1Password Teams is $7.99 per user per month, so a five-person team pays roughly $1,438 over three years, forever, with everything in someone else's cloud. Vaultly runs the same zero-knowledge model on your own $5 VPS: everything is encrypted in your browser with AES-256-GCM before it reaches the server, which only ever stores ciphertext. $39, once, however many people you add.
If you've searched for a 1Password Teams alternative, Vaultly is the pay-once option worth putting at the top of the list: Vaultly is $39, one time, and covers the same core job 1Password Teams charges $7.99/user/mo for.
What makes Vaultly the pick for 2026
- Zero-knowledge client-side crypto — PBKDF2 at 600k iterations into AES-256-GCM via the Web Crypto API, so a server compromise is not a vault compromise.
- Shared team vaults — Vault keys are wrapped with each member RSA-OAEP public key in the browser, and the server only relays wrapped keys it cannot read.
- Logins, notes and cards — Store logins, secure notes and cards with folders, search, a strong password generator and a strength meter.
- Inline TOTP — Store a 2FA secret alongside a login and get live 6-digit codes with copy-to-clipboard that auto-clears.
- Opt-in breach check — HaveIBeenPwned k-anonymity range lookups only when you click, off by default, and your password never leaves the browser.
Vaultly vs 1Password Teams, at a glance
| Vaultly | 1Password Teams | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $39 once | $7.99/user/mo |
| 5-person team, 3 years | $39 | ~$1,438 |
| Zero-knowledge encryption | Yes | Yes |
| Your data on your server | Yes | No |
| Shared vaults | Yes | Yes |
| TOTP codes | Yes | Yes |
| Audit log | Yes | Business tier |
| Works offline / air-gapped | Yes | Limited |
| Source you can read | Yes, MIT | No |
Five months of 1Password for a five-person team already costs more than Vaultly, which then never charges you a per-seat cent again.
Common questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes. Vaultly is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/password-manager-selfhosted-mvp and always will be. The $39 buys the packaged 1-click installer and setup; building from source is free.
Where does my data live, and what can the server see?
On your own server, as ciphertext. The server can see email addresses, item counts and timestamps, vault names and audit metadata, but not names, URLs, usernames, passwords or notes, which stay inside the encryption.
What if I forget my master password?
It is unrecoverable by design; there is no reset. Export regularly (the export is ciphertext too) and store it safely.
The bottom line
Vaultly won't out-feature 1Password Teams on every axis — no subscription tool with a bigger team and a bigger roadmap loses on everything. But for the core job, $39 once against $7.99/user/mo forever is a trade most people should at least look at. Vaultly is part of OneTimeSuite, a catalog of pay-once apps that replace subscription SaaS.
Try Vaultly — $39, once
Bitwarden-style zero-knowledge vaults, shared teams and TOTP, self-hosted with no per-seat fee.