Dashlane alternative: Backbuild Secrets vs Dashlane

No. Dashlane retired its free plan in September 2025, so new individuals start on a 14-day trial and then a paid plan, and former free users were moved to export-only access before deletion. Backbuild Secrets is a full password and secrets manager that is free on every Backbuild plan, including the Free plan, and it adds role-based access control, single sign-on, SCIM user provisioning, and a tamper-evident audit log at no cost. If a free replacement is the reason you are here, Backbuild Secrets is a direct answer, and it ships a dedicated importer that reads a Dashlane CSV or JSON export.

Yes. Backbuild Secrets is free on every plan, is zero-knowledge, and encrypts stored vault data with post-quantum cryptography, and it includes built-in TOTP, a password generator, and compromised, weak, and reused password checks at no cost. It reads a Dashlane export directly, keeping logins, one-time-password secrets, secondary logins, payment cards, and identities. The honest counterweight is where you use it: Dashlane has mature mobile apps with system autofill and a browser extension you can install today, while the Backbuild mobile app and browser extension are still rolling out, and Backbuild does not offer dark web monitoring or a bundled VPN.

Export your Dashlane vault as a CSV or JSON file, then import it into Backbuild Secrets. Backbuild detects a Dashlane export by its structure and reads both the CSV layout (credentials and secure notes) and the JSON layout, importing logins, one-time-password secrets, secondary logins kept as custom fields, secure notes, payment cards, and identities so nothing is dropped. Because the vault is zero-knowledge, the import and the encryption that follows happen on your device. It also imports from 1Password, Bitwarden, KeePass, LastPass, and browser CSV.

This is where Dashlane leads. Dashlane has mature iOS and Android apps with system autofill, best-in-class autofill accuracy, browser extensions on every major browser, live dark web monitoring with breach alerts, a bundled VPN on its Premium plan, a password health dashboard, and passkeys you can sign in with. Backbuild Secrets runs in the web app and, unlike Dashlane, in a native Windows and macOS desktop app; the Backbuild browser extension that adds autofill is rolling out to the stores and the native mobile app is in development. Backbuild has compromised, weak, and reused password checks but not a live dark web monitoring service, and it has no bundled VPN. If autofill on your phone, dark web monitoring, or a VPN is your first requirement, Dashlane is the stronger choice right now.

Both are zero-knowledge, so neither provider can read a vault, and both harden the master password with a memory-hard key-derivation function: Backbuild uses Argon2id and Dashlane uses Argon2d, so on key derivation the two are comparable. The genuine difference is post-quantum protection of stored data. Backbuild wraps the vault key that protects your items with X25519 combined with ML-KEM-768, the mechanism standardized by NIST as FIPS 203, so ciphertext harvested today cannot be opened by a future quantum computer. Dashlane encrypts vaults with AES-256, which is strong against classical attackers but is not post-quantum. On published transparency the two are similar: neither Dashlane nor Backbuild publishes independent third-party audit results, though both state they are built to meet recognized security standards.

Yes, and this is the categorical difference from a manager built only for people. The Backbuild browser extension gives an AI agent full control of the page, but the extension and the server both refuse to let the agent focus or drive any password or one-time-code field. When a login needs a credential, the zero-knowledge vault fills it directly, so the value is placed in the field without ever passing through the AI. Dashlane has no AI-browser-control surface, so this class of workflow is not part of its model. For machine and service secrets, a Backbuild machine grant is bound to one machine, one vault, and an exact scope, requires owner consent with a step-up, and is pinned to an environment, and that grant decrypts on the calling machine.

Dashlane has a strong business offering: patented Confidential single sign-on that keeps the model zero-knowledge, SCIM provisioning for users and groups, an admin console, and encrypted activity logs, all on its business tiers. Backbuild includes role-based access control, single sign-on, SCIM user provisioning, a tamper-evident audit log, policy controls, and per-organization isolation free on every plan, including the Free plan, though its SCIM covers users rather than users and groups. The split is breadth against price: Dashlane offers deeper directory-group provisioning on a paid business plan, and Backbuild gives the core governance controls, including single sign-on, at no cost inside a wider workspace.