Security Checkup

Price captures verified 2026-08-09; overall scores unpublished

How to Share Passwords Safely

Vault share, not chat: stop sending passwords in SMS, email, or messaging apps. Put shared logins in a shared vault, grant least privilege, and revoke access when people leave the household or team. Free hygiene comes first: inventory who already has secrets, rotate anything that lived in chat, and secure each adult’s email with MFA. Optional paid cards use claim-ledger family prices from 2026-08-09 (NordPass Family from $2.49/mo on a 2-year USD plan; 1Password Families $4.49/mo billed annually, with vault sharing and expiring links marketed on product pages). Overall scores stay unpublished. Who should not buy: anyone who only needed to stop texting one Wi-Fi password, or anyone expecting a vault to replace offboarding discipline.

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  • Guide · Free-first · ~12 min read

Fastest free path

  1. 1Stop sending passwords in SMS, email, or chat today
  2. 2List every account currently shared outside a vault
  3. 3Rotate anything that lived in chat or a shared note
  4. 4Create one shared vault and move a low-risk login first
  5. 5Grant view vs edit least privilege; name an owner per login
  6. 6Revoke access when roommates, partners, or contractors leave
  7. 7Review shared items twice a year
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Step-by-step guide

  1. 1

    Inventory what is shared today

    Free

    Streaming, Wi-Fi, school portals, social, payroll adjacent tools: list who needs access and who should not. Screenshot trails and group chats count as unsafe shares even if nobody meant harm.

    • List shared accounts and current recipients
    • Remove ex-roommates, ex-partners, and departed contractors
    • Name an owner for each login (billing and recovery)
  2. 2

    Kill chat and sticky-note sharing

    Free

    Before you shop seats, rotate every password that lived in SMS, Slack, email, or a fridge note. MFA on email for every adult who will receive vault invites. A shared vault on top of reused email credentials is theater.

    • Change passwords that appeared in chat
    • Enable MFA on each adult email account
    • Stop forwarding recovery codes in group threads
  3. 3

    Move shares into one vault

    Optional paid

    Family plans beat inbox forwards. Choose 1Password when structured vault rules and short-term shares matter (Families up to five members; Families $4.49/mo billed annually, 2026-08-09; product pages market vault sharing and expiring links). Choose NordPass Family when simplicity unblocks adoption (six user accounts per vendor plans copy; Family from $2.49/mo on a 2-year USD plan the same day; paid tiers market secure sharing).

    • Create one shared vault for household or team services
    • Move one low-risk login first and confirm unlock
    • Keep banking and personal email in personal vaults
  4. 4

    Least privilege and ownership rules

    Free

    View-only when edit is unnecessary. Document who owns billing accounts and how recovery works if someone loses a device. Do not put payroll or personal tax logins in a broad household share.

    • Owner named per shared account
    • Recovery codes stored offline, not in chat
    • Write an offboarding checklist before the next departure
  5. 5

    Revoke on exit, rehearse once

    Free

    Access reviews matter more than brand logos. When someone leaves, revoke vault membership and rotate any password they could still remember. Practice emergency access once so a locked vault does not strand the household.

    • Revoke seats the day access should end
    • Rotate high-risk shared passwords after exits
    • Rehearse emergency unlock with a second adult
  6. 6

    Who should not buy a paid plan for sharing yet

    Free

    Do not pay if the only leftover job was deleting one password from a group chat (do that free). Do not buy seats for people who will never open the app. Do not expect unpublished lab scores on this draft. Business SKUs with SSO or directory sync are a separate purchase from consumer family plans.

    • Finish MFA and chat cleanup before checkout
    • Confirm seat count matches people who will unlock
    • Verify business vs consumer SKUs if this is a company

What cannot always be removed

  • People who screenshot shared passwords anyway
  • Services that force a single login without seats
  • Emergency access needs you never practiced
  • Replacement for HR offboarding or contractor NDAs
  • Invented sharing guarantees or unpublished scores

Sources

  • NordPass claim ledger, data/claim-ledgers/nordpass.json; Family from $2.49/mo (2-year USD); six user accounts; secure sharing on paid tiers (2026-08-09)
  • 1Password claim ledger, data/claim-ledgers/1password.json; Families $4.49/mo billed annually; up to five members; vault sharing and expiring links (2026-08-09)
  • Security Checklist methodology, Sharing guides stay free-first; scores unpublished until test records exist
  • Claim ledgers (T014), nordpass.json, 1password.json, bitwarden.json, dashlane.json: starting prices verified 2026-08-09; scores unpublished
  • Vendor marketing pages, Feature and architecture claims from official sites, not independent lab evidence; re-verify same-day before purchase advice
  • Security Checklist methodology, How password-manager reviews are structured before scores publish, /methodology/

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