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Password Management

Proton Pass

UK / wider Europe Report an error

Panel rating · 6 judges · How to read the stars

Category median

Sovereignty: not determined

0–5 in half steps. 5 means the rubric's top anchor is met on the evidence.

by Proton AG · proton.me

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Proton Pass: AI-assisted analysis on whats-best.ai Proton Pass: AI-assisted analysis on whats-best.ai (dark)

Add ?theme=dark to the image address for dark backgrounds. The badge shows the category and the month of the latest evaluation, and EU-Made where that is the product’s provenance. It never shows a score.

Proton Pass at a glance

Vendor
Proton AG
Headquarters
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
Data hosting
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026
Free plan
Yes, per the vendor’s own page source, captured 1 Oct 2026
Panel verdict
The AI panel rates Proton Pass 2/5, the mean of 6 judges. Proton Pass is Proton AG's end-to-end encrypted password manager; the company is based in Plan-les-Ouates (Geneva), Switzerland and presents itself as outside US and EU jurisdiction. how scores are made
As of
Vendor pages captured 1 Oct 2026 to 13 Oct 2026; evaluated by the panel 15 Oct 2026. all sources

Proton Pass alternatives, European ones first →

Read this page as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.

The Skeptic

Weighted verdict

Has read the breach post-mortems. Reads "zero knowledge" next to unencrypted URLs and item names, "independently audited" with no report, "SSO unlock" where the vendor holds half the key, and "admin recovery" that means the vendor can decrypt — and treats a missing incident history as an answer.

Same scores as the panel view — this lens weights them the way this judge cares.

Scored by The Skeptic

Panel median The Skeptic This judge’s scores over the panel median. Each label opens its reasoning below.
Scores per criterion, in stars out of 5
Criterion Panel median The Skeptic
Encryption model & independent audits 3 of 5 2.5 of 5
Sharing, roles & recovery 3 of 5 3 of 5
SSO, directory sync & provisioning 3 of 5 2.5 of 5
Audit logs, policies & reporting 2.5 of 5 2.5 of 5
Hosting choice, offline access & export 2 of 5 2 of 5
European sovereignty 1.5 of 5 1.5 of 5
Pricing transparency 1 of 5 1 of 5

Encryption model & independent audits

How this is scored

What the vendor can prove about its security design: end-to-end encryption with named algorithms and key derivation, which fields are encrypted on the device and which are not, independent audits and penetration tests with published results, a bug bounty, and incident history disclosed.

0 — Security described in adjectives ("bank-grade", "military encryption") with no architecture, no audit and no statement of what the vendor can read.

3 — Encryption algorithms named and "zero knowledge" claimed, but no whitepaper, no statement of which fields stay unencrypted, and audits mentioned without dates, auditors or results.

5 — A published security whitepaper naming algorithms, key derivation and the client-side encryption model, a stated list of what is and is not encrypted (including URLs and metadata), and a named independent audit or certification (ISO 27001, SOC 2) with its date.

8 — Recurring independent penetration tests or code audits with reports or summaries published, a public bug bounty or vulnerability disclosure policy, past security incidents documented with their impact, and open-source clients or cryptography that can be reviewed.

10 — The design is verifiable end to end: full source or cryptographic design public, every field encrypted client-side including metadata, audits by named firms repeated yearly with full reports, a threat model that states what a compromise of the vendor's servers would expose, and incident post-mortems published.

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The Skeptic

The security page names its cryptography — OpenPGP with Curve25519 and 256-bit AES-GCM — and states plainly that usernames, web addresses and notes are all encrypted, which is more than most "zero knowledge" pages will admit, with open-source clients and a public bug bounty besides. But we found no public information on key derivation, no named independent audit or certification with a date, and no disclosed incident history — for a vendor staked entirely on trust, silence on audits is itself an answer. 3 5 7

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Sharing, roles & recovery

How this is scored

How credentials are shared and governed across a company: shared vaults or collections, role-based permissions, view-only and time-limited access, admin account recovery, emergency access, and what happens to shared items when an employee leaves.

0 — Personal vaults only, or sharing by sending a password to another user with no permissions and no record.

3 — Shared folders with all-or-nothing access, no roles, and no stated process for recovering an account or reclaiming credentials from a departing employee.

5 — Shared vaults or collections with read, edit and manage permissions, groups and admin roles, an admin recovery mechanism documented with its key model, and offboarding that transfers a leaver's shared items.

8 — Granular permissions down to hiding the password while allowing autofill, time-limited and one-time sharing with external parties, emergency access with a waiting period, delegated administration per team or location, and approval workflows for sensitive items.

10 — Access is governed and provable: least-privilege defaults, recovery and emergency access designed so the vendor never holds a key and stated so, periodic access reviews supported in the product, and every grant, change and revocation attributable to a person.

