What is Passbolt used for?

Passbolt is an open-source, security-focused password manager for teams, with end-to-end encryption and options to self-host or use vendor cloud. It is a good fit for sharing credentials across a team, replacing spreadsheets of passwords and auditable secrets management for IT teams.

Is Passbolt open source?

Yes. Passbolt is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at passbolt/passbolt_api and is written mainly in PHP.

Yes. Passbolt is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $4.90 per seat per month.

Can I self-host Passbolt?

Yes. Passbolt can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Passbolt an alternative to?

Passbolt is an open-source alternative to Keeper, NordPass, TeamPassword and 1Password. Other open-source alternatives to Keeper include Bitwarden, Padloc and Vaultwarden.

Is Passbolt actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Passbolt was on 17 September 2026, and the latest release is v5.16.0, published on 17 September 2026. The project has 6.1k stars on GitHub.

Passbolt: open-source alternative to Keeper, NordPass

About Passbolt

Passbolt is an open-source password manager built for teams. It lets organizations gather, structure and share passwords and other secrets, and its security model relies on secret keys owned by each user together with end-to-end encryption. The vendor says the product is audited several times a year and that the findings are made public.

The repository holds the JSON API of the Community Edition, written in PHP on CakePHP. Users work through clients: browser extensions, mobile apps, a command-line tool and a desktop app. Teams can share credentials and audit access, with policies aimed at power users. The README includes guidance for running the server natively on your own machine.

Passbolt Community Edition is licensed under AGPL-3.0. The vendor also offers paid Pro and cloud-hosted options, which suit organizations that prefer managed hosting or extra features. It fits teams, from small startups to larger IT departments, that want shared credential management they can host and inspect themselves.

Key features

End-to-end encrypted password sharing
User-owned secret keys
Browser extensions and mobile apps
CLI and desktop clients
Credential audit and access policies
Self-hosted Community Edition API

Good fit for

→Sharing credentials across a team
→Replacing spreadsheets of passwords
→Auditable secrets management for IT teams

Built with: PHP
Tags: password-manager; team-passwords; security; end-to-end-encryption; self-hosted; php; secrets

Passbolt: questions and answers

What is Passbolt used for?: Passbolt is an open-source, security-focused password manager for teams, with end-to-end encryption and options to self-host or use vendor cloud. It is a good fit for sharing credentials across a team, replacing spreadsheets of passwords and auditable secrets management for IT teams.
Is Passbolt open source?: Yes. Passbolt is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at passbolt/passbolt_api and is written mainly in PHP.
Is Passbolt free?: Yes. Passbolt is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $4.90 per seat per month.
Can I self-host Passbolt?: Yes. Passbolt can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Passbolt an alternative to?: Passbolt is an open-source alternative to Keeper, NordPass, TeamPassword and 1Password. Other open-source alternatives to Keeper include Bitwarden, Padloc and Vaultwarden.
Is Passbolt actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Passbolt was on 17 September 2026, and the latest release is v5.16.0, published on 17 September 2026. The project has 6.1k stars on GitHub.