Bitwarden/vaultwarden is a popular option for selfhosters.
this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025
70 points (96.1% liked)
Selfhosted
46671 readers
586 users here now
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
Rules:
-
Be civil: we're here to support and learn from one another. Insults won't be tolerated. Flame wars are frowned upon.
-
No spam posting.
-
Posts have to be centered around self-hosting. There are other communities for discussing hardware or home computing. If it's not obvious why your post topic revolves around selfhosting, please include details to make it clear.
-
Don't duplicate the full text of your blog or github here. Just post the link for folks to click.
-
Submission headline should match the article title (don’t cherry-pick information from the title to fit your agenda).
-
No trolling.
Resources:
- selfh.st Newsletter and index of selfhosted software and apps
- awesome-selfhosted software
- awesome-sysadmin resources
- Self-Hosted Podcast from Jupiter Broadcasting
Any issues on the community? Report it using the report flag.
Questions? DM the mods!
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I do this. Plus VPN to have access to passwords when away from home network
Why not use KeepassXC? It's a completely local encrypted db but it integrates with cloud storage apps like nextcloud for sync. It has plugins for integration with Firefox and KeepassAndroid is pretty smooth on the current Android OS.
Yup this is the way. The resulting .kdbx database file is encrypted so you can even synchronize it over an untrusted provider. Otherwise you can use something like syncthing to keep it strictly peer to peer.
Shamelessly shilling my OSS project, rook. It provides a secret-server-ish headless tool backed by a KeePass DB.
- Headless server
- Optional and convenient integration with the kernel keyring (on Linux), for locking the server to only provide secrets to the user's session
- Provides a range of search, list, and get commands
- Minimal dependencies and small code base make rook reasonably auditable
You might be interested in rook if you're a KeePassXC user. Why might you want this instead of:
- Gnome secret-server, KDEs wallet, or pass? rook uses your (a) KeePass DB, while most other projects store secrets in their own DBs and require (usually manual) sync'ing when passwords change.
- One of the browser secret storage? Those also keep a bespoke DB which needs to be synced, and they're limited to browser use. Rook supports using secrets in cron jobs or on the command line (e.g. mbsync, vdirsyncer, msmtp, etc, etc).
- KeePassXC? KeePassXC does provide a secret service that mocks Gnome secret-service, but you have to keep KeePassXC (a GUI app) running even if you only rarely use the UI. Rook can also be used on a headless machine.
- The KeePassXC command line tool? That requires entering the password for every request, making it tedious to use and impractical for automated, periodic jobs.
Rook is read-only, and intended to be complementary to KeePassXC. The KeePassXC command line tools are just fine for editing, where providing a password for every action is acceptable, and of course the GUI is quite nice for CRUD.
I use keepass (KeepassXC on desktop, KeepassDX on Android but I'm sure there is an IOS client too) I sync the database between all my devices and my server (hub and spoke) with Syncthing
I've been using various versions of keepass for ever. Until recently I had the database on Google drive. It's now local and sync'd with syncthing. It's a bit "different", but once you get used to it, it works very well.
I also use KeepassXC and Synthing together and I am very happy with this combination.
One tip that I have, if you are worried about the security of the database file being shared, is to get 2 Yubikeys and use these, along with a strong passphrase, to protect the database file.
theres also the option of using a "key file" with Keepass, which can be any file, an mp3, an ebook or whatever, and then you select that file when youre entering your password. so as well as someone trying to brute force your password they also have to guess what key file youre using, which would be next to impossible if you had a folder full of hundreds of files
Same boat for me, works great! I got the NFC Yubikeys which work fine with Android.
Been usingthe same setup for years as well and Im happy with it, never had any issues with it
Is the data super important to you?
Let someone else host it.
~~Bitwarden in the cloud.~~
Edit: Bitwarden paying the monthly/yearly fee to BW. I wasn’t implying trying to host it yourself in the cloud.
Agreed. Unless your setup and security practices is flawless, I think passwords are better managed by specialists paid for it.
Your security will never be flawless. Human nature is to slip up every once and a while, and security is an ever evolving game of cat and mouse and even the professionals who spend their entire careers defending infrastructure are constantly playing catch-up.
I would never host my passwords locally because I know my security at home is nowhere near the security of a professional platform, especially one as trusted as Bitwarden. My dumb family photos and personal git repo? Sure. But Bitwarden holds passwords to my bank, government websites, work stuff, my credit cards, etc.
Waaay too much risk for me, and if anyone is looking at this i would recommend that you seriously consider what kind of liability you are really bringing on.
