Bitwarden vs Dani garcia Vaultwarden
Self-hosted for $4/mo on hetzner CAX11, versus $1-$6/user/mo on Bitwarden.
Side-by-side
| Bitwarden | Dani garcia Vaultwarden (self-hosted) | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | $1-$6/user/mo | $4.13/mo flat (any team size) |
| Hosting | Bitwarden's servers | Your VPS (hetzner CAX11) |
| Data ownership | Bitwarden controls the data | Your disk, your encryption |
| Source code | Closed | Open (AGPL-3.0) |
| Customization | API + integrations only | Full source access; modify freely |
| Maintenance burden | Zero | Backups + updates (manual) |
| Health score (ossreplace) | — | 75 / 100 |
Why teams leave Bitwarden
- Hosted plan still cheap, but data lives on Bitwarden's servers
- Premium for self-hosting attachment uploads
- Audit log + advanced 2FA gated to Enterprise
- Some users want zero third-party trust
Dani garcia Vaultwarden answers this by: Vaultwarden is the Rust-rewritten Bitwarden server, same browser/mobile clients, runs in 256MB RAM.
The cost math
Assumes 5-person team using Bitwarden at the midpoint price ($3.5/user/mo).
| Period | Bitwarden | Dani garcia Vaultwarden on hetzner | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $17.5 | $4.13 | $13.37 |
| Yearly | $210 | $49.56 | $160.44 |
| 3 years | $630 | $149 | $481 |
Deploy Dani garcia Vaultwarden now
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Common questions
Is Dani garcia Vaultwarden a good alternative to Bitwarden?
Dani garcia Vaultwarden is an open-source, self-hostable alternative to Bitwarden with an ossreplace health score of 75/100 — a composite of project activity, maturity, community, security, and adoption. It runs on your own hetzner VPS from $4.13/mo with full source access under the AGPL-3.0 license, versus Bitwarden's $1–6/user/mo hosted plans.
How much cheaper is Dani garcia Vaultwarden than Bitwarden?
A 5-person team pays about $17.5/mo on Bitwarden. Self-hosting Dani garcia Vaultwarden on hetzner CAX11 costs a flat $4.13/mo regardless of team size — roughly $481 less over three years (76% lower).
Is Dani garcia Vaultwarden hard to self-host?
Dani garcia Vaultwarden self-hosts on your own VPS. You handle the install, backups, and updates yourself in exchange for full data ownership and no per-seat fees.
Do you keep control of your data with Dani garcia Vaultwarden vs Bitwarden?
Yes. Because Dani garcia Vaultwarden runs on your own server, the data lives on your disk under your encryption. With Bitwarden, Bitwarden controls the hosting, storage, and access.