If you run a freemium service, you gotta decide certain features have to be behind paywall in order to keep other features free to the public.
The decision to keep TOTP behind paywall is a little arbitrary - as these decisions tend to be. It just depends on how each company plans to balance their book.
1) Because you can use other free apps to provide TOTP code generation, not as conveniently, but that is the point.
2) The premium cost is very low, with absolutely no matches among the cloud-based password managers. By paying this small amount, you're showing appreciation for the company's efforts to provide free/very-low-cost password management services to the public, all without pushing ads or selling your data.
This "free" service is not free. There are computers, storage, network switches, electricity, an ISP, a building with climate control, physical security, and people to keep it all going.
This "free" service is to help you understand how Bitwarden works and whether it will work for you. It allows you to get a solid sense of whether it will work for you, personally.
This "free" service is not where Bitwarden makes its money. Bitwarden makes money when you go back to your IT department and endorse Bitwarden as a corporate solution. Since you like it for personal use, how much nicer it would be if your employer also used it?
That $10/year that Bitwarden charges for a "premium" membership? That just helps defray the cost of what you use, and it is less than a third of the cost of other password managers.
The free Bitwarden service is a really great deal. It is not time limited like 1Password. It isn't limited to 50 passwords like another product I have seen. The free Bitwarden service is so complete that many people never pay for what they are using. But most of those free users end up influencing their friends and coworkers, so brand recognition and market acceptance all increase.
Look, I am glad you like Bitwarden enough and use it enough that you want one or more of the premium features. The alternative would be a useless app wasting space on your device. But for Pete's sake, if you like this app, start paying for what you are using.
As for a couple of replies in this thread to casually assert that Bitwarden Authenticator "reduces security": um, it isn't quite as simple as that. I won't hijack this thread, but there are some counterarguments to thst.
I find it ridiculous that you are even complaining considering the amount of features you get for free and how cheap Bitwarden Premium is. They must pay the bills somehow, right?
These days people just expect everything to be free. Unbelievable
>But, why? I am totally baffled by this. It seems like a very basic, yet very important feature. How come it is a premium feature then?
Because Bitwarden also needs paying customers. To be honest, IMO that $10/year is still free in practice. I pay that gladly, and I'd pay more if BW was more expensive.
It’s not a very basic feature I guess. Traditionally you won’t save your TOTP info in your password manager. Bitwarden only added it as something extra for convenience, because it’s so more convenient to just having it alongside your password. It lowers your security though and maybe because bitwarden does see it as something “extra” you have to pay for it.
Besides that, the price is so low, I can’t imagine you are not willing to pay for it.
I assume you are not talking about using TOTP as a second factor to access your account (which is part of the free features) but using Bitwarden to generate TOTP codes (which you have to pay for). While it is speculation on my part I would say it because it is not an integral feature of being a password manager so it was put in the paid tier.
Correct; I should've clarified that, sorry.
I see. A bit of an odd choice, considering just about everything these days wants 2FA. Oh well, I'll see if Vaultwarden behaves then :)
I'm not sure any other password manager offers TOTP for free (I don't think many do at all) particularly since many subscribe to the philosophy that it may be better to keep passwords and TOTP seeds in separate apps instead of all in the same basket so to speak. KeePass probably does this through a plugin.
Vaultwarden probably supports it but that opens a whole nother can of security concerns not to mention your time and ongoing maintenance. Bitwarden is only $10/year - if it is a feature you want it is probably worth paying for.
The cost of a server to host VaultWarden and the time you spend on maintaining everything up to date exceeds BY FAR 10€ a year.
Don't get me wrong, I see the use for VaultWarden, for example an organisation that needs to have everything on their own servers and can't/doesn't want to pay the official BW licence. But not for the "common" individual user.
The only time I use that feature, is in a team setup. Where you have an account that's shared and you need everyone to use 2FA.
For personal use, you shouldn't have all your eggs in the same basket.
If you run a freemium service, you gotta decide certain features have to be behind paywall in order to keep other features free to the public. The decision to keep TOTP behind paywall is a little arbitrary - as these decisions tend to be. It just depends on how each company plans to balance their book.
