Best Password Managers for Businesses

However, if workers aren’t specifically told how to keep their accounts safe and/or aren’t given the right tools to do so, they may take it even more lightly than at home.

This is where business password managers come into play. They support safe business password management by generating, storing, and autofilling secure business passwords across your team, improving both password hygiene and overall cybersecurity.

Plus, business password managers can also benefit business performance through credential sharing among organization members or the monitoring options provided for admins.

That’s why many teams look for the top-rated password tools for business when they need to share password credentials among employees.

If you’re looking for password manager reviews or a clear password manager comparison, start by defining what ‘secure’ means for your organization (encryption, MFA, admin controls, audits, and access provisioning), especially if you’re managing SMB passwords with lean IT resources.

Though there are no particular differences between cyberattacks targeting individuals and businesses, companies are more prone to threats than home users for a simple reason: the data they hold is more valuable.

From a hacker’s point of view, stealing from an individual isn’t that exciting. In the case of a company, a single employee with poor password hygiene who falls for phishing or leaves the computer unprotected against malware can trigger a domino effect that compromises the entire business.

Granted, it isn’t always the employees’ fault that company data gets stolen, but there is no denying that most business cybersecurity breaches are direct consequences of human negligence. Looking at the biggest data breaches to know about is a good reminder of how quickly a single compromised credential can escalate into a company-wide incident.

Combine this with the constant threats lurking around the internet, and you’ll have a Mount St. Helens ready to sweep everything away in an instant.

Since people can and will make errors, helping them understand that maintaining good password hygiene isn’t just for the company’s sake but also for their own is one of the most important steps in ensuring a company’s cybersecurity.

If simple tools like password managers are involved, this can become totally manageable. For a deeper look at what happens when attackers do get in, see how password managers keep data safe in a breach.

The best thing about password managers is that the information stored in their vaults remains secure at all times – at least locally. Many tools also protect far more than login credentials, which is why it helps to understand how password managers do more than store your passwords.

This is critical for anyone responsible for secure business passwords, where one reused credential can put multiple systems at risk. However, the vast majority of password management solutions also provide the same level of encryption when syncing between devices and, more importantly, when credentials are shared within the program.

This way, it ensures that logins – and many other types of highly sensitive data, such as credit cards, software licenses, wireless network details, etc. – never leave the safe environment of the password manager and are therefore only seen by those who use the same program to manage their passwords.

For that reason alone, password sharing isn’t for individuals, but for those who regularly have to share accounts and need to get access codes without disclosing them to unwanted people or worse: cybercriminals.

In other words, this feature is mostly for family members and employees whose company requires them to use the same password manager. However, note that using the same app is significant here.

Password sharing only works within the same environment, meaning that forwarding credentials to another password manager isn’t possible without exposing them.

Aside from the security benefits of using password managers, many people overlook one thing when it comes to business password management.

That’s how these tools improve productivity, particularly with premium password managers for business plans that include SSO options, directory sync, and granular access policies.

The most obvious benefit of using password managers is that the time it takes to log in to business accounts is significantly reduced thanks to the app’s automated password-filling capabilities.

Employees avoid manually entering tens, if not hundreds, of passwords, and they never have to come up with or memorize strong logins either. If you’re still weighing the trade-offs, this breakdown of whether password managers are worth it helps frame the security and productivity gains for most teams.

What’s more important, however, is that with business password managers, employees are given the tools to safely store their personal and business credentials while still being kept under employer control via the admin control panel.

And since workers are part of the same system, they can easily share information with each other, which is not only more effective but also prevents them from breaking the law by disclosing sensitive data outside the password manager’s encrypted environment.

And then there’s the fact that these programs are cross-platform, providing convenience and advanced protection across all devices they’re installed on.

While useful, password managers are just the first step toward full protection against wrongdoers.

To ensure workers do everything in their power to prevent their accounts from becoming easy targets for wrongdoers, enforcing a password policy is crucial.

This is also what separates the most secure password managers for business from basic vault apps: the ability to standardize behavior at scale with reporting and admin enforcement.

Creating such a policy can be a challenge, maybe less so if a password manager is involved, but by studying both good and bad examples, anyone can get the hang of crafting their own set of rules for their company.

In fact, if the business’s password policy is straightforward about the rules and treats employees like the responsible adults they are, then it already meets the most important requirements of a good password policy.

However, password managers and password policies are just part of the broader cybersecurity picture. For the fullest protection against all threats, installing additional solutions, such as antivirus software and VPNs, is highly recommended. It’s also worth keeping an eye on authentication trends, including whether passkeys will replace passwords in the long run.

Although having so many internet security apps may seem like overkill, they are just as easy to use as password managers, and they work in the background, becoming invisible guardian angels that battle the hordes of cybercriminals.