Bitwarden Deprioritizes Free Tier, Pushes Premium as Default
What happened
Between the Apr 6, 2026 and Apr 13, 2026 captures of Bitwarden's pricing page, Pulse recorded one change: Free plan renamed 'Basic Free' to 'Start Free' and deprioritized; Premium is now the primary card. Feature bullets updated: 'All the core functions'/'Always free' replaced by 'Baseline security features'. Pulse files it as a product change (positioning). Pulse's latest capture (Nov 9, 2026) lists Premium at $1.65, Families at $3.99, Teams at $4 and Enterprise at $6.
It lands 9 days after Bitwarden's previous change, "Bitwarden Nearly Doubles Premium Price to $19.80/Year, Boosts Storage to 5 GB" (Apr 4, 2026). Before that Pulse recorded "Bitwarden adds phishing blocker to Premium plan" (Feb 22, 2026), "Bitwarden revamps Free and Families plan sharing descriptions" (week of Feb 2, 2026) and "Bitwarden updates sharing features for Free and Premium plans, boosting families" (Feb 9, 2026). Bitwarden has been tracked since 2023-12-03.
In the same window Dashlane, Enpass, 1password, Lastpass and NordPass also changed their Cybersecurity & Identity Management pricing pages. Those moves are listed further down, and the Pulse Agent can compare them side by side.
- RewordedPremiumPositioningBasic FreeStart Free
| Plan | Field | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premium | Positioning | Basic Free | Start Free | Reworded |
Values as written on Bitwarden's public pricing page in the two captures Pulse compared; where the page states no number, the cells give the wording before and after.
Evidence
The two captures Pulse comparedFull-page captures of Bitwarden's pricing page (bitwarden.com) from Apr 6, 2026 and Apr 13, 2026; the change is marked near the top of the page, where "Basic Free" becomes "Start Free".
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The two full-page captures with this change marked up are free with an account.
Bitwarden, the last 90 days
Full history- Jul 3, 2026PackagingBitwarden: Free plan demoted from pricing comparison
- Apr 13, 2026PackagingBitwarden Deprioritizes Free Tier, Pushes Premium as Default This change
- Apr 4, 2026Price increaseBitwarden Nearly Doubles Premium Price to $19.80/Year, Boosts Storage to 5 GB
- Feb 22, 2026ImprovementBitwarden adds phishing blocker to Premium plan
- Week of Feb 2, 2026PackagingBitwarden revamps Free and Families plan sharing descriptions
- Feb 9, 2026ImprovementBitwarden updates sharing features for Free and Premium plans, boosting families.
- Week of Jan 12, 2026ImprovementBitwarden Adds Phishing Blocker to Premium Plan Feature Lineup
Across Cybersecurity & Identity Management in the same window
All Cybersecurity & Identity Management changes- DashlaneApr 13Dashlane adds KnowBe4 integration for Password Management plan
- EnpassApr 6Enpass Slashes Password Manager Prices Up to 40% in Spring Sale
- 1passwordApr 51password raises individual plan 25% to $2.99/mo, cuts new customer discounts
- LastpassApr 3Lastpass adds promotional pricing terms excluding current customers
- NordPassApr 1NordPass Swaps Email Masking for Authenticator in Pricing Highlights
Questions about this change
Did Bitwarden raise prices in April 2026?
No list-price increase was recorded between Apr 6, 2026 and Apr 13, 2026. The change Pulse detected was a product change: positioning.
What changed on Bitwarden's pricing page between Apr 6, 2026 and Apr 13, 2026?
Premium positioning: Basic Free → Start Free, reworded. Pulse compared the captures it took on Apr 6, 2026 and Apr 13, 2026; the before/after table above lists each item as written on the page.
How often does Bitwarden change its pricing?
Pulse recorded 5 other pricing-page changes for Bitwarden in the 90 days before this one; the previous change was "Bitwarden Nearly Doubles Premium Price to $19.80/Year, Boosts Storage to 5 GB" on Apr 4, 2026; Bitwarden has been tracked since 2023-12-03.