You may have heard of Zoho’s business apps before, but Zoho Vault can also be used as a personal password manager. During testing we found Zoho Vault to be a good password manager for storing your credentials and quickly accessing your online accounts, but it’s not perfect.

Let’s review this secure password manager and find out why it may or may not be right for your personal use.

Zoho Vault review at a glance

Zoho Vault pros and cons

Zoho Vault features

One of the best features Zoho Vault offers is the storage of unlimited passwords and notes. If you’re like us, you have what seems to be an endless array of passwords to remember. You may also have notes for various accounts to remind you what they’re used for and notes for general activities. Having the secure space to do all this is appealing.

Zoho works with numerous browsers. You not only have access to the most popular ones like Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari, but it also works with Vivaldi and Brave.

The Zoho Vault password manager secures your credentials with two-factor authentication (2FA), and you get a password generator to make it easier for you to figure out new secure passwords.

Password sharing

Since Zoho Vault has zero-knowledge architecture, you’re the sole owner of your passwords. This means that when you add a password, it’s visible only to you and no one else — unless you decide to share it.

You can set up a password as personal, which means it can never be shared with someone else. Otherwise, if you want to share passwords the process is fairly straightforward. There’s a section for sharing passwords where you can even share them in bulk. You can also set privileges for others on your account and allow them to only view, modify, or manage those passwords. The best password managers allow this in case you want to share any credentials with your family or close friends.

Two-factor authentication

Zoho Vault allows 2FA for better account security. Users can choose a second required login factor, including a text message, voice call, a time-based one-time password, Google Authenticator, and more.

Zoho Vault also has a native authenticator app called OneAuth if you want to use it. It’s not exactly how passwordless authentication works, but it does make storing your passwords more secure.

You don’t have to implement two-factor authentication if you don’t want to use it. It’s up to your discretion, but we advise turning it on to boost online account security.

Password generator

The password generator feature is easy to use. Once you enter the name of the account and your username, you can then select Generate Password. After that, you can customize the password length, whether you want mixed upper and lower cases, numbers, or special characters.

Alternatively, you can select a passphrase instead, but that may be overkill for some users. If you like the idea of a passphrase, Zoho Vault lets you select up to 20 words. For our review, we chose to use the password generator, and we were happy with the functionality.

Password strength report

Zoho Vault has a password strength report, which shows you how many passwords you’ve entered, which ones are weak, and reused logins. It drills down further to let you know the passwords you’ve accessed during the last 30 days.

In that section, you can see if any new passwords were added, deleted, or modified. We intentionally used some weak passwords to see if the assessment score would reflect that in the final calculation. It did show that the passwords were considered weak, but somehow we managed to get a “65% Good” score. We aren’t quite sure what that represents, since the ones we made up weren’t strong passwords.

Digital legacy

The Zoho Vault digital legacy is a little hazy at best. There are some instructions on adding emergency contacts, but those are for Super Admins and seem to be geared toward business users, not personal ones. We tested the free Zoho Vault plan and as we looked through the password manager interface, we found no way to set up digital legacy access in case of emergencies.

We did notice, however, that the Professional plan comes with a special admin account for emergency access. This may do the trick if you need to grant family members access to your passwords, but we'd like to see this as a feature for all plans — or at least the Standard plan as well.

Bonus features

Zoho comes with an audit section where you can see the accounts you’ve accessed, the location where you accessed them from, and the date and time you used them.

In the settings menu, you can also personalize the features. For instance, you can choose to show your favorite passwords by default, allow the master password to be pasted, and set an amount of time before the app locks after inactivity. There’s also a section to customize when you want to back up your data and how frequently you want that done.

The business plans, Professional and Enterprise, come with even more features that may or may not be of interest to you if you're just looking for a family password manager. These include the option to create user groups, integrations with apps like Azure and single sign-on apps like Okta, as well as the integrations with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 that come with the Standard plan.

Our Zoho Vault experience

Overall our Zoho Vault experience was positive. We like all the program’s features, and both the free and paid versions include a lot. The AES 256-bit security is standard military-grade encryption, and it makes this a safe password manager to use.

We did hit a snag when accessing our bank account. No matter how many times we tried or what we edited, the automatic login didn’t work. That said, it did work when connecting to LinkedIn. The password generator was flawless and simple to use. The browser extension was helpful and easy to access.

One shortcoming we found is that it doesn’t seem the digital legacy is accessible for personal users, but it is for business use. That would be a good feature to have in case of emergency, and emergencies do happen.

What if you were in a car accident and a family member needed access to a bank account? You may be ill and hospitalized for a lengthy period and a relative may need to help you with your online statements. In rare cases, people pass away unexpectedly and their family has no way of accessing critical accounts.

