Vaultwarden vs 1Password: Real Monthly Cost

1Password charges by the plan for individuals and families, and by the person for businesses. A self-hosted Vaultwarden server costs the same whether one person uses it or twenty: you pay for the server. Vaultwarden works with the official Bitwarden apps and browser extensions, so it is the server you run and Bitwarden's apps are what people use. 1Password prices below are from its own pricing pages as of 2026-10-19.

The monthly cost

Vaultwarden here is the one-click Vaultwarden app on Veloxa Nano ($4 a month, $0.01 an hour), the size that matches its recommended 1 vCPU and 1 GB of RAM, with 25 GB of disk. A server left running all month costs its $4 cap.

Who	1Password, billed yearly (per month)	Vaultwarden on VeloxaHost
1 person	Individual: $3.99	$4
A family of 5	Families: $5.99 (includes 5 users)	$4
A team of 10	Teams Starter Pack: $24.95 (up to 10 members)	$4
A team of 20	Business: 20 × $8.99 = $179.80	$4

Billed monthly instead of yearly, 1Password lists Individual at $4.99 and Families at $7.99. New customers who pay yearly get a first-year price of $2.99 for Individual and $4.49 for Families. The Teams Starter Pack price is for annual billing, and up to 10 more seats can be added at per-member pricing. Business has a 1 user minimum.

For one person, 1Password and a Veloxa Nano cost about the same. For a family the server is a little cheaper, and for a team the gap grows with every person, because the server has no per-user price.

1Password is not the only hosted option. Bitwarden, whose apps Vaultwarden uses, lists a free plan for individuals, Premium at $1.65 a month billed annually ($19.80 a year) and Families at $3.99 a month billed annually for up to 6 users. For one person or one family, Bitwarden's own service costs less than any server.

What the VeloxaHost column leaves out

• HTTPS. The Vaultwarden web vault needs HTTPS: the project's README says the browser's Web Crypto API only works in a secure context. HTTPS on port 443 with your domain needs a dedicated IPv4 address, a paid add-on with limited availability; the console shows its current price. Without it, you can serve HTTPS on a forwarded port of the server's shared IPv4 block with a certificate from a DNS challenge, as the app page explains.
• Your time. You turn off open sign-ups, set the admin token, update the image and test restores. Snapshots before an update are not charged.
• Backups somewhere else. Your vault is on one server in one region. Scheduled backups are copied off-site, and you should download one now and then.
• Support. Vaultwarden is a community project and is not supported by Bitwarden, Inc. VeloxaHost supports the server, not the vault.

Where 1Password is the better pick

• One person who wants nothing to run. At $3.99 a month, 1Password costs about the same as the server and has no updates, certificates or backups for you to handle.
• Business integrations. 1Password's pricing page lists Business integrations with Okta, Entra ID, OneLogin and Duo. With Vaultwarden, anything like that is yours to set up and maintain.
• Someone to call. A paid plan comes with the vendor's support. A self-hosted vault comes with you.
• Nobody to page at night. If your server goes down, nobody can sync until you fix it. With 1Password, keeping the service up is the vendor's job.

Where self-hosted Vaultwarden is the better pick

• Teams. Twenty people on 1Password Business pay $179.80 a month billed yearly; on one Veloxa Nano they pay $4.
• Your vault on your server. The encrypted vault lives on a server you control, in US East, with backups on the schedule you choose.
• Features without a tier. Vaultwarden implements organizations, attachments and two-factor login without a paid plan.

FAQ

Is Vaultwarden free?

Vaultwarden has no license fee. It is released under the AGPL-3.0 license. You pay for the server it runs on: $4 a month on a Veloxa Nano.

Can my family or team use the 1Password apps with Vaultwarden?

No. Vaultwarden speaks the Bitwarden API, so everyone uses the free Bitwarden apps and browser extensions and enters your server's URL as a self-hosted server.

How do I move from 1Password?

Export your vault from 1Password, then use Tools, Import data in your Vaultwarden web vault; the Bitwarden importer accepts 1Password exports. Delete the unencrypted export file afterwards.

Is a $4 server enough for a team of twenty?

Vaultwarden needs very little memory, and a Veloxa Nano has 1 GB of RAM and 25 GB of disk. If many people sync at once and it slows down, raise the size from the console; the price follows the size, not the number of users.

What does it cost if I only run it for part of the month?

Its hours: $0.01 for each hour a Veloxa Nano runs, up to $4. A password vault is usually left running all month, so plan on $4.