Dashlane Review

This is an expert-researched assessment, not a claim that TopRatedSoftware ran a controlled password manager laboratory. We compared Dashlane's personal pricing page, its password manager and security pages, its privacy policy, its passkey page and its October 2026 passkey adoption report, as published on October 20, 2026. We have not used Dashlane day to day ourselves, so this review describes what Dashlane documents rather than how its apps feel in use.

That distinction matters particularly for password manager reviews. A provider can document its architecture, but that does not prove how every future app build or server will behave under every condition. Our 4.5 rating reflects Dashlane's documented zero-knowledge design, passkey support, scam protection and the VPN in Premium, weighed against its price. It does not mean the product is risk-free or that a password manager will solve all of a user's security needs.

Dashlane encrypts and decrypts your vault locally on your devices, and says only you hold the keys, so it can never see your credentials. Vault encryption uses AES256-CBC-HMAC for confidentiality and integrity, and keys are derived with Argon2d (3 iterations, 32 MB of memory, 2 threads). Logging in on a new device generates a unique 40-byte key, and the secrets used for vault encryption are kept separate from those used for device authentication.

Dashlane says it extends the same zero-knowledge approach to its cloud services using AWS Nitro Enclaves, which isolate data at the hardware level, and that it holds 8 patents for its zero-knowledge security with 6 more pending. Those are Dashlane's own descriptions; we did not find an independent audit report among the pages we reviewed.

The privacy policy says Dashlane cannot access your master password or decrypt the data stored in your vault. It does collect account data: an email address to create an account, IP addresses kept for 45 days, and usage data. Payment details go through third-party processors and are not kept after processing, and most data is deleted within 30 days of closing your account. Dashlane says it does not use personal data for automated decision-making or consumer profiling.

Dashlane stores unlimited passwords on unlimited devices and syncs them across browsers and operating systems. AI-powered Autofill signs you in without typing, the generator creates strong passwords as you sign up, and a password health check flags weak or compromised ones with suggested next steps. Secure notes come with 1GB of encrypted document storage, and the vault keeps password history.

Scam Protection analyzes sites and warns you about suspicious ones before you log in, alongside real-time phishing alerts, dark web monitoring and breach alerts. You can share logins securely with people you trust, and Premium includes a VPN for protection on public Wi-Fi. Live chat support is available on both personal plans.

Dashlane saves passkeys in the same vault as your passwords, where you can view, edit and delete them. When you sign up on a site that supports passkeys, Dashlane offers to create one, and when you enter your username on a site where you have a saved passkey, it asks whether to use it. Dashlane says it was the first password manager to demonstrate passkey support on Android and iOS, and it is a board-level member of the FIDO Alliance.

Dashlane also publishes data on how passkeys are used. Its October 2026 Passkey Power 20 report says monthly passkey sign-ins by its users nearly doubled in a year to 2.5 million, and that 57% of its users now store at least one passkey, up from 40%. The same report shows passkeys still account for only 28% of measured Google logins, so most people will need passwords and passkeys side by side for some time.

The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) calls a password manager one of the easiest ways to protect yourself from account theft. It recommends passwords that are long (at least 16 characters), random and unique to each account, plus multifactor authentication, especially on email, social media and financial accounts.

Dashlane covers those points: its generator creates strong passwords, its health check flags weak and reused ones, and it supports 2FA. CISA's remaining advice applies to you rather than to Dashlane: protect the account with one long, memorable passphrase as your master password, because Dashlane has no access to it.

Dashlane has two personal plans and no free plan. Premium costs $5.42 a month, billed annually, and covers one person with unlimited passwords and devices, scam protection, phishing and breach alerts, dark web monitoring, secure sharing and the VPN. You can try Premium free for 14 days.

Friends & Family costs $8.13 a month for 10 members, billed annually. Each member gets a private account with their own phishing protection and breach alerts, and the plan manager gets a dashboard for managing members. The VPN is limited to the plan manager. Per person, Friends & Family works out to well under a dollar a month, which is where Dashlane's pricing is most competitive.

Choose Dashlane if you want scam protection, passkeys and a VPN in one subscription, or if you are paying for a household: Friends & Family covers 10 people for $8.13 a month. Its documented zero-knowledge design, with vaults decrypted only on your devices, suits people who want the provider unable to read their data.

Look elsewhere if price matters most. Premium costs $5.42 a month, against $1.65 for Bitwarden Premium and $3.00 for LastPass Premium, and Dashlane has no free plan. If you already pay for a VPN, much of Premium's extra value is something you have elsewhere.