Zoho Vault privacy policy

According to Zoho’s website, all passwords and sensitive data stored in the vault remain private. Further, data is viewable only by the person who created or shared it. The data is encrypted and decrypted in the browser you use to store your master password and the data stored in Zoho’s servers is encrypted as well. Even if you request it, Zoho Vault cannot access your data.

The technique used to keep your privacy secure is called host-proof hosting, and it’s centered around the idea that you can access your data only with a master password. The host server can only retrieve encrypted data that’s forwarded by the browser and cannot access sensitive data in plain form.

When using any password manager, it’s crucial that you know your information is always safe and secure from unauthorized access.

Zoho Vault third-party audits

In Zoho’s literature, it shows that third-party modules and code libraries are used and tested rigorously internally before deployment. According to the security specifications, the network is also screened with certified intrusion detection and prevention systems to protect data.

There’s a list of certifications from third-party regulatory bodies that have given their stamp of approval in the form of security and privacy certifications. It’s important to note that there was no scoring on these, so we aren’t sure if Zoho passed with flying colors or barely passed at all. The data isn’t clear. The latest information shows that penetration testing by third-party experts was performed in May 2021.

Is Zoho Vault safe to use?

In our analysis, we didn’t find any breaches for Zoho Vault. Interestingly, The HIPAA Journal reported that Zoho Vault should be considered by businesses that are required to comply with the HIPAA Security Rule.[1] Additionally, the use of 2FA and MFA features makes it even more secure. When you use a secure password for your master password and have the other measures mentioned in place, Zoho Vault is a safe password manager.

Zoho Vault customer support

We didn’t need to contact customer service for this review, but there are several methods of communication. You can submit a form to request help and if you’d prefer to use email, you can send screenshots to support@zohovault.com. There are also global phone numbers you can call for 24-hour assistance 5 days a week.

Zoho compatibility

If you choose Zoho Vault, you probably won’t have any trouble finding a mobile device or browser that’s compatible. Zoho Vault has browser extensions and mobile apps for the following:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Safari
• Microsoft Edge
• Vivaldi
• Brave
• iOS
• Android

You can also download the Zoho Vault command line interface (CLI) if you want to use it on macOS, Windows, or Linux.

How much does Zoho Vault cost?

Zoho Vault is one of the cheaper password managers we’ve seen lately. You can choose the Free Forever version or the Standard plan. But if you're looking for a free password manager, there are other options like NordPass, Dashlane, and Bitwarden that allow you to use the app for free on one device.

If you'd like more features, the Standard plan costs $.90 per month and is billed annually. There are a few additional features you get with the Standard plan, like cloud backup, priority technical support, and password expiration alerts, among others.

Compared to other password managers, we think Zoho Vault is fair and gives you a lot for your money. It costs less than some password managers we’ve reviewed.

Zoho Vault plan comparison

Zoho Vault alternatives

If this password manager doesn’t check the boxes for you, there are some good alternatives. You’ll find plenty of features with competitive pricing in the following apps:

• NordPass: NordPass has strong encryption and a clean interface that comes at a reasonable price. We like that it comes with multi-factor authentication as well as passwordless authentication. It also has an Emergency Access feature in case someone needs your passwords.
  
  Get NordPass | Read NordPass Review
• LastPass: This password manager has family profile features and plenty of compatibility, but multiple breaches call for caution. It makes password sharing easy, and despite suffering a data breach in 2022, the company has been vocal about how it’s adapting.
  
  Get LastPass | Read LastPass Review
• 1Password: 1Password has no breach history and comes with unique features, like Travel Mode. It also has the Watchtower, which analyzes your overall security and makes recommendations.
  
  Get 1Password | Read 1Password Review

Zoho Vault FAQs

Bottom line: Is Zoho Vault a good password manager?

All things considered, Zoho Vault is a good password manager. We have seen better password managers that offer more support and additional features like digital legacy, and the hiccup we had with the automatic login gave us some concerns.

We did like the password assessment report that gave us a good illustration of overall password strength. The password generator was also a plus and easy to use.

We found Zoho Vault to be user friendly, and it comes at a fair price if you want the paid version. The Forever Free plan also packs in plenty without shelling out a dime. The security you get, along with two-factor authentication and browser compatibility, make this a good option for those wanting a reliable password manager. It may not be perfect, but it’s still a reasonable choice for keeping all your passwords secure.

4.5

Learn More

On Zoho Vault's website

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Zoho Vault

• Allows offline access
• Works with numerous browsers
• No clear digital legacy with plans

Author Details

Patti Croft

About the Author

Patti Croft is a freelance writer who specializes in all things technology. Her expertise includes antivirus software, online security strategies, and safety practices. She has a degree in Computer Information Systems and extensive experience working in the IT field. In her spare time, Patti is an avid reader and researcher, and loves spending time with her pets. She currently shares an office with her cat, Beau.