Is something going on with Bitwarden?
Bitwarden is a cloud-based, open-source password manager that has received a lot of positive coverage here at DCT over the years. I currently have a premium Bitwarden subscription. Jim Hillier recommends the free version of Bitwarden if you do not need the premium features. Bitwarden is even on the DCT recommended software list.
Management Changes
There have been leadership changes.
In February, long-standing CEO Michael Crandell moved into an advisory role without the company making an announcement. He was replaced by Michael Sullivan, the former CEO of both Acquia and InsightSoftware. He has experience in mergers and acquisitions and has worked with leading private equity firms.
In April, Bitwarden’s CFO, Stephen Morrison, left and was replaced by Michael Shenkman.
Bitwarden’s founder, Kyle Spearrin, who started the company as a hobby project in 2015, remains the CTO.
Core Values Changes
Bitwarden previously defined its core company values using the acronym GRIT, which stood for Gratitude, Responsibility, Inclusion, and Transparency. This definition was used for years.
However, at the beginning of May, Bitwarden quietly changed the acronym GRIT to stand for “Gratitude, Responsibility, Innovation, and Trust.” The phrase “inclusive environment” was added under the Gratitude heading, and “transparency” was mentioned under the Trust heading. After some backlash, they even made the text bold. However, Bitwarden states that transparency is no longer a focus.
The fact that transparency is no longer a focus and has been replaced with the marketing term Trust is a little worrisome to me. We saw how non-transparent Bitwarden was with their management changes and the changes to their core values!
Trust is not just a word to be stated; it is earned! Being less transparent does not inspire trust.
Price Increase
Bitwarden has doubled the cost of its Premium version. It now costs $20 per year, up from $10 per year previously. Bitwarden was also not transparent about this increase, burying the information in a blog post.
As a current Premium customer, I never received any notice. The blog post mentions that current customers will be notified 15 days before their subscription is due, which is not a great example of transparency.
Removed Free Accounts
Around mid-April, Bitwarden removed the phrase “Always Free” from its website. Following negative publicity surrounding this change, Bitwarden restored the wording on its website and stated that it was an “oversight” by its marketing team.
Following further negative publicity, Bitwarden’s new CEO published a post about his first 100 days in the role. In it, he stated:
Bitwarden will always have a free version. Not a restricted trial. Not a bait-and-switch. A genuinely useful, functional free tier, because every individual has a right to basic password management, and a world where more people use strong credential security is safer for all of us. That commitment is permanent.
However, it remains to be seen what this will entail.
Enshittification?
Could we be witnessing the beginning of enshittification at Bitwarden?
Coined by author and activist Cory Doctorow, ‘enshittification’ is the process by which online platforms and services gradually degrade in quality to maximize short-term profits. There are three stages:
- Attract: Platforms offer great experiences and low costs to draw in users
- Lock-in: Once users are dependent, value is shifted away from users to benefit business customers (e.g., advertisers, merchants)
- Extract: Finally, the platform degrades the experience for everyone, hoarding the remaining value for shareholders
Bottom Line
Bitwarden is a highly regarded, open-source, cloud-based password manager. Bitwarden offers users a value-based experience, as well as a free version. However, some recent changes at Bitwarden are concerning.
Let me know in the comments if you use Bitwarden and are concerned.
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Is VaultWarden an option?
Hi Ramsey,
From what I understand, Vaultwarden is not part of Bitwarden. It is an community-driven, implementation that is compatible with the Bitwarden API. They have separate codebases. Vaultwarden is fully compatible with Bitwarden though and has many of Bitwarden’s features, but lacks the enterprise scalability and security audits, obviously. You need to do all hosting and setup instead of Bitwarden. I think that some Bitwarden software engineers work on Vaultwarden, though.
“Could we be witnessing the beginning of enshittification at Bitwarden?”
I think so John, but only time will tell. The changing of the guard of top tier management is not so worrisome to me , large companies do it daily and never mention a word of it. What we really need to worry about is if they are bought out , like the enshittification of CCLeaner when Avast bought it out.
But right now , even at $20 a year Bitwarden is still far better than any other password manager out there and so far there have been no REAL major changes to it.
When they start throwing shit in that you don’t need , that’s when the decline starts.
Hey Ed,
Yes, even at $20, premium is still a value, but the new management brag about their ability (in their Linked In data) about mergers and acquisitions. With the other changes, I think their positioning to sell out the organization.