Moving to Bitwarden from LastPass with style
A few days ago, LastPass struck a heavy blow on free users. They gave ultimatum to free users in which they have to choose one type of device they will use LastPass password manager - Mobile or Computer. This will make LastPass really cumbersome to use on both.
About Bitwarden
Bitwarden is open source password manager. You can use it across all types of various devices, with unlimited number of items inside your Vault. It also offers Premium for 10$ a year, with remarkable feature - Bitwarden Authenticator.
Bitwarden Authenticator is used for 2FA. When you use autofill to sign into the site, Bitwarden silently copies 6 digit code into clipboard. So it’s a very good alternative to some other 2FA apps (grab your mobile device, see code, enter it manually).
Moving to Bitwarden…
Bitwarden has a complete article on how to export your data from LastPass and import them into Bitwarden.
Since that article explains in details a convenient solution for most users, I wanted to explain my approach on exporting and importing data by using lastpass-cli and bitwarden-cli tools.
You can easily install or download both CLI tools by following instructions for your platform.
… with style
First, use lastpass-cli
to login inside your vault:
lpass login [email protected]
Once you enter your Master Password, export your data from LastPass into a file:
$ lpass export > my_passwords.csv
Now, login in into bitwarden by using bitwarden-cli
:
$ ./bw login
On successful login, use exported data with format set to lastpasscsv
to import it into Bitwarden:
$ ./bw import lastpasscsv my_passwords.csv
Now check your Bitwarden vault and you should see everything imported.
At the end, logout from both and remove exported file (my_passwords.csv) since it contains all your passwords in plain text.
Finishing thoughts
Bitwarden made it easy to move from any password manager you are using by providing options and articles on how to do it. I’ve used a different approach because I used lastpass-cli
to restore my SSH keys in the past and because I’m familiar with the CLI tool itself.
If you decide to delete your LastPass account, please make sure that all exported data inside LastPass vault match your Bitwarden vault. Don’t make hasty decision just to lose access to sites you like and passwords you can’t remember.