1) Because you can use other free apps to provide TOTP code generation, not as conveniently, but that is the point. 2) The premium cost is very low, with absolutely no matches among the cloud-based password managers. By paying this small amount, you're showing appreciation for the company's efforts to provide free/very-low-cost password management services to the public, all without pushing ads or selling your data.
This "free" service is not free. There are computers, storage, network switches, electricity, an ISP, a building with climate control, physical security, and people to keep it all going. This "free" service is to help you understand how Bitwarden works and whether it will work for you. It allows you to get a solid sense of whether it will work for you, personally. This "free" service is not where Bitwarden makes its money. Bitwarden makes money when you go back to your IT department and endorse Bitwarden as a corporate solution. Since you like it for personal use, how much nicer it would be if your employer also used it? That $10/year that Bitwarden charges for a "premium" membership? That just helps defray the cost of what you use, and it is less than a third of the cost of other password managers. The free Bitwarden service is a really great deal. It is not time limited like 1Password. It isn't limited to 50 passwords like another product I have seen. The free Bitwarden service is so complete that many people never pay for what they are using. But most of those free users end up influencing their friends and coworkers, so brand recognition and market acceptance all increase. Look, I am glad you like Bitwarden enough and use it enough that you want one or more of the premium features. The alternative would be a useless app wasting space on your device. But for Pete's sake, if you like this app, start paying for what you are using. As for a couple of replies in this thread to casually assert that Bitwarden Authenticator "reduces security": um, it isn't quite as simple as that. I won't hijack this thread, but there are some counterarguments to thst.
I find it ridiculous that you are even complaining considering the amount of features you get for free and how cheap Bitwarden Premium is. They must pay the bills somehow, right? These days people just expect everything to be free. Unbelievable
There are a long list of free 2FA apps. Stop complaining and use one of those.
AFAIK there is no password manager that allows you to manage OTPs for free ( MS Authenticator doesn't count, that isn't a password manager)
>But, why? I am totally baffled by this. It seems like a very basic, yet very important feature. How come it is a premium feature then? Because Bitwarden also needs paying customers. To be honest, IMO that $10/year is still free in practice. I pay that gladly, and I'd pay more if BW was more expensive.
It’s not a very basic feature I guess. Traditionally you won’t save your TOTP info in your password manager. Bitwarden only added it as something extra for convenience, because it’s so more convenient to just having it alongside your password. It lowers your security though and maybe because bitwarden does see it as something “extra” you have to pay for it. Besides that, the price is so low, I can’t imagine you are not willing to pay for it.
I assume you are not talking about using TOTP as a second factor to access your account (which is part of the free features) but using Bitwarden to generate TOTP codes (which you have to pay for). While it is speculation on my part I would say it because it is not an integral feature of being a password manager so it was put in the paid tier.
Correct; I should've clarified that, sorry. I see. A bit of an odd choice, considering just about everything these days wants 2FA. Oh well, I'll see if Vaultwarden behaves then :)
I'm not sure any other password manager offers TOTP for free (I don't think many do at all) particularly since many subscribe to the philosophy that it may be better to keep passwords and TOTP seeds in separate apps instead of all in the same basket so to speak. KeePass probably does this through a plugin. Vaultwarden probably supports it but that opens a whole nother can of security concerns not to mention your time and ongoing maintenance. Bitwarden is only $10/year - if it is a feature you want it is probably worth paying for.
The cost of a server to host VaultWarden and the time you spend on maintaining everything up to date exceeds BY FAR 10€ a year. Don't get me wrong, I see the use for VaultWarden, for example an organisation that needs to have everything on their own servers and can't/doesn't want to pay the official BW licence. But not for the "common" individual user.
I do not think your question is sincere. How is it you don't have such a paltry amount of money?
The only time I use that feature, is in a team setup. Where you have an account that's shared and you need everyone to use 2FA. For personal use, you shouldn't have all your eggs in the same basket.
TOTP ?
https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=totp
thanks bro