KeePass Password Safe is a

free and open-source Free and open-source software (FOSS) is software available under a Software license, license that grants users the right to use, modify, and distribute the software modified or not to everyone free of charge. FOSS is an inclusive umbrella term ...

password manager A password manager is a software program to prevent password fatigue by Random password generator, automatically generating, Autofill, autofilling and storing Password, passwords. It can do this for Application software, local applications or web ...

primarily for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. It officially supports

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and

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operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

s through the use of Mono. Additionally, there are several unofficial

ports Ports collections (or ports trees, or just ports) are the sets of makefiles and Patch (Unix), patches provided by the BSD-based operating systems, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD, as a simple method of installing software or creating binary packages. T ...

for

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, Android,

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, and

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devices, which normally work with the same copied or shared (remote) password

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

. KeePass stores usernames, passwords, and other fields, including free-form notes and file attachments, in an encrypted file. This file can be protected by any combination of a master password, a key file, and the current Windows account details. By default, the KeePass database is stored on a local file system (as opposed to

cloud storage Cloud storage is a model of computer data storage in which data, said to be on "the cloud", is stored remotely in logical pools and is accessible to users over a network, typically the Internet. The physical storage spans multiple servers (so ...

). KeePass comes in two different variants: KeePass 1.x and KeePass 2.x. Although the 1.x variant is the former variant it is supported indefinitely: Dominik Reichl: "2.x isn't the successor of 1.x, and 1.x isn't dead". KeePass 2.x has a different software basis in C# instead of the former C++. Mainly

communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

features are extended in KeePass 2.x: authentication with the

user account A user is a person who uses a computer or network service. A user often has a user account and is identified to the system by a username (or user name). Some software products provide services to other systems and have no direct end use ...

, remote and shared database editing as well as many plugins allowing communication and authentication with different

web browser A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scr ...

s and more. KeePass 1.x and 2.x support a number of plugins, although 2.x allows more plugins. It has a password generator and synchronization function, supports

two-factor authentication Multi-factor authentication (MFA; two-factor authentication, or 2FA) is an electronic authentication method in which a user is granted access to a website or Application software, application only after successfully presenting two or more distin ...

, and has a ''Secure Desktop'' mode. It can use a two-channel auto-type obfuscation feature to offer additional protection against keyloggers. KeePass can import from over 30 other most commonly used password managers. A 2017

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article described KeePass as one of the four most widely used password managers (alongside

1Password 1Password is a password manager developed by the Canadian software company AgileBits Inc. It supports multiple platforms such as iOS, Android, Windows, Linux, and macOS. It provides a place for users to store various passwords, software licenses ...

Dashlane Dashlane is a subscription-based password manager and digital wallet application available on macOS, Windows, iOS and Android. Dashlane uses a freemium pricing model with a subscription plan option. Overview Dashlane was founded in Paris o ...

and

LastPass LastPass is a password manager application. The standard version of LastPass comes with a Web interface, but also includes plugins for various Web browsers and apps for many smartphones. It also includes support for bookmarklets. Founded in ...

), being "popular among tech enthusiasts" and offering the same level of security as non-free competitors. A 2019 Independent Security Evaluators study described KeePass as well as other widely used password managers as being unable to control

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was Software release cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on July 2 ...

's tendency to leave passwords in cleartext in RAM after they are displayed using Windows controlled GUI. In addition, several GitHub projects (KeeFarce, KeeThief, Lazanga) specifically attack a running KeePass to steal all data when the host is compromised. KeePass cannot prevent password theft and, as Dominik Reichl, the administrator of KeePass, states, "neither KeePass nor any other password manager can magically run securely in a spyware-infected, insecure environment."

Overview

Import and export

The password list is saved by default as a .kdbx file, but it can be exported to .txt,

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and CSV. The XML output can be used in other applications and re-imported into KeePass using a plugin. The CSV output is compatible with many other password safes like the commercial closed-source Password Keeper and the closed-source Password Agent. Also, the CSVs can be imported by spreadsheet applications like Microsoft Excel or

OpenOffice OpenOffice or open office may refer to: Computing Software * OpenOffice.org (OOo), a discontinued open-source office software suite, originally based on StarOffice * Apache OpenOffice (AOO), a derivative of OOo by the Apache Software Foundation, ...

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. File format support can be expanded through the use of KeePass plugins.

Multi-user support

KeePass supports simultaneous access and simultaneous changes to a shared password file by multiple computers (often by using a shared network drive), however there is no provisioning of access per-group or per-entry. As of May 2014, there are no plugins available to add provisioned multi-user support, but there exists a

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