Cybersecurity · head to head
Passbolt vs Ping Identity
Passbolt
Cybersecurity
Open-source password manager for teams with self-hosted or cloud deployment
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Ping Identity
Cybersecurity
Enterprise identity for workforce and customers, with a 5,000 user floor
- From
- $3/month
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only Passbolt has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Passbolt pro Edition requires a minimum of 10 users, making it costlier for very small teams.; Ping Identity workforce pricing carries a 5,000 user annual minimum, so an organisation with 800 staff pays for 5,000 and the effective per user cost is over six times the list rate.
- They diverge on capability: Passbolt covers Password sharing and folders, Ping Identity covers Single sign-on.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Passbolt and Ping Identity actually diverge.
| Attribute | Passbolt | Ping Identity |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free | $3/month |
| Pricing model | open-source | Per user per month |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Platforms | web, windows, mac, linux, api | Web, Linux, Windows |
Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Cybersecurity).
What each one covers
Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.
Only in Passbolt
- Password sharing and folders
- Groups and role-based access
- Browser extensions and CLI
- Open API
- LDAP provisioning and SSO
- Activity audit log
Only in Ping Identity
- Single sign-on
- Adaptive MFA
- Identity orchestration
- API access management
- Directory services
- Flexible deployment
- ForgeRock capabilities
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Passbolt
- Self-hosting a team password manager for data sovereigntynot Ping Identity
- Provisioning vault access from an existing LDAP/AD directorynot Ping Identity
- Sharing credentials across engineering or IT teams via folders and groupsnot Ping Identity
- Automating credential retrieval through the CLI or open APInot Ping Identity
Ping Identity
- A bank that must keep identity data on premises in one country while running SaaS identity elsewherenot Passbolt
- An airline or telco with tens of millions of customer identities needing a directory that holds that scalenot Passbolt
- An enterprise assembling authentication journeys that call several external verification and risk vendorsnot Passbolt
- An existing ForgeRock customer deciding what its upgrade path looks like under Ping ownershipnot Passbolt
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Passbolt
- Pro Edition requires a minimum of 10 users, making it costlier for very small teams.
- Community Edition lacks SSO and LDAP provisioning, which many organizations need for onboarding at scale.
- Self-hosting the Community Edition requires infrastructure and maintenance effort compared to fully managed competitors.
- Enterprise-tier support and HA consulting require custom, quote-based pricing rather than transparent rates.
Ping Identity
- Workforce pricing carries a 5,000 user annual minimum, so an organisation with 800 staff pays for 5,000 and the effective per user cost is over six times the list rate.
- Adaptive multi-factor authentication is in the Plus tier only, doubling the per user price for a capability many buyers assume is standard in a modern identity platform.
- ForgeRock no longer exists as an independent product, so customers who chose it specifically to avoid Ping now face a roadmap set by the vendor they did not pick.
- Thoma Bravo ownership across both merged companies means the commercial priority is margin, and buyers report firmer renewal negotiations than they saw before 2022.
- The portfolio has overlapping components from three product lineages, so scoping a deployment requires vendor architects and the licensing conversation is more complicated than the price list implies.
Pricing, plan by plan
Passbolt
Free- Community EditionFree
- Unlimited users
- Password sharing and folders
- Role-based access control
- Pro Edition$4.9/month
- Minimum 10 users, billed annually
- LDAP/AD provisioning
- Single sign-on
- Enterprise Edition$undefined/month
- High availability and disaster recovery consulting
- White-glove migration
- Custom feature development
Ping Identity
$3/month- PingOne for Workforce Essential$3/month
- Minimum 5,000 users billed annually
- Single sign-on and directory services
- OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML and SCIM
- PingOne for Workforