Best Password Managers for Google Chrome

This leads to a necessary question: are these in-built password management solutions by popular browsers like Google Chrome worthy competitors to true password management software? Are they safe enough to keep our most sensitive data in their online storage or are we better off with tools designed purposefully for this task?

Password managers vs smart lock for passwords

Google’s native Smart Lock is basic yet perfect. In fact, Smart Lock is super simple to use: every time new information is entered, Google issues a prompt to save that data so it is then displayed during future login attempts. Moreover, this solution is cross-platform, meaning that all saved data is accessible on all Google products by going to the respective settings or visiting a dedicated site. And as a nice extra, certain Android phones can be paired with Android Wear so that it serves as a secondary authenticator, too.

However, a huge downside of Smart Lock is that it only works with Google products, unlike password managers, which are compatible with all major browsers via extensions. Granted, users still have to download a usually pay-only program and will need to memorize a so-called master password to access the password vault, but these are small nuisances compared to the advantages of password managers. First, they import data directly from browsers, making them super convenient. Second, they are extremely safe thanks to features like military-grade encryption, in-built password generators and two-factor authentication. Typically they are able to store all kinds of data as well, not only passwords and web forms.

Exporting passwords from Google Chrome

Unfortunately simply exporting the necessary data from Chrome is out of question due to the fact that, as of build 61, Google has axed the in-built import and export option. This makes it mandatory to either use third party software or an extension to export everything out of Chrome, a solution that is not always recommended due to the risk of data sniffing and accidentally downloading malware.

The simplest and safest way to export the data is to use a password manager and its browser extension, since it automatically imports everything from the selected browser to the program’s encrypted vault where it can be accessed by nobody else but you. Although these browser extensions are far from perfect – considering how many bugs have been discovered recently – password managers themselves still remain fully functional without them, and such issues are usually patched out within a short period of time.

There are other solutions for getting those passwords out of Chrome, such as ChromePass, a program that is not only free, but doesn’t even require installation either. To make things better, the software allows passwords to be saved in various formats (HTML or CSV for example), and it also displays the strength of each password.