I’m fine with paying a bit more. I honestly don’t think I even use any of the premium features. I started paying because their founder answered some question I sent years ago and I figured that kinds of support deserved my support. I could still be on the free tier if cost were a concern.
replyWith that said, I do find the direction here concerning. Quietly rewriting values, removing promise of free tier, hiking prices with almost no notice. I’m concerned that this feels sudden and sneaky. Sneaky behavior erodes trust.
Management and leadership values, character, and integrity matter because it's unwise to assume there is some homogenous allegiance to customers behind the propaganda of putting the customer first. PE will and must squeeze for their margins as is their wont. They have learned it's unwise to draw attention to this.
replyTime to act accordingly.
I'm in the same boat, became a premium member to support Bitwarden and use the built-in authenticator. The subscription price is now a negative proposition, alongside the silent rollout and the other red flags raised in the post. I'll probably move to self-hosted, since I have spare compute on my VPS.
replyI am fine with the price increase, for me its how sneaky they're being about everything. If they sent a few emails about the recent changes I wouldn't care, but it feels like they do not want customers to know which is the last thing I want from a password manager.
replyIndeed. As I'm sure the new PE-focused CEO knows, the sale of a company includes not just the typical balance sheet items but also intangible assets such as goodwill. Being sneaky about is an attempt to minimize the loss of such intangibles ahead of a sale.
replyThe problem is the rug-pull. You can't go and proudly state "free forever", and then silently back down on that commitment. That is a textbook example for the enshittification cycle... lure users in with grand promises, sell out once you got enough of a following.
reply(Well, technically, you can, but then don't complain about getting called out)
they haven't backed down, you find the "Always free" claim in the very same webpage OP linked https://bitwarden.com/products/personal/#whats-the-differenc...
replyYou must be getting a different version of that page than me. The free tier is there but there’s no “always free” verbiage. There is “start free” verbiage.
replyEdit: “always free” was hidden under a collapsed section
It's not super big but it is there in the comparison list.
replyPricing: Always free
Ctrl+f for "Always"
I searched for the word “always”. It was not (and is not; I just checked again) there on the version of the page I was served.
replyEdit: Actually, it is there, hidden from search under the collapsed pricing section.
LOL.. you are correct. Funny thing though... the 'Always Free' text is linked to a "/start-free/" action\page. One could argue that they are hedging their bets.
replySome other commenter says there are Archive.org cached versions with "Start free" instead of "Always free", so they must have backpedaled on this. Maybe they realized they turned the knob a bit too much towards "hot", increasing the temperature of the proverbial water too noticeably.
replyI’m not willing to check all the pages on archive.org but for sure a month ago they had a big “Basic Free” tile in the plan comparison. Now it’s just Premium and Family. They are definitely downplaying the ability to use it for free.
replyhttps://web.archive.org/web/20260414143334/https://bitwarden...
Seems like they want to downplay the mentally that you would never benefit from an upsell to the paid plans, even if the free plan itself stays always free
replyas long as the people who signed up when it said it are granfathered, is it ok then?
replyMaybe okay on a personal level, but the PE maw eating another great option is just depressing in a more general sense.
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