Dashlane Review (2023): A Premium Password Manager

Dashlane Feature Image

Password managers and software are meant to be easy solutions to help people like you and I to remember all the passwords to the online services. Regardless of whether if it is passwords for work accounts or non-work accounts, it can cause you as many problems with complicated interfaces.

Having said that, it can even risk your data, privacy, and money.

Dashlane is said to be one of the best password managers and software among its peers. It comes with secure file sharing features, comprehensive online security assessments, and personalized safety alerts that help you to stay aware of security as soon as it happens.

As a matter of fact, Dashlane isn’t just considered as one of the best password managers around. It was dubbed as a premium password manager, and some users can confirm as such.

Company Background

Dashlane Homepage Screenshot

Dashlane was founded on 6th July 2009. However, they did not release their very first software until 23rd May 2012, which includes the first password manager encrypted with some of the world’s best security (AES-256).

It was walled behind a single master password. As time passes, more features will be added and introduced to Dashlane. So far, some of the outstanding features added to date are:

  • Multi-factor authentication
  • Automatic form filling
  • Password generating
  • Digital wallet
  • Security breach alert
  • Virtual private network

Criteria

Obviously before we start, we’d be looking at some of the criteria. Criteria that you should consider before settling for the product, and making sure that it is the right one for you.

Features Available

For obvious reasons, the first and foremost criteria you should be looking for is the features available. Password managers and software are more than what they are. They do not just offer password management and safety as a software.

As a password management and software company, Dashlane offers a lot more than just password management. Like every other password management software on the market, to stay competitive, they will offer and add features on their password software to give it and edge over other password software.

Security

Once you have found out and reviewed the features available, your next criteria to consider is its security and overall software safety. What is a password management software if it is not safe to use? Or the fact that it is easily hacked and have your private data and information compromised?

You will be surprised at how some password management software were easily hacked and have the user information leaked. Although it isn’t as common, but it isn’t unheard of. It is quite possible that at any given time, any password management software can be hacked.

Even then, a lot of times many password software will try to restore and keep the private data intact. That and the fact that a lot of password software comes with really top notch security systems. So it is less likely that the passwords you have stored with the password managers will not be leaked.

Customer Support

The reason why we put customer support as one of the criteria to consider is because sometimes you may experience technical errors. You will need assistance and help to resolve whatever software problems you have at hand.

Some password software’s customer support aren’t that great, and are sub-par at best. Some others were all right, but its premium or paying clients get better assistance and support.

We have to admit in present day a lot of customer support are pretty good. Some don’t really have a dedicated customer support team, but has a FAQ page for users to troubleshoot the technical problems.

However, that is not to say that some password management software’s customer support is top notch. There will always be some software where its customer support is mediocre and disappointing.

Plans and Pricing

Last but not least, the plans and pricing of the password management software. Most software falls within affordable range. There will be, however, some software where the prices will be slightly more expensive.

The packages that usually cost above average are usually the ones that comes with a lot of features. At the same time, the features it have are usually more advanced ones too.

Why Choose Dashlane? Our Take

Now that we have covered the criteria section, let’s have a look at what Dashlane has to offer us.

The Features Available

Dashlane is said to do all the essential password management features really, really well. Users have come back raving saying how it never failed to please, even with its basic features.

With Dashlane, we were told you are able to:

  • Store unlimited passwords behind one master password, all with the help with its military-grade 256-bit AES encryption. However, you are only able to store up to 50 passwords with its free version. Even with 50 passwords, it is more than sufficient for the average user.
  • Share your data securely, without needing to fear being hacked.
  • You are able to store sensitive personal information like software license keys, Wi-Fi passwords, contracts, and other sensitive data and information. However, if you are a Dashlane premium user, you can store up to 1GB worth of files.
  • Store autofill login details, payment information, and other personal information as you browse the internet.

We should mention how the above listed features are pretty common across all password manager software. As Dashlane is one of the better password managers on the market, there are more advanced features it offers.

