Vaultwarden

A lightweight, unofficial Bitwarden-compatible server written in Rust for self-hosting.

Open sourceSelf-hostablePassword managers

Verified facts: 3 of 3
Alternatives ranked: 5
Approved reviews: 0
Visits sent from here: 0

About Vaultwarden

Vaultwarden is a community-built reimplementation of the Bitwarden server API, written in Rust. It lets you self-host a password vault on very modest hardware, such as a Raspberry Pi or a small VPS, and use the official Bitwarden browser extensions, desktop and mobile apps against it. It supports most of what Bitwarden offers, including organisations and sharing, attachments, Send, emergency access and two-factor login, without the heavier stack of the official self-hosted server. It is free and open source under AGPL-3.0 and is usually run from a single Docker container. It is not affiliated with Bitwarden, so you are responsible for updates, backups and security, and you won't get vendor support. It suits home-lab users, families and small groups who want Bitwarden's apps with their data on their own server.

Best for: Home-lab users and families who want Bitwarden's apps on a server they run.

What works

Runs in one small container on modest hardware
Works with the official Bitwarden apps and extensions
Free and open source

Why people leave

Unofficial, so no vendor support
You handle updates, backups and security
Can trail official Bitwarden features

Top Vaultwarden alternatives

See all 5

1
Bitwarden
The official hosted service, if you'd rather not run a server.
65.3
2
Passbolt
Self-hosted and open source, designed around team sharing.
62.6
3
Psono
Self-hosted team manager with its own clients.
59.6
4
Proton Pass
Hosted, privacy-focused alternative with no maintenance.
57.5
5
KeePassXC
No server at all: keep an encrypted file and sync it yourself.
52.4

Why people left Vaultwarden

In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.

No switching stories yet. If you moved away from Vaultwarden, review the app you switched to and tell us why.

Reviews

No approved reviews yet. How we verify reviewers

Write a review of Vaultwarden

Your rating of Vaultwarden

Name

Never shown publicly. A work email helps us verify you.

Title

Your review

What did you use it for, and what was good or bad? At least 40 characters.

Did you switch from another app?

Why did you leave it?

How can we verify you use it? (optional)

A GitHub username, your company domain, or say you can send a screenshot. Verified reviews count more.

I received money, credit or a gift for writing this review. (Incentivized reviews are shown but don't count toward rankings.)

By submitting, you confirm you're at least 16 and agree to our terms. Your name, rating, review and the date are published; your email isn't. See our privacy policy.

Vaultwarden: common questions

Is Vaultwarden free?

Yes. Vaultwarden is free, open-source software that you can host yourself.

Is Vaultwarden open source?

Yes. The source code is on GitHub at dani-garcia/vaultwarden. You can also run it on your own server.

What platforms does Vaultwarden run on?

Vaultwarden is available for Self-hosted.

What are the best alternatives to Vaultwarden?

The highest-ranked Vaultwarden alternatives right now are Bitwarden, Passbolt and Psono. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.

See all 5 Vaultwarden alternatives

Vaultwarden facts

3 of 3 verified

License: AGPL-3.0; Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab); “License: AGPL-3.0 (GNU Affero General Public License v3.0).”
Compatibility: Bitwarden clients; Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab); “Description: Unofficial Bitwarden compatible server written in Rust, formerly known as bitwarden_rs.”
Language: Rust; Checked Oct 25, 2026github.com(opens source in a new tab); “Description: Unofficial Bitwarden compatible server written in Rust, formerly known as bitwarden_rs.”