Passwords are one I happily pay for someone else to worry about
That’s about my most valuable digital data
This. And to add to what other commenters have said, by using Bitwarden and paying for their Premium plan (very cheap, just $10/year), even if you don't use all their features, you're supporting a good project. It's critical infrastructure, I think the price is more than fair.
Either way, you should always make periodic backups from any cloud service you use, encrypted of course.
just $10/~~month~~ year
Yes! Oh my, I'm silly; that was precisely my point and I managed to mess it up 🙃
Thank you for the correction!
This is how I view password managers too, even though I have my home server backing up
KeepassXC + Syncthing. Using for 2+ years no issues. Have separate database files for each device and merge them as needed.
I do the same thing on my laptop and gaming PC. My only beef with KeePassXC is that they refuse to implement WebDAV, despite the OG KeePass having it. Otherwise it's fantastic.
just have 1 password for everything, problem solved.
I look at it like this:
- I don't absolutely trust the security of my server. Sure, it hasn't had a breach.....yet, but that possibility is inevitable, given the amount of bots that keep trying to get in by the minute. It's secure, yes, but is it secure enough to entrust the keys to my bank account, my business ventures, et al? IF somebody got the key to my Lemmy account, it would be bothersome, but not cataclysmic since all online accounts are silo'd with only a couple that are linked.
- Bitwarden spent a lot of time and money building a large infrastructure that is, imho, far more secure than my little server. Bitwarden has a pretty good track record. They have had some vulnerabilities, even as recent as '23 but these have been remediated.
- Confirmation bias...I've been using Bitwarden for untold years now and have never had an issue, other than the recent UI theming schema that was so castigated by users that they offered a way to switch back.
While hosting my own password manager would fit right in with the rest of my selfhosting, I think sometimes it's better to defer to more secure options when dealing with highly sensitive data.
Bitwarden is absolutely solid,yes.
Local server wise: If OP uses it in a local only setup behind a proper VPN implementation from my point of view the risk is acceptable. It's not that hard to secure a home server in a way that Vaultwarden is not at risk - and when you're so compromised that it is, then the attacker can easily use other vectors to gain the same data (RAt,keyloggers, etc.)
I use KeePass (Keepass2Android, KeePassXC, OG KeePass, and KeePassium) for everything. Been using KeePass in general for 20-ish years.
Recently, I decided to export all of my passwords from Firefox, Chrome, and Edge, import the data into my KeePass database under their own folders, then delete everything from the browsers. That way I can move entries that weren't already in the database to their respective locations in the database hierarchy, delete duplicates, and change insecure passwords.
The database is hosted on my phones (work and personal), laptop, gaming PC, and a server at home, all synced with Syncthing. My work laptop also has Portable KeePass that accesses the database via WebDAV to my server.
This is what I did. Once Firefox did something and wiped my passwords from sync only way I got them back was I had an old laptop I didn’t use often that was synced to my account. Now I use keepass that’s saved locally and a backup on my nas & flashdrive.
This
x10
I switched to Bitwarden after the LastPass stuff a couple years ago, and I just got around to installing Vaultwarden on my TrueNAS system at home. Using a single Cloudflare Tunnel to handle secure external connections for that and other services like Emby easily. Took a little bit to setup following some guides, but has been working flawlessly for me and some friends. You can use the regular Bitwarden apps and extensions since they natively support self hosting.
I don’t really see the problem with having the password manager in the cloud if it is protected by 2FA. I tried vaultwarden (self hosted) about a year ago and the showstopper was that I couldn’t store a new password when off LAN or without first connecting the VPN. I am sure there are on demand vpn type services, but it was clunky. It would have been great it if would work locally on the phone then sync the password to the vault when it came back online
I use GNU pass synced through an internal Gitea. Have wireguard to sync remotely. Works pretty good, I would recommend not setting an expiration on the key, the git history keeps the old encryption anyways.
This is the way to go.. though I've moved from pass to go pass which is basically the same thing but written in go and looks to be better maintained.. also moved from gitea to forgejo since I think gitea has had some maintainer changes over the last couple of years that may not have been in the spirit of remaining fully FOSS
If you've been using passkeys, you'll need to generate new ones when you switch. AFAIK, they aren't exportable from Google or Apple. Which, among other reasons, is why I'll just stick to high-entropy passwords. I've had some sites like Amazon try to sneakily make me register passcodes, I've had to go back and tear them out before they screw me somehow.
Self hosting a password manager is great, but be sure to read up on keeping it secure, and don’t store anything important in it until you have working, tested backup solution. And re-test it frequently in a non-destructive way.