Password Changer

Not that other password manager software do not allow you to change passwords. They do.

Any password manager will generate very strong and unique passwords. They will usually require you to go through all your accounts and change the old and weak passwords. All done manually. It’s tedious work to be honest.

However, with Dashlane’s Password Changer, it can help you change your passwords across over 300+ websites. It can help you change your Reddit passwords, Vimeo, WebMD, etc. It is all done automatically. New sites will be added every now and then, so this feature will be improved periodically.

We have also found out that Dashlane isn’t the only password manager software to have such feature. It seems that LastPass and Norton Password Manager also have similar feature included. However, the latter 2’s feature is said to be more limited than Dashlane’s, and are only compatible with 50 to 60 websites.

It’s a very incredible feature. You will most likely have created so many online accounts over the years. No other password managers are able to change so many passwords at one go. Just saying.

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Yes, Dashlane has a virtual private network (VPN). As a matter of fact, it is the only password manager to give its users access to a VPN. It is a feature that re-routed your internet traffic through an encrypted and secure protocol.

As a password manager software, it gets plenty of attention for this. To be fair, including a VPN with a password manager makes a lot of sense. As you encrypt your data on public Wi-Fi networks, the VPN can help prevent hackers from stealing your passwords and other private information.

VPNs may slow down your internet speed. But users have mentioned how Dashlane actually uses one of the fastest VPN providers in the business (AnchorFree).

A user have tried it out and reported back that it does in fact confirm the fact that it is one of the fastest VPNs around. The user is based in the UK.

The user’s regular connection is 40mbps download rate, and 9.35mbps upload rate. After connecting to Dashlane’s UK VPN server, the speed dropped a bit. The download speed was descreased to 28.57mbps and the upload speed was decreased to 8.98mbps.

The same user said he did not notice the speed reduction for most online activities, except when he was streaming ultra-HD videos. However, his ping increased from 9ms to 22ms, which is more than double of what his original ping was. The high ping can be problematic if you are using your internet for online gaming. It’s unavoidable when using a VPN to be honest.

After that, the same user said he tried connecting to a French VPN server with the same original connection speed. As France is geographically closer to where UK is, it should make sense that the speed won’t make too much difference.

The speed was of course decreased also, but only by slightly more. The speed reduction wasn’t that much to mention, to begin with. The user’s speed was reduced to 26.32mbps download speed and 9.03mbps upload speed. The ping was increased to 25ms.

When connected to a USA server, the download speed is slightly better at 27.64mbps. The upload speed did not do any better, which decreased to 8.93mbps. The ping is where it is the worst, which increased to 145ms.

However, we are not here to look at Dashlane as a VPN service provider. It was not built to be a VPN service provider, but as a password management software. What we can say is that the incorporated VPN service is an excellent part on Dashlane.

Emergency Feature

Dashlane apparently has an “emergency feature”. As in it lets you register trusted people as emergency contacts. Let’s say you cannot access Dashlane in an emergency, your emergency contact can log into your account and retrieve the passwords aand secure documents.

You can add anyone as your emergency contact. Some people add their spouses, or their immediate family member. Once you have added an emergency contact, Dashlane will email you to ask for your permission to let your chosen contact person in.

If you did not respond within the waiting period (choosable options), it means you will be out of reach. Dashlane will then be able to let your emergency contact into your account.

Receipt Storage

It seems that you can store and organize your receipts with Dashlane. We learnt that Dashlane used to save receipts automatically, but it does not do this anymore. So you will have to key in your receipts manually.

The receipt feature is said to be useful and helpful if you are someone who keeps track of your expenses regularly, down to the very last penny. However, if you are someone who does your shopping online, then the receipt tracking feature is pretty much redundant.

It has many other really useful features that are really good we can list out. However, we feel if we are to list all of them out, you’d be reading about the features more than you’d read about any other good parts of Dashlane.

Security

Dashlane’s security, as mentioned before, has one of the best security around for a password managing software.

