Of all the apps you might replace, the password manager is the one that demands the most care. It holds the keys to everything — your email, your bank, your cloud storage — which means a botched migration does not just lose data, it locks you out of your life. The good news: password managers are built around a standard export format, so a careful migration is straightforward. The bad news: “careful” is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
This is the step-by-step safe method: prepare, export securely, import, verify every critical login, then decommission the old vault. No lockouts, no lost logins, no panic. For why even well-funded apps can disappear, see The Lifecycle of an App: From Launch Hype to Sunset Email; for finding subscriptions tied to the old manager, our 2026 Subscription Audit: Find the Paid Apps You Forgot About audit helps.
Before you touch anything: preparation
Preparation prevents the two classic disasters: being locked out mid-migration and exporting your vault insecurely. First, make sure you can log into your current password manager on at least two devices — if you only have one working session, fix that before you begin. Second, confirm you know your master password by heart (or have it recorded somewhere safe and offline); you will need it multiple times.
Third, update the old vault before migrating. Delete dead accounts, fix the logins you know are stale, and resolve duplicates. Migrating a messy vault just moves the mess; thirty minutes of cleanup now saves confusion later. Fourth, ensure your email account — the recovery path for nearly everything — is secured with a strong unique password and two-factor authentication that you control independently of either password manager.
Inventory your two-factor setups
If your old password manager also stores your two-factor codes, migrating is slightly more delicate: you must move the 2FA secrets without losing access to any account mid-process. List every account with 2FA, note where the codes live, and plan to transfer them in the same session as the passwords. Never delete the old 2FA source until the new one is verified working for every account.
Step 1: export the vault securely
Password managers export to CSV — an unencrypted, plain-text file containing every password you own. Treat this file like the crown jewels, because that is exactly what it is. Export to a local drive (never cloud storage, never email it to yourself), on a trusted private computer, with nobody looking over your shoulder.
The moment the export completes, the clock starts: that CSV is the most sensitive file you will ever create. Do not leave it sitting while you make coffee. Move directly to the import step, and plan to securely delete the file the moment the migration is verified — not “later,” now. Your operating system’s secure-delete or a file shredder beats dragging to trash, which merely hides the file.
Step 2: import into the new manager
Create your new vault first: choose a strong master password (unique, memorable, written down and stored somewhere safe and offline until memorized), enable two-factor authentication on the new manager itself, and then import the CSV using the new manager’s import tool. Most managers accept the standard CSV format directly; some offer dedicated importers for specific competitors that preserve folder structure and custom fields.
After import, check the counts: number of logins, secure notes, and other items should match the old vault. Discrepancies usually come from custom fields or attachments that the CSV format does not carry — identify them now and transfer them manually. Attachments (scanned documents, license files) almost never survive a CSV migration; move those by hand.
Step 3: verify the critical logins
Do not trust the import blindly — verify. Start with the five accounts that would hurt most to lose: email, bank, cloud storage, the password manager’s own recovery, and your phone carrier. For each, log out and log back in using the credential from the new manager. This is the moment to catch corrupted characters, truncated passwords, or misassigned usernames.
Then spot-check a broader sample — twenty or thirty logins across categories. Pay special attention to logins with special characters in the password (the most common CSV casualty), very long passwords (occasionally truncated), and non-Latin characters (encoding issues). Fix problems in the new vault directly so the corrected version is the one that survives.
Step 4: move two-factor authentication
If you are moving 2FA codes too, do it now — after passwords are verified, before the old manager is touched. For each account, disable 2FA in the old setup and re-enroll in the new one, testing the new code immediately. Work through the list methodically; this is the highest-risk phase because a mistake here locks you out.
Keep recovery codes. Every important account offers backup or recovery codes for 2FA — collect them into the new manager’s secure notes as you go. These codes are your parachute: if a 2FA migration goes wrong, recovery codes get you back in without a support ordeal. Most people ignore recovery codes until the day they desperately need them; be the exception.
Step 5: parallel run, then decommission
Run both managers for two to four weeks. Use the new one daily; keep the old one as reference. This catches the stragglers: the login you forgot to verify, the secure note that did not import, the 2FA code you missed. Update the new vault as discoveries happen so it converges on complete.
When the new vault has proven itself, decommission deliberately. First, securely delete every trace of the migration CSV — verify it is gone from the drive, the trash, and any automatic backups that may have captured it. Second, change your most critical passwords (email, bank) so that no lingering copy of the old vault — a forgotten device, an old backup — remains a live key to your accounts. Third, close or delete the old password manager account.
That second step — rotating critical passwords after migration — is the one most guides skip and the one that matters most. The old vault existed on devices and backups you may have forgotten; passwords created before the migration could theoretically be recovered from those copies. Fresh passwords after the move close that window cleanly.
Choosing the new manager: what actually matters
Since you are moving anyway, choose well. The criteria that predict long-term satisfaction: independent third-party security audits (published, recent, and repeated — a one-time audit five years ago is marketing), a sustainable business model you can see and understand, apps for every platform you use with reliable sync, and an export story as good as the import story. Run the export test on candidates during evaluation, exactly as you will after adopting.
Features worth weighing: passkey support (the industry is moving this way and your next manager should be ready), secure sharing for family or team use, emergency access for a trusted person, and a track record of prompt security updates. Features worth ignoring: flashy UI themes, marginal autofill differences, and any “AI” feature that touches your vault — your passwords are the last place for experimental data processing.
Consider the company’s shape, not just the product. An independent company whose entire business is the password manager has aligned incentives: your subscription is their revenue. A password manager that is a side project of a larger company can be excellent, but ask what happens to it if the parent pivots — the shutdown lens applies here as much as anywhere. The ideal is boring: a profitable, focused company doing one thing well for years.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to store my vault in the cloud at all?
Reputable password managers use zero-knowledge encryption: your data is encrypted on your device before upload, and the company cannot read it. Your master password is the single point of failure — make it strong and unique. The cloud copy protects against device loss; the encryption protects against breaches. Both halves matter.
Should I keep a paper backup of anything?
Yes, for exactly three things: your master password (until memorized, then destroy or secure-store it), your email recovery codes, and the recovery codes for your password manager itself. Paper cannot be hacked remotely; it can only be lost or stolen physically, which for most people is the smaller risk. Store it somewhere sensible, not taped to the monitor.
What about family or shared vaults?
Migrate shared vaults together, not separately — two people editing two different vaults during a transition is how passwords get lost. Agree on the new manager, move the shared items as a unit, and verify shared logins jointly. Then update emergency access: most managers let you designate someone who can request vault access if you are incapacitated. Set it up; it is the feature everyone postpones.
What do I do about the old manager on forgotten devices?
Use the new manager’s session management to revoke all sessions and deauthorize old devices — this is usually one click in the security settings. Then, on devices you still own, uninstall the old app and delete its local data. For devices you no longer own, the password rotation in step 5 is your protection: even a fully intact old vault becomes useless once the passwords inside are changed.
How often should I switch password managers?
Rarely, and only for good reasons — a shutdown, a trust breach, or a genuinely better fit. Password manager migrations are high-stakes operations; the best migration is the one you never need. Choose carefully the first time (sustainable company, good export, independent security audits) and this guide gathers dust.
Replacing a password manager is the highest-stakes migration most people will ever do, and it is entirely manageable with method: prepare, export securely, import, verify critical logins, move 2FA, parallel-run, then decommission with password rotation. Follow the order, do not skip the verification, and securely delete that CSV. Your keys deserve nothing less.