If you lose your password storage to a disk failure or something, you’re gonna be hurting for a while.
If you don't have a hard requirement of it being fully (!) OpenSource, then I would recommend Enpass. Relatively pleasing UI that runs native on Win, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS. It has browser plugins for Chrome and Firefox that talk directly to the running fat client (so no multiple authentication with different browsers necessary).
The password db is completely local, but it offeres several sync mechanisms like WebDAV or Dropbox or also iCloud; basically whatever can store files. If it's a NAS in your home, it simply will sync once you are back home.
It also offers "WiFi Sync", in which case you designate one machine running Enpass as the server and link other clients to it, then you don't even need to run a separate hosting for it (but that machine needs to be on and running Enpass when you want to sync, obviously).
It's basically a less open but much more convenient and beautiful KeePass(XC).
i have keepass on only one device. i don't mind looking up individual passwords and typing them in manually when on other devices.
on the device which hosts keepass, the app is hidden and hoops must be jumped to reach it.
i back up the encrypted password database once a month to a cloud service as insurance against me losing that one device.
it's not the most convenient setup but i sleep so much easier for it.
using passphrases instead of passwords can make this a lot easier as well. a lot of times i just glance at a passphrase on my phone and then type the whole thing in one go into my laptop
Seafile or nextcloud
if you need to share passwords with other people and do that often then that would be the only reason i would recommend a server-client based password manager. otherwise theres too many points of failure for my liking, especially for something that i use on a daily basis.
KeePass on the other hand is just a single file thats stored locally and all you need is an app to read it. you dont need an internet connection or a VPN to access it remotely. your wifi could be down, even your power could be out and you would still have access to your database
being able autofill desktop program logins was the main reason i switched away from bitwarden years ago
KeepassXC on desktop has a feature called "Autotype" which basically simulates keystrokes to fill in your passwords. theres also an option to integrate with the KeepassXC browser extension, but with Autotype your browser has no connection to your database at all. i kind of feel this is a huge elephant in the room that most other password managers just gloss over. sure, you are getting a lot more convenience by having your browser autofill your passwords but its also adding a huge attack surface just for the sake of a few seconds or a few clicks.
that said, Autotype isnt great at guessing all sites you might be trying to log into but there is this browser extension that will change your browsers window title to show the full site url which KeepassXC can then read
one really underrated feature that i dont see any of the others doing is giving you the ability to use multiple vaults at once. you can have one vault for things that are really important, then everything else in another vault and have different strength passwords/passphrases for each one. i have maybe 300 logins but only around 10% of them are important. its kind of a pain if all you want to do is just log into some random forum but you have to type a long secure master password just to open your vault
Sandpass on sandstorm
It's dated, but phenomenal (and secure)
It's strange how I never see this mentioned anywhere, but there's a way to get unique secure passwords for every site/app without needing to store them anywhere. It's called LessPass, and essentially generates passwords based on 3 fields (site, username, master password) and works relatively well, because the advantages are quite obvious I'll list the potential downsides:
- If one password is compromised or needs changing for whatever reason you need to increase a counter and need to remember which counter for which site (this is less problematic than it sounds, except in places that have a password policy that forces you to change your password periodically)
- Android can store the master password and use fingerprint to input it, but in PC you always have to type your master password which can get annoying.
- You need to change your passwords to this new format, which can take a while, and years down the line you're trying to login somewhere and don't remember if you've already migrated it or not.
You also have to keep track the site and how you spell it. For example is it "Microsoft" or "microsoft"?
And keep track of the current name of the site vs the old name. For example am I signing into Microsoft or Live.com or Xbox?
And keep track of my username. Is it my email? Which email? Which username?
I understand the concept but I think if falls apart fast.
Yup, but most of that is easily solvable by being consistent, e.g. always use lowercase and your email (even if it's not the login for that site). But yes, you need to know to be consistent so it's a good point to make.
Hahaha, that's the point of a password manager. If remembering worked, we wouldn't need any of this.
Also, I have 300+ unique logins.
I have more than 120 electronic identities, impossible to track the counter or to remember the tld of all websites I visit.
The concepts is only useful in a very small and defined scenario.
My point is that of those 120 probably 110 have never been compromised nor forced you to change the password due to expiration policies. The remaining 10 are the ones that require some mental gymnastics, so while the problem exists it's not as serious as it sounds. I probably have more than 120 identities using this method since I've been using it for years, and I don't think I ever had to use the counter, it's a matter of being consistent in how you think about websites, for example if you know how you refer to a site slugify it and use that for the field, so you would use spotify, netflix, amazon-prime.