First and foremost, Dashlane also have 2-factor authentication (2FA) available for its users. 2FA is a very secure login method that brings a significant increase in your account’s security. As you enable 2FA, it sends a 1 time password to your mobile device to verify your identity. It actually adds an extra layer of security on top of your master password.

You will be able to choose between activating 2FA each time you log in, or every time you log into a new device.

Customer Support

Dashlane provides several kinds of customer support. At cursory glance it seems like Dashlane does not have a live chat for you to contact its customer support team. However, in order for you to contact the customer support team, you will have to look for the live chat app on the support tab option.

Alternatively, you can look for help in its in-depth frequently asked questions (FAQs) available in 4 languages: English, French, German, and Spanish.

You can also reach Dashlane via its email support. However, the language choices are only available on different days of the week. It is available in English (7 days a week), French, and German (both only available every Mondays to Fridays).

Its live chat is available only in English. However, it is only available from Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 6pm (US Eastern Standard Time).

Dashlane support is also available on Twitter via @DaslaneSupport.

Users mentioned how they are very impressed with Dashlane’s overall support team. Users have also mentioned how they have received friendly and well-informed advices from its live chat option in less than 1 minute!

Plans and Pricing

Dashlane has 3 personal plans available:

Basic Package

  • Password storage
  • Form and payment autofill
  • Security alerts
  • Password generator
  • Password charger
  • Basic 2FA
  • Password sharing up to with 5 people
  • Emergency contact access
  • Secure notes access

Premium Package

  • All the free package features
  • Advanced 2FA using YubiKey
  • VPN with unlimited data
  • Dark web monitoring
  • 1GB secure file storage
  • Remote access from a web app on Chrome, Firefox, or Edge
  • Priority support

Premium Plus Package (only available in USA)

As it is only available only in the USA, it provides some extra identity theft protection feature:

  • Credit monitoring via TransUnion – you will be alerted on any activities made by your credit report.
  • Identity restoration support – professional advice on recovering from identity theft.
  • Identity theft insurance – from American Insurance Group (AIG) up to $1million of cover.

It is said that Dashlane’s Premium Plan package is a huge jump in price compared to Dashlane Premium Package. It’s still cheap compared to some of the premium packages available from other password premium packages on the market, we learnt.

It does not offer a family plan and is a serious drawback for many people. Users have hoped that Dashlane can develop a family plan in the near future.

Our Verdict

Dashlane does offer an unrivalled range of features, which includes Dark Web Monitoring and unlimited VPN access.

It merges the powerful cybersecurity features together in one of the most user friendly interfaces as a password manager on the market. With its military grade encryptiom, a 1 click password changer, an excellent mobile app, it is many users’ top pick for password managers currently.

The free version works pretty well for the average user with basic to intermediate needs. However it is limited. If your security needs is higher, we will recommend choosing the premium packages instead.

If you are still unhappy with the premium packages, you are still entitled to the 30 days money back guarantee on Dashlane Premium. There is no risk in trying it out as long as you remember to unsubscribe before the 30th day mark.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Here are some frequently asked questions (FAQ).

Q: Is Dashlane trustworthy?

So far we can say that Dashlane is indeed trustworthy. Although they may be safe and trustworthy, keep in mind that Dashlane still stores your private information and data on their own servers. You can only hope as users that they do it safely. There is no telling how safe it actually is. As a password manager, it is still a very good one. It’s good enough to become a target for hackers, who are likely still trying to gain access and hack it to get any sensitive data.

Q: Has Dashlane ever been hacked?

Everything you store in Dashlane is encrypted (converted to a scramble code) using your master keyword as the key. Without the master keyword, your data remain safely indecipherable. It means even in the unlikely event that Dashlane is hacked, everything in your account will still remain securely encrypted.

Q: Why is Dashlane so slow?

When you start up your PC and have Dashlane installed, the Dashlane log in screen freezes or responds extremely slow. The problem is caused mainly by an antivirus software installed on the PC. The startup scan is scanning Dashlane folders, which causes it to freeze and crash.

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