Bitwarden vs 1Password for Business (2026)

Short answer: Choose Bitwarden if your team can defer SSO, wants to self-host, or manages several client tenants as an MSP. Choose 1Password if you need SSO and SCIM now and do not want to pay for a separate Enterprise tier to get them. The deciding factor for most businesses is which plan actually includes SSO, not the sticker price.

Bitwarden vs 1Password at a glance

The table above covers the 15 criteria that separate these two products for a business buyer, drawn from our password management evaluation criteria. The rows below explain the ones that need more than a "Yes" or a price.

The starting prices in the table use each vendor's lowest multi-user business plan. 1Password's 10-seat Starter Pack is cheaper at exactly 10 seats but excludes SSO and SCIM, so it is not reflected in the table's SSO row (see Pricing compared below for the exact figures).

Choose Bitwarden if

• You need to self-host the vault, whether for data sovereignty, air-gapped environments or to avoid recurring per-seat cost on the underlying server.
• Your organization does not need SSO yet, and $4 per user per month on Teams is the priority.
• You run an MSP and want a no-fee provider console with negotiated per-seat discounts.
• You want to bootstrap a small team on a free tier before committing to a paid organization.
• You want an open-source codebase your team (or a contracted auditor) can read.

Budget-limited teams outside this two-way comparison can see more entry-level options in our small business password manager roundup.

Choose 1Password if

• You need SAML or OIDC sign-in now and do not want to pay for a tier above your base business plan to get it.
• You want SCIM provisioning and SIEM event streaming included at the entry paid tier, not gated to a higher one.
• Self-hosting is not a requirement, and you would rather not run and patch a server.
• You want a published, continuous SOC 2 Type 2 history dating to 2018 and a public bug bounty program.
• Your team already carries 1Password for personal or family use and a single vendor relationship simplifies procurement.

Security architecture and independent assurance

Call this one a reasoned tie. Bitwarden encrypts vault data with AES-256-CBC combined with HMAC-SHA256, and its self-hosted server code is open source, so its cryptography and any organization can independently review it (Bitwarden encryption documentation, accessed September 17, 2026). 1Password encrypts with AES-256-GCM and adds a 128-bit Secret Key that is combined with the account password, so anyone who only steals a password still cannot decrypt an account without the device-bound key (1Password security documentation, accessed September 17, 2026).

Both hold SOC 2 Type 2 reports and ISO 27001 certification: Bitwarden's ISO 27001:2022 certification dates to March 2025, and 1Password has held an unqualified SOC 2 Type 2 opinion annually since 2018 and runs a public HackerOne bug bounty. Bitwarden's published audit page lists a 2025 slate: Cure53 assessments of the browser extension, core application, desktop application and web vault, a cryptography report from the Applied Cryptography Group at ETH Zurich, a mobile assessment by Unit 42 and a web and network assessment by Fracture Labs (Bitwarden audit page, accessed September 20, 2026). 1Password's most recent named audits are a 2020 penetration test by Independent Security Evaluators and an undated infrastructure review by Onica. Bitwarden's recent third-party audit history is the more current and more completely published of the two; 1Password's continuous SOC 2 opinion and public bug bounty are the stronger ongoing assurance signals.

If you are weighing whether a cloud-hosted password manager is safe enough for your environment at all, our password manager safety explainer covers that question separately from this comparison.

SSO, MFA and directory integration

1Password wins this one. SAML-based SSO and SCIM provisioning ship on the Business plan, 1Password's base multi-user tier, covering Okta, Microsoft Entra ID, OneLogin and Duo (1Password SSO and SCIM documentation, accessed September 17, 2026).

Bitwarden supports SSO and SCIM against a wider named list of identity providers, including Google Workspace and passwordless device-based sign-in, but SSO itself is gated to the Enterprise plan (Bitwarden SSO and directory sync documentation, accessed September 20, 2026). SCIM provisioning and directory sync are included on Teams, so the gap between the two products here is SSO alone, not provisioning. A 30-person team that needs Entra ID sign-in pays Bitwarden's Enterprise rate to get it, while the same requirement is already covered on 1Password's entry business plan.

Admin controls and reporting

1Password wins narrowly. Its Business plan includes Watchtower security alerts and SIEM event streaming to tools such as Splunk at the same tier that includes SSO, plus role-based permissions with guest accounts for external collaborators (1Password Business plan documentation, accessed September 17, 2026).

Bitwarden's admin toolset includes custom roles, collections-based access control and event logs on Teams and Enterprise, but its Access Intelligence reporting, which flags weak, reused and exposed passwords, is an Enterprise-only feature (Bitwarden Business plan documentation, accessed September 17, 2026). A team on Bitwarden Teams gets event logs but not exposed-password reporting; the equivalent reporting on 1Password requires only the Business plan it would likely already be on for SSO.

