NordPass Premium allows up to 40 MB per file with 3 GB of total storage per user. Both cap attachments; Proton’s per-file limit is more generous for large single files, but NordPass gives you far more total room.
- AES-256 + OpenPGP rather than XChaCha20. Not a weakness in practice, but Proton loses the “unique modern algorithm” talking point.
- Free-tier caps. 2 vaults and sharing with only 2 people on Free; NordPass Free at least has no vault cap (its multi-device gap is the bigger failure).
- Pricing ladder complexity. Pass sits inside the Proton bundle ladder (Free / Plus / Family / Unlimited / business tiers), which confuses buyers comparing single products.
Who Should Pick NordPass
- Buyers ready to pay who want the cheapest solid paid plan (NordPass Premium’s intro rate beats Proton Pass Plus).
- Businesses that need deep credential governance: Sharing Hub, item transfer, network allowlist, Splunk/Sentinel.
- Teams that want built-in email masking plus a password manager without a separate service.
- Anyone already in the Nord ecosystem (NordVPN, NordLayer) - bundling makes it cheaper still. (See NordVPN vs Proton VPN for the VPN-side matchup.)
Who Should Pick Proton Pass
- Anyone who wants a genuinely unlimited free tier across all devices.
- Privacy purists and open-source advocates who want auditable code and Swiss jurisdiction.
- Buyers who want built-in 2FA on a personal paid plan, or who want a CLI.
- Existing Proton Mail/VPN/Drive users - Pass Plus slots straight into the ecosystem, and Proton Unlimited bundles everything.
Who Should Pick Neither
- Bitwarden if you want open source, self-hosting, and a free tier comparable to Proton’s with a bigger community. (We compared it against NordPass in NordPass vs Bitwarden.)
- 1Password if you want the most polished consumer experience and don’t mind paying more with no free plan. (See NordPass vs 1Password.)
- Keeper if you want the best small-business feature set per CNET’s testing.
- Apple-only users can start with Apple Passwords, which is free and built in, though it’s barebones.
NordPass vs Proton Pass: FAQ
Which is better, NordPass or Proton Pass?
For free users, Proton Pass - unlimited devices and 10 aliases at €0 beats NordPass’s single-device free plan. For paid buyers, NordPass typically wins on price (especially the intro 2-year term) and its business plans have deeper governance (Sharing Hub, item transfer, Splunk/Sentinel). It genuinely depends on whether you plan to pay.
Is Proton Pass really free?
Yes. Proton Pass Free is unlimited logins, unlimited devices, browser/mobile/desktop apps, passkeys, and 10 hide-my-email aliases, capped at 2 vaults, sharing with 2 others, and 1 GB storage. No credit card required.
Is NordPass free unlimited?
No - NordPass Free is a single user account on a single device with autosave/autofill and secure storage. Multi-device sync, Password Health, and the Data Breach Scanner require Premium.
Does NordPass include a 2FA authenticator?
Yes, on business plans, as well as on the Premium and Family personal plans. Proton Pass also includes a built-in 2FA authenticator on Pass Plus and all business plans.
Which is cheaper?
On the paid personal side at capture time: NordPass Premium at €1.39/mo (intro 2-year, €37.53 first 27 months) undercuts Proton Pass Plus at €2.99/mo (yearly, €35.88/12 mo) on the monthly-equivalent, and NordPass’s intro family price (€2.49/mo, €67.23 first 27 months) is lower than Pass Family (€4.99/mo, €59.88/12 mo). Watch renewal jumps on NordPass. On business: NordPass Teams (€1.79/user/mo) vs Proton Essentials (€1.99/user/mo), but note NordPass Teams is a 10-user pack.
Is Proton Pass open source?
Yes - all Proton Pass apps are on GitHub and independently audited. NordPass is closed source.
Which has better enterprise features?
NordPass - Sharing Hub, item transfer, network allowlist, native Splunk/Sentinel integrations, and a dedicated CSM on Enterprise. Proton Pass Professional has SSO/SCIM, activity logs, and enforce-2FA, but its SIEM integration is on-request and there’s no Sharing Hub equivalent.
Bottom Line
The split is really about the free tier. Proton Pass wins for anyone who wants a serious password manager for €0 - unlimited devices and 10 aliases is a better deal than NordPass’s single-device free plan, and its open-source, Swiss-jurisdiction posture answers the transparency question. NordPass wins for buyers ready to pay - cheaper intro pricing, XChaCha20 encryption with a clean seven-year record, built-in email masking, and business governance (Sharing Hub, item transfer, Splunk/Sentinel) that Proton hasn’t matched yet.
NordPass is wrong for you if you want a genuinely unlimited free tier or you’re committed to open source and Swiss jurisdiction. Proton Pass is wrong for you if you need enterprise-grade credential governance today, or you want the absolute lowest paid price with built-in email masking.
