NordPass wins this comparison. At $1.69/mo (billed every two years) versus Dashlane's $4.99/mo (billed annually), NordPass does the core job well enough that Dashlane's price premium is hard to justify for most people. Dashlane's bundled VPN and dark web monitoring are real extras, but only worth paying for if you don't already have those covered elsewhere.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | NordPass | Dashlane |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Free available | No free tier |
| Paid price | $1.69 USD/mo | $4.99 USD/mo |
| Encryption | XChaCha20 | AES-256 |
| Mfa | ||
| Passkey Support | ||
| Travel Mode | ||
| Secure Notes | ||
| Emergency Access | ||
| Browser Extensions | All major browsers | All major browsers |
| Biometric Unlock | ||
| SSO support | Business plan only | Business plan only |
| Offline Access | ||
| Self Hosting | ||
| Open source | ||
| Score | 7/10 | 7/10 |
NordPass
7
Dashlane
7
Runner-up
NordPass costs less than half what Dashlane charges and handles the fundamentals: XChaCha20 encryption, passkey support, secure notes, emergency access, and a free tier that actually works if you're on one device. Dashlane's extras (the bundled Hotspot Shield VPN and dark web monitoring) matter only if you'd otherwise pay for those separately, and even then, Hotspot Shield isn't the strongest VPN on the market.
Pricing
NordPass is priced aggressively: $1.69/mo on a two-year plan, $2.79/mo for a six-person family plan. There's also a free tier with unlimited passwords, though it caps you at one active device at a time. Switching between your phone and laptop means getting logged out of whichever you were on before. For single-device use the free plan is fine. For anything else, the $1.69/mo upgrade is worth it.
Dashlane dropped its free tier in September 2025, so you're looking at $4.99/mo minimum. That gets you unlimited devices, the bundled VPN (Hotspot Shield), dark web monitoring, and emergency access. The Friends & Family plan runs $7.49/mo for up to 10 members, which isn't bad per person. But the entry price for a single user is high when NordPass and Bitwarden exist.
Features and Workflow
Both managers support passkeys, MFA, biometric unlock, secure notes, emergency access, and browser extensions for all major browsers. The real differences show up in the extras and the gaps.
NordPass uses XChaCha20 encryption instead of the AES-256 that Dashlane (and most competitors) use. Both are secure. XChaCha20 is simply newer and performs better on devices without hardware AES acceleration. NordPass also includes email masking in the Premium plan, which is a useful privacy addition for a low price tier.
Dashlane's standout feature is the bundle: VPN and dark web monitoring built in. The VPN is Hotspot Shield, which works for basic privacy and geo-unblocking but won't replace a dedicated VPN service if you care about kill switches or server selection. Dark web monitoring is automated breach scanning, comparable to Have I Been Pwned but built into your vault dashboard. Neither feature is flashy, but they reduce the number of separate subscriptions you need to manage.
One gap worth knowing: Dashlane has no offline access. Your vault requires an active internet connection to decrypt. NordPass works offline. For most people this never matters, but it's the kind of thing you notice exactly once, at the worst possible moment.
Who Each Product Suits
NordPass fits someone who wants a low-cost, no-fuss password manager. The price is the lowest among credible options, the free tier covers single-device use, and the feature set covers everything a personal user needs. If you're already paying for a VPN separately, you're not giving anything up by choosing NordPass.
Dashlane fits someone who wants one subscription covering passwords, VPN, and breach monitoring and doesn't already have those services elsewhere. The bundled approach has real appeal if you're consolidating. The UI is clean and accessible for less technical users, and the Family plan at $7.49/mo for 10 people is genuinely good value per seat.