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Password and credential managementInternal research
The vault is only the start.
A vault fixes passwords for your people. The bigger risk sits in shared admin logins and secrets in your code. We match you to one platform that covers both.
Free. No fit, no obligation.
The problem
Passwords are the smallest part of this.
A staff password manager is the sensible start, and most teams stop there. The bigger question is who and what can log in, and whether you can prove it: your people, shared admin accounts, secrets in code, and bots and AI agents now holding credentials.
Credentials are the currency of intrusions. Phishing and infostealers harvest them, then attackers reuse them, move sideways and escalate. Exploited vulnerabilities edged past them as the most common way in during 2026, but stolen credentials still turn up in about two in five breaches.
Two in fivebreaches still involve stolen or misused credentials.
Architecture
MFA protects the login. It stops there.
Three gaps a login prompt was never built to close.
- 01
Stolen sessions
Adversary-in-the-middle kits lift the session token after MFA and walk straight in, and infostealers harvest cookies that skip the prompt entirely. MFA guards the door, not the keys taken once someone is through.
- 02
Standing admin access
The shared domain admin password, and the service accounts nobody rotates. This is the credential an attacker wants most, and MFA does nothing to control who uses it or when.
- 03
Secrets and machines
API keys hard-coded in your repositories, secrets in your pipelines, and the machines and AI agents that authenticate with no person present. None of it ever sees a login prompt.
Password and credential management
Architecture is what you’re actually choosing.
Every vendor says they're secure. One question separates them: can you read my vault? A zero-knowledge platform can't, so a breach of the vendor yields only ciphertext.
It's the lesson of the LastPass breaches, and you can test it two ways. Ask vendors to prove their encryption. Then check how many of your domains and users sit in breach and infostealer data.
What you get
What good credential management gives you.
What real coverage looks like past the vault.
Standing risk under control
Shared admin passwords and privileged accounts brought under just-in-time access, session control and automatic rotation, so no one holds more than they need for longer than they need it.
An audit trail you can show
One view of who and what can access what, with one-click removal when someone leaves. It's how you evidence the Essential Eight's two credential controls: multi-factor authentication and restricted admin privileges.
What to look for
What can the top platforms do?
A vault, a generator, autofill and MFA on the vault are the price of entry now. These are the capabilities that decide how much of your real risk actually gets covered.
Zero-knowledge architecture
Your vault is encrypted and decrypted on your side, so the provider cannot read it and a breach of them yields nothing usable.
Privileged access management in the same platform
Shared admin credentials brought under just-in-time elevation, session control and automatic rotation, without a heavyweight legacy project.
Secrets management for code and pipelines
Secrets pulled from a vault at runtime instead of hard-coded, then rotated automatically, so a leaked repository does not hand over the keys.
Passkey custody
The vault holds and manages passkeys, which are phishing-resistant by design, keeping it relevant as passwords decline.
Machine and AI-agent identity
Scoped, short-lived, revocable credentials for the bots and agents that authenticate with no person present, under the same policy and audit as human logins.
Independent certification
FedRAMP High and FIPS 140-3 validation separate enterprise-grade platforms from consumer-heritage tools, which matters for regulated and cyber-insured buyers.
Maturity
Most teams stop at the vault.
Credential maturity, tier by tier.
Focused
A password vault for your people. Unique generated passwords, autofill, secure sharing, MFA on the vault. This solves credential hygiene for humans, and it is the on-ramp. Most teams that have done anything at all sit here.
Typical features
- A vault for your people
- Unique generated passwords
- Autofill and secure sharing
- MFA on the vault
Broad
The vault plus privileged access. Shared admin credentials brought under control, with just-in-time elevation, session control, automatic rotation and central audit.
Typical features
- Shared admin logins vaulted
- Just-in-time elevation
- Session control and recording
- Automatic password rotation
- Central audit of privileged access
Best fit if you’re being targeted
Comprehensive
Everything Broad does, plus one control plane over human, privileged, machine and AI-agent credentials, under a single zero-knowledge policy engine. The most room to adapt as AI agents get credentials of their own. Begin here if developers keep secrets in code or admins share logins.
Everything in Broad, plus
- Passkeys alongside passwords
- Secrets management for code and pipelines
- Machine and AI-agent credentials governed
- One zero-knowledge policy engine
- One-click removal when someone leaves
Tekspace Research
We research the password and credential management field.
Internal research
Password Management
Keeps every password, passkey and admin login in a vault only you can open.
Vendors assessed
- 1Password
- Bitwarden
- CyberArk
- Dashlane
- Delinea
- Keeper
- LastPass
- NordPass
What we test
- Zero-knowledge encryption
- Shared admin logins controlled
- Passkeys and secrets vaulted
Same tests on every product. The scores publish with the benchmark.
The Tekspace Fit Method
How we’d help you choose.
Five steps from the problem you have to the product that fits, each leaving you with something you keep.
- 01
Understand
For password and credential management
Agree whose credentials matter most: staff, shared admin logins, or secrets in code.
What you get
Problem brief. The agreed problem and what success looks like.
- 02
Map
For password and credential management
Where credentials live today, from browsers and spreadsheets to admin accounts and pipelines.
What you get
Environment map. Your tools, identity, users and constraints.
- 03
Narrow
For password and credential management
Zero-knowledge platforms only, ranked on how far they reach past the vault into privileged access.
What you get
Shortlist with reasons. Why each option made it, and why the rest did not.
- 04
Prove
For password and credential management
A pilot with one team, and a check of your domains in breach data, shows the real exposure.
What you get
Proof-of-value results. How each option did against your problem.
- 05
Enable
For password and credential management
Roll out the vault, bring admin access under control, and train people until the vault is the habit.
What you get
Handover plan. Deployment, training and who owns what.
Questions we hear most.
Even where we have a product we like, we’ll recommend something else if your context calls for it.
- No consulting fee
- If nothing fits, we say so
- Vendor-independent
- Operating since 2006