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The Skeptic

Vault and single-item sharing with selectable access levels, secure links with expiry and view limits, revocation at any time, emergency access, and admin toggles for sharing outside the organization are all evidenced. What we found no public information on is the key model behind admin recovery, what happens to a leaver's shared items, and whether permission levels go below coarse read-and-edit — the hide-password-while-autofill kind of granularity the pages never describe. 7 8 11 1

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SSO, directory sync & provisioning

How this is scored

How the vault fits into the company's identity stack: SSO with Entra ID, Okta or Google, and the key model behind an SSO unlock; SCIM or directory sync for joiners and leavers; MFA options including hardware keys; and passkey support for users and the vault itself.

0 — Each user creates an account by email; no SSO, no directory sync and no MFA beyond an app code.

3 — SSO available only to sign in to the admin console or on the top tier with no description of how the vault is then decrypted, and users provisioned by CSV invite.

5 — SSO with named identity providers (Entra ID, Okta, Google) documented with how the vault key is derived or released, SCIM or directory sync for provisioning and deprovisioning, and MFA including FIDO2 or hardware keys.

8 — SSO unlock designed so the vendor cannot derive the vault key and stated so, group sync driving vault permissions, automated suspension on deprovisioning, conditional access or device policies, and passkeys stored and used across platforms.

10 — Identity is integrated without trust shortcuts: the SSO key model published and independently reviewed, deprovisioning that revokes vault access and shared items immediately with a log entry, passwordless vault unlock with passkeys, and support for the customer's own key-management or trusted-device approval.

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The Skeptic

SSO with Okta and Microsoft Entra is documented alongside SCIM provisioning with groups and a Deactivate Users action, passkeys work across devices, and 2FA can be enforced for everyone in the organization. But the pages never say how the vault key is derived or released when a user signs in through SSO — the exact point where zero-knowledge quietly dies — and we found no public information on hardware security keys, conditional access, or what deprovisioning does to shared items. 5 9 10 11 1

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Audit logs, policies & reporting

How this is scored

What an administrator and an auditor can see and enforce: event logs of access and changes, password health and breach reports, enforceable policies (master password, MFA, sharing, export), SIEM integration, and reports an ISO 27001 or NIS2 audit can use.

0 — No audit log and no admin policies; the administrator sees a user list.

3 — A basic activity list and a password-strength score, but no exportable log, no enforceable policies, and no record of who viewed or copied a shared credential.

5 — Event logs covering logins, item access, sharing and admin changes, exportable or available through an API, enforceable policies for master password and MFA, and password health and breach-monitoring reports.

8 — Native SIEM integration with named targets (Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, Elastic or syslog), policies for sharing, export and browser-extension behaviour, log retention stated, and compliance reports aligned to ISO 27001, NIS2 or BSI IT-Grundschutz.

10 — Auditability is complete: every view, copy, autofill and permission change logged with user and device, logs tamper-evident and retained for a configurable period, alerting on anomalous access, and an auditor role that can read logs without access to secrets.

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The Skeptic

Enforceable policies are the strong suit: 2FA for everyone, password-generator rules, individual item sharing, sharing outside the organization, vault creation and export can each be toggled by an admin, while Sentinel surfaces org-wide sign-in events with location, ISP and device. The logging half is thinner — the pages show authentication and security events, not records of who viewed or copied a shared credential — and we found no public information on log export, an API, SIEM integration, retention periods, or an auditor role. 5 11 12 1

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Hosting choice, offline access & export

How this is scored

Where and how the vault runs and how the data leaves it: cloud region choice, a self-hosted or on-premises option, offline access during a vendor outage, client coverage across operating systems and browsers, and a complete, documented export and import path.

0 — Cloud only in an unstated region, no offline access, and no export or an export that drops attachments and shared items.

3 — Cloud with a region named, apps for common platforms, and an export in CSV only that leaves out attachments, folders, TOTP seeds or custom fields.

5 — An EU region or self-hosted option, offline read access on desktop and mobile, clients for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android and the major browsers, and an export that covers all item types including attachments.

8 — Both EU cloud and self-hosted or on-premises deployment documented, a status page with incident history, encrypted full-fidelity export and import from named competitors, and vault access continuing during an outage of the vendor's service.

10 — The customer can run and leave the vault on their own terms: self-hosting with documented high availability and backup, an open or documented export format that preserves structure, permissions and history, and a stated procedure for continued access if the vendor ends the service.

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The Skeptic

Client coverage is broad — Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iPhone and iPad, five browsers, a web app — and the exit path is real: a PGP-encrypted JSON archive that imports straight back in, plus import guides for a dozen named competitors. But the captured pages name Switzerland as the whole hosting story, and we found no public information on region choice, self-hosting, offline access during a vendor outage, a status page with incident history, or whether export preserves attachments and shared structure. 5 8 13 14 1

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European sovereignty

How this is scored

Who the contracting entity and the parent company are, where vault data and metadata are hosted, and who the subprocessors are. Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline; end-to-end encryption narrows what a foreign authority could compel, but metadata, logs and the update channel for the client software remain in the vendor's hands, so the chain still counts.

0 — Non-EU vendor and contracting entity, hosting unstated, and subprocessors unnamed.

3 — An EU data region offered while the contracting entity and parent are non-EU without a stated safeguard, or the subprocessor list is absent.

5 — EU hosting as standard or selectable and an EU contracting entity, but the parent company or parts of the chain (support, analytics, email, client distribution) are non-EU.

8 — EU hosting on named infrastructure, EU contracting entity, subprocessor list published with locations, a DPA covering vault metadata and logs, and a self-hosted option that removes the vendor from the data path.

10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: European ownership, entity, hosting and every subprocessor, certifications published (ISO 27001, BSI C5 or equivalent), and source code or builds verifiable so the client update channel is not a blind trust in the vendor.

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The Skeptic

The vendor's own words place the company and its jurisdiction in Switzerland, and the privacy posture — no permanent IP logs by default, anonymous cash or Bitcoin accepted — is consistent with that story. But the captured pages confirm neither the contracting entity nor where vault data and metadata are hosted, and we found no public information on subprocessors, their locations, or a data-processing agreement covering metadata and logs — the chain outside the ciphertext stays unevidenced. 3 5 1

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Pricing transparency

How this is scored

Whether a buyer can compute the real annual cost from public pages alone: price per user and tier, which features (SSO, SCIM, SIEM, self-hosting) sit in which tier, minimum seats, add-ons, and the minimum term.

0 — No public prices at all; every tier is a sales conversation.

3 — A starting price exists, but which business features (SSO, SCIM, audit logs) sit in which tier is unclear — the invoice is unknowable.

5 — Per-user tier prices public with the main features per tier, but at least one commonly needed piece (SSO, SIEM integration, self-hosting, minimum seats) is unpriced or "on request".

8 — Every tier priced publicly with its feature set and seat minimum, add-on prices listed, self-hosted licensing stated, minimum term and VAT treatment given.

10 — Complete price computability: annual invoice derivable for a given number of users, with every add-on, self-hosting licence, support level and renewal condition published.

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The Skeptic

The pricing page publishes tier names, seat bands and a detailed feature matrix — storage per user, VPN countries, uptime, support eligibility — but not one price figure appears in the captures, and the business trial runs through a sales contact. A buyer cannot compute an annual invoice from these pages; we found no public information on per-user prices, add-ons, minimum term, or VAT treatment. 2

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European sovereignty — proven facts

0 of 4 dimensions proven

Built only from facts shown on the vendor's own pages. A dimension we could not prove is left open, not scored as zero.

Ownership Not determined — uncited Report an error
Data residency Not determined — uncited Report an error
Subprocessors Not determined ⚠ unverified — uncited Report an error

Questions about Proton Pass

Is Proton Pass European?

Yes, though not from the EU. whats-best.ai classifies Proton Pass as UK / wider Europe.

Where does Proton Pass store data?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 13 Oct 2026.

Does Proton Pass have a free plan?

Yes. Proton Pass has a free plan, per the vendor’s page captured 1 Oct 2026.

What are the best alternatives to Proton Pass?

As of 21 Oct 2026, the panel rates Password Depot (3.5/5), Keeper (3/5) and Passbolt (3/5) highest among the other 18 Password Management products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is Password Depot (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made. The full list, with European products first: Proton Pass alternatives.

Where this could be wrong

What we left out

A claim that does not survive our checks costs us the claim, not the page. This is what was taken off this one.

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Sources (14)

The pages every claim on this page was read from — each one checked, dated, and kept verifiable.

  1. 1 Vendor homepage proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 +1 earlier capture: 1 Oct 2026 Details →
  2. 2 Pricing page proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  3. 3 Privacy policy proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  4. 4 Terms of service proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  5. 5 Encryption model & independent audits — found from sitemap proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  6. 6 Encryption model & independent audits — found from sitemap proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  7. 7 Sharing, roles & recovery — found from sitemap proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  8. 8 Sharing, roles & recovery — found from sitemap proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  9. 9 SSO, directory sync & provisioning — found from sitemap proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  10. 10 SSO, directory sync & provisioning — found from sitemap proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  11. 11 Audit logs, policies & reporting — found from sitemap proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  12. 12 Audit logs, policies & reporting — found from sitemap proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  13. 13 Hosting choice, offline access & export — found from sitemap proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  14. 14 Hosting choice, offline access & export — found from sitemap proton.me Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →