Although Bitwarden offers a generous free tier for manaing your passwords, when it comes to a family subscription of 6 premium accounts, the cost will be USD$ 40 per year. However, this still means that our passwords are stored with Bitwarden and not 100% in our control. We are not saying that is a bad thing, but looking at the LastPass hack of a while ago, this might not be the most ideal situation for all users. After all, no one can guarantee that BitWarden won’t be the victim of a specialized cyber attack. If we want to stay in control of our data, and save up to the $40 per year, let’s look at a solution to self-host our password manager.
What is Vaultwarden?
Vaultwarden (formerly bitwarden_rs) is an unofficial Bitwarden-compatible server written in Rust, designed for self-hosting environments where the official Bitwarden server may be too resource-heavy or cost-prohibitive. It implements nearly all of the Bitwarden Client API, including personal vaults, password sharing, attachments, web icons, API keys, organizations (with collections, roles, event logs, policies), multi-factor authentication methods (TOTP, WebAuthn, YubiKey, Duo), emergency access, and an integrated admin backend. Because it speaks the same API, Vaultwarden works seamlessly with Bitwarden’s browser extensions, desktop applications, and mobile apps, so end users get the identical interface and experience they’d see with Bitwarden’s cloud service.
Bitwarden Pricing and Why It Costs Money
Bitwarden’s Free plan includes core password-management features: unlimited devices, vault health reporting, secure note storage, and basic sharing. Premium adds advanced capabilities like file attachments, integrated authenticator (TOTP) support, emergency access, and security reports for just $10 per year (billed annually), while the Families plan covers up to six users for $40 per year. These modest fees help fund hosting infrastructure, continuous feature development, regular third-party security audits, and customer support – ensuring the service remains reliable, secure, and up to date. Should you choose to rather go for the paid route, you will be supporting a great app, but today we are focussing on tacking control of our data so we will look at the self-hosting options.
How Self-Hosting Vaultwarden Works
Self-hosting Vaultwarden is straightforward if you have a server (physical or virtual) with Docker or Podman installed. We will be self-hosting VaultWarden in a future instalment as part of our Build Your Own Homelab series, so look out for that. We will be hosting it on our Docker instance with the help of Portainer.
Cost Savings of Self-Hosting Vaultwarden
By self-hosting Vaultwarden you avoid recurring subscription fees: a Premium Bitwarden account is $10 per year per user (and Families is $40 per year for up to six users), whereas Vaultwarden is entirely free to run, aside from any server hosting costs you choose. Many users report that hosting can be done on low-cost VPS plans or even repurposed home hardware, making the total cost negligible compared to per-seat subscriptions.
Benefits of Using Vaultwarden and Self-Hosting
- Full Data Control & Privacy: Your password vault lives on servers you manage – no third-party cloud provider has access to your encrypted data.
- Lightweight & Efficient: Vaultwarden uses far fewer resources than the official Bitwarden server, running smoothly on modest hardware like Raspberry Pi or small VPS instances.
- Advanced Admin Features: Built-in admin interface lets you disable public registration, invite users manually, configure icon caching and retention policies – all without paying extra fees.
- Open Source & Community-Driven: Under the AGPL-3.0 license, Vaultwarden’s development is transparent, with contributions from security-focused maintainers – one of whom works at Bitwarden in their spare time.
- Seamless Client Compatibility: Continue using official Bitwarden browser extensions, desktop apps, and mobile apps – no modifications needed, and Web Vault access works over HTTPS or localhost.
Conclusion
Vaultwarden offers a compelling self-hosting alternative to Bitwarden’s cloud service, giving non-technical users the same familiar clients and features while saving subscription costs. By running a lightweight Rust-based server in Docker, you retain complete control over your vault, benefit from privacy and customization, and eliminate per-user fees: only paying minimal hosting costs. Whether you’re looking to cut recurring expenses or simply want full ownership of your encrypted data, Vaultwarden makes self-hosting a straight-forward, cost-effective solution.