Secure sharing, vault structure and passkeys

Tie. Both products support shared vaults with group-based permission levels and passkey storage and sharing at the organization level: Bitwarden through collections (Bitwarden passkey documentation, accessed September 17, 2026) and 1Password through shared vaults with granular item permissions (1Password vault-sharing documentation, accessed September 17, 2026).

Bitwarden's free individual tier includes basic sharing with one other user, which some small teams use to bootstrap before buying an organization plan; 1Password has no free tier for business use. Functionally, the two are close enough on this criterion that neither has a clear edge for a typical business sharing workflow.

Deployment options and platform coverage

Bitwarden wins clearly. It can be self-hosted on a Teams or Enterprise license, with the server code published as open source on GitHub (Bitwarden self-hosting documentation, accessed September 17, 2026). Some self-hosting admins run Vaultwarden, an unofficial, community-written reimplementation of the Bitwarden server API, instead of paying for a Bitwarden license; Bitwarden Inc. does not support Vaultwarden deployments and its documentation states it will close support tickets that reveal Vaultwarden use (Vaultwarden project FAQ, accessed September 17, 2026).

1Password has no self-hosted vault or server product; the only component that can run on your own infrastructure is an optional SCIM Bridge used for provisioning, and the company's own community forum points self-hosting requesters toward Bitwarden as the alternative (1Password community discussion, accessed September 17, 2026).

Both ship apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android plus major browser extensions. For the full admin console and self-hosting requirements beyond this comparison, see our Bitwarden review.

MSP and multi-tenant support

Bitwarden wins. It runs a free-to-join Provider Portal for managing client organizations; MSP pricing is negotiated, and Bitwarden does not publish the discount levels (Bitwarden MSP program page, accessed September 17, 2026). 1Password Business is sold to MSPs mainly through distributors such as Pax8 rather than a self-serve multi-tenant console.

Pricing compared

Bitwarden vs 1Password annual costs by seat count, checked September 17, 2026. Bitwarden Teams and Enterprise are billed annually at $4 and $6 per user per month; 1Password Business is billed annually at $8.99 per user per month. Figures are list prices before tax, negotiated MSP discounts or nonprofit terms.

For a team that does not need SSO, Bitwarden Teams is the cheapest path in the table at every seat count shown. Once SSO becomes a requirement, the real comparison is Bitwarden Enterprise against 1Password Business: at 50 seats, Enterprise costs $1,794 less per year than Business. 1Password's 10-seat Teams Starter Pack, a flat $299.40 a year for up to 10 members, undercuts Bitwarden Teams at exactly 10 seats, but it does not include SSO or SCIM, so it is not a like-for-like row in this table.

For prices across more of the category at once, see the business password manager pricing index. If neither product is a settled choice yet, the shortlist builder turns your environment into a requirement checklist to score both against.

The fine print compared

Both vendors offer a 14-day business trial. Bitwarden's trial documentation says billing starts when the trial ends, which means a payment method up front. 1Password's current pricing page does not state its card requirement consistently and independent reports disagree, so confirm it at signup rather than assume either way (see our 1Password pricing breakdown). Neither vendor publishes a minimum contract term or a formal response-time SLA for its mid-tier business plan.

Security record compared

The Helm chart certificate defect applies only to self-hosted Bitwarden deployments that used the official Helm chart before version 2.0.0 with the default generated certificate; it does not affect Bitwarden's cloud service. Neither vendor has published an uptime figure for its business service; treat uptime as not published by either vendor.

Switching between Bitwarden and 1Password

Both directions are supported with native tooling. Bitwarden's importer accepts more than 50 formats, including a direct 1Password import, and its own exports come as JSON (including cards, identities, passkeys and SSH keys), encrypted JSON, or CSV (logins and notes only) (Bitwarden import and export documentation, accessed September 17, 2026).

1Password imports from Bitwarden and other managers through CSV or 1PUX-compatible tools, and exports in its own 1PUX format, which preserves full item structure, or CSV, which is limited to login items (1Password export documentation, accessed September 17, 2026).

A move in either direction should reliably carry over standard logins, notes and passkeys stored as items. What does not migrate automatically is administrative configuration: SSO and SCIM connections, admin policies, groups and role assignments, and audit log history all have to be rebuilt on the destination platform. Plan a parallel pilot with a small group before cutting over a full organization.

Which to pick for your scenario

When neither fits

If cost below either vendor's per-seat floor, or a feature neither ships, is the deciding factor, start at the password management category hub or the buyer guide to choosing a business password manager rather than forcing a fit here.

Bottom line

If your business needs SSO or SCIM today and does not want a separate upgrade to get it, 1Password Business is the more direct path. If self-hosting, a lower entry price or MSP economics matter more than having SSO on day one, Bitwarden fits better, and Enterprise still gets you SSO once you need it. Either verdict flips the moment self-hosting becomes a hard requirement, since only Bitwarden offers it.

Compare current per-seat numbers on our 1Password pricing page before you commit to seat counts.