Switch from Bitwarden to KeePass

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Today we propose another one guide, as you know from the introduction of the difficulty level on Le Alternatives we have decided to also include more or less complex guides to be able to learn more and more things and to find more and more alternatives. Today we tried to switch from Bitwarden to KeePass, two password managers that we have already talked about in the past (article on Bitwarden And article about password managers).

As always, we ask you to use caution, especially if you are not sure of what you are doing: before possibly deleting your account on Bitwarden, make sure that everything is really working properly on KeePass.

The reasons why you might need and/or want to do something like this are different. Bitwarden currently remains one of the best, if not the best, password managers out there. Also it is Open source and free, so if you don't like, for example, the idea that he recently received an investment of 100 million dollars ¹ or the fact that it uses Microsoft servers in the United States ², you can always use the version of Bitwarden managed in Europe by Devol: https://vaultwarden.devol.it/

Furthermore, one of the reasons why this article and this site exists is precisely the intention of find alternatives. Always.

Switch from Bitwarden to KeePass

However, if you want to manage your passwords independently and are not able and/or do not want to set up your own Bitwarden server then you could start thinking about switch from Bitwarden to KeePass.

Our final goal is to try to replicate what Bitwarden does, which is not to be taken for granted given that KeePass was born as a local and offline password organizer. However, given that it is a project Open source and free Over the years, dozens of software have been created that manage the files created by KeePass, i.e. files with the extension .kdbx.

In our case we tried to replicate the use of Bitwarden using these tools:

• KeePass
• KeePassDX for Android
• KeePassXC for desktop
• kDrive or Koofr (or other WebDAV providers, beware: kDrive does not offer WebDAV in its free version. Here you will find a series of drives that work with the WebDAV protocol)

As many of you will have easily guessed, we will try to replace Bitwarden with KeePass with the storage of passwords in the cloud on a provider that allows you to exploit the WebDAV protocol. This way you will support the file .kdbx (encrypted) in the cloud and you will manage it locally with the various Fork by KeePass.

Let's see, step by step, how we did it.

First step: export the safe

First you need to export the Bitwarden vault. To do this you will have to access the site (this cannot be done via the extension) and go to Tools -> Export Vault. Save the .json file unencrypted (we haven't found a way to import it into KeePass as encrypted) and keep it in a safe place. If you also have organizations with which you share passwords you will need to export those too by going to Organizations -> Tools -> Export Vault.

We now have the .json file (or files) on our computer that contain all our information.

Second step: import to KeePass

The most complete import program is the original KeePass for desktop. So let's download it from the official site. Download version 2.x because it is more recent and will allow you to easily import the Bitwarden .json file.

Once KeePass is installed, create a new safe. As we have explained, this is a guide for having files in the cloud and not locally, so we give it what we want as a path kDrive, Koofr or on our provider with protocol WebDAV. We save the safe, choose a secure password and then select KeePass File -> Import.

Here, as you can see, there is already the option to import files from Bitwarden with a .json extension (other password managers are also reported so if you want to try and let us know how they work, let us know). We select our .json file (or files) and import. You shouldn't get any errors and now you have your nice file .kdbx with all your Bitwarden passwords inside and in the cloud, encrypted, on your trusted WebDAV provider.

Step Three: Use KeePass on Android

We are not finished yet because, as we explained, there is no "KeePass app" to use everywhere but we will have to take a few (small) more steps. Let's install KeePassDX on our Android: you can do it via F-Droid, Play Store or directly from GitHub.

KeePassDX isn't the only application you can or should use: there are literally dozens of great applications for managing files .kdbx. For example, there are AuthPass or Keepass2Android. We will talk about KeePassDX because it seemed to us to be the most complete, the most interesting and the most updated.

After downloading it, just tell it that you want to open an existing database. Search for the file on your online cloud (if you have the kDrive or Koofr everything will be much simpler because you can see it as if it were a local file) and open it by entering your master password.

Now in the KeePassDX settings you can decide what to do: whether it allows you to fill in the fields independently by setting autocompletion, whether to use the Keyboard (a keyboard created specifically for entering username and password) or whether you prefer to manually enter the various data.

And on iOS?

As you know, unfortunately we don't always have the opportunity to try programs on iOS. However, KeePass is free software and therefore there is also software for iOS. You can try using AuthPass or Strongbox. Both should handle KeePass passwords without any problems.

Step Four: Use KeePass on Desktop

Now that we're settled on Android we can move on to the desktop. If you want you can use the KeePass already installed but it does not have the ability to automatically enter credentials Browsers. So if you have this last need we recommend using the software KeePassXC of which there are also extensions for Chrome/Brave And Firefox.

Warning: to use the extensions it is necessary and mandatory to first install (and keep open) the program KeePassXC.

So we install KeePassXC, follow the instructions to open our safe and then go in Instruments – Settings -> Integration with i Browsers, select the Browsers on which you want to activate the extension and press Ok. Now you can install the extension on Browsers which will be automatically synchronized with the program. The extension works about as well as Bitwarden and is very practical and simple to use.

Moving from Bitwarden to KeePass: conclusions

So we've finished our guide: you should now have everything synchronized on your WebDAV provider and have more control over your passwords than with Bitwarden.

Final security notes: both KeePass and Bitwarden allow you to also store TOTP codes for two-factor authentication. We generally advise against this procedure because it defeats one of the reasons why two-factor authentication exists: if someone comes into possession of the password to your safe, you are literally screwed.

Even though it is a little more tedious and practical, we always recommend using external applications for two-factor authentication. There are many, we have analyzed several of them here. In short if you have Android you can use Aegis or Authenticator Pro and if you have iOS you can use Raivo OTP.

1. Accelerating Value for Bitwarden Users – Bitwarden raises $100 million[↩]
2. Bitwarden processes and stores all data securely in the Microsoft Azure Cloud in the US[↩]

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