Vaultwarden vs Yopass
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted password managers options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Vaultwarden
Lightweight Bitwarden-compatible password server
VS
Yopass
Securely share secrets with encrypted one-time links
| Feature | Vaultwarden | Yopass |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Password Managers | Password Managers |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 68,080 | ★ 3,148 |
| First released | 2018 | 2016 |
| Replaces | 1Password, LastPass, Dashlane | 1Password, Doppler |
What are Vaultwarden and Yopass?
Vaultwarden
Vaultwarden is a lightweight, unofficial Bitwarden-compatible server written in Rust that works with all official Bitwarden clients. It targets self-hosters who want Bitwarden without heavy resource use. It is deployed via Docker.
- Compatible with all Bitwarden clients
- Tiny resource footprint
- Organizations and sharing
- Includes premium-equivalent features
Yopass
Yopass is an open-source tool for sharing secrets in a quick and secure manner. Secrets are encrypted in the browser and shared via links that expire after a set time or a single view.
- Client-side encrypted secrets
- One-time and time-limited links
- Tiny resource footprint
- Memcached or Redis backend
Vaultwarden vs Yopass: key differences
Vaultwarden is written in Rust, while Yopass is built with Go. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Vaultwarden versus MIT for Yopass. Yopass is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for Vaultwarden. Yopass is the more established project (first released 2016), while Vaultwarden arrived in 2018. Vaultwarden has the considerably larger community, at 68,080 GitHub stars versus 3,148.
Why pick each one
Choose Vaultwarden if…
- Extremely lightweight
- Works with official apps
- Easy to deploy
Watch out for
- Unofficial, community project
- Self-hosting security is on you
Choose Yopass if…
- Very lightweight
- No persistent database needed
Watch out for
- Focused on sharing, not storage
Frequently asked questions
Is Vaultwarden or Yopass better?
Neither is universally better. Vaultwarden has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Vaultwarden and Yopass free and open-source?
Yes. Vaultwarden is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Yopass under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Vaultwarden and Yopass with Docker?
Vaultwarden: yes. Yopass: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Vaultwarden or Yopass?
Yopass has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for Vaultwarden. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.