whats-best.ai

Password Management

Zoho Vault

Rest of world 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 Zoho Corporation · www.zoho.com

Report an error on this page Is this your product? →

Link to this page

Zoho Vault: AI-assisted analysis on whats-best.ai Zoho Vault: 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.

Zoho Vault at a glance

Vendor
Zoho Corporation
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 13 Oct 2026
Panel verdict
The AI panel rates Zoho Vault 2/5, the mean of 6 judges. Zoho Vault is a cloud password manager from Zoho Corporation; its German pages state that data is stored in a datacenter within the EU. how scores are made
As of
Vendor pages captured 13 Oct 2026; evaluated by the panel 15 Oct 2026. all sources

Zoho Vault alternatives, European ones first →

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

The CISO

Weighted verdict

Answers to the board for the day the vault vendor is breached. Wants a whitepaper that says which fields are encrypted and which are not, audits by named firms with dates, a bug bounty, and an incident history written down rather than discovered in the press.

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

Scored by The CISO

Panel median The CISO 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 CISO
Encryption model & independent audits 2 of 5 2 of 5
Sharing, roles & recovery 2 of 5 2 of 5
SSO, directory sync & provisioning 2.5 of 5 2.5 of 5
Audit logs, policies & reporting 2 of 5 2 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.

Report an error

The CISO

AES-256 and a zero-knowledge claim are named, a bug bounty with a public reporting address exists, and penetration testing is described as automated and manual — but we found no public information on a whitepaper naming key derivation or stating which fields are encrypted and which are not, no auditor names, dates or published results for those tests, and no incident history. 1 6

Report an error

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.

Report an error

The CISO

Folder sharing, user groups, granular password sharing with an access-control workflow, a Break Glass account and designated administrators are advertised; we found no public information enumerating read, edit and manage permissions, the key model behind account recovery, or what happens to a departing employee's shared credentials. 1 2 5

Report an error

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.

Report an error

The CISO

SAML single sign-on is documented with named integrations — Active Directory and LDAP sync with real-time and scheduled provisioning, plus Okta, OneLogin, Azure and Google Workspace user sync — and MFA spans YubiKey hardware keys and biometrics; we found no public information on how the vault key is derived or released through single sign-on, or on automatic suspension when a user is deprovisioned. 2 6 8 9

Report an error

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.

Report an error

The CISO

Detailed audit logging of every user update and deletion is offered in each service, with folder activity reports, unauthorized-access alerts, geolocation restriction and a SIEM integration listed at the top edition; we found no public information on exportable logs or an API for them, enforceable master-password or MFA policies, named SIEM targets, or stated log retention. 2 6

Report an error

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.

Report an error

The CISO

An EU datacenter is stated, offline access, a security dashboard with backup, iOS and Android apps and browser extensions for the major browsers are listed; we found no public information on desktop clients for Windows, macOS or Linux, a self-hosted option, a status page, or a documented export format — the privacy policy offers only to export or delete data on request. 1 2 3 5

Report an error

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.

Report an error

The CISO

The parent is Zoho Corporation in Chennai, India, while an EU datacenter is stated and region assignment is fixed at signup with migration at the vendor's discretion; we found no public information on the contracting entity's jurisdiction or ownership as captured, or on a subprocessor list with locations — and push notifications are routed through Apple, Google and Microsoft services. 1 3 5

Report an error

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.

Report an error

The CISO

Editions with their feature sets and support levels are laid out on the pricing page and as a downloadable comparison, but we found no public information on any price figure — no per-user rate, minimum seats, add-on price or minimum term appears on the captured pages, so an annual cost cannot be computed. 2

Report an error

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 ⚠ unverified — uncited Report an error
Subprocessors Not determined — uncited Report an error

Questions about Zoho Vault

Is Zoho Vault European?

No. whats-best.ai classifies Zoho Vault as Rest of world.

Where does Zoho Vault store data?

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

Does Zoho Vault have a free plan?

Yes. Zoho Vault has a free plan, per the vendor’s page captured 13 Oct 2026.

What are the best alternatives to Zoho Vault?

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: Zoho Vault 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.

Sources (11)

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

  1. 1 Vendor homepage www.zoho.com Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  2. 2 Pricing page www.zoho.com Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  3. 3 Privacy policy www.zoho.com Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  4. 4 Legal notice www.zoho.com Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  5. 5 Terms of service www.zoho.com Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  6. 6 Encryption model & independent audits — found from sitemap www.zoho.com Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  7. 7 Encryption model & independent audits — found from sitemap www.zoho.com Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  8. 8 SSO, directory sync & provisioning — found from sitemap www.zoho.com Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  9. 9 SSO, directory sync & provisioning — found from sitemap www.zoho.com Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  10. 10 Audit logs, policies & reporting — found from sitemap www.zoho.com Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →
  11. 11 Audit logs, policies & reporting — found from sitemap www.zoho.com Checked 13 Oct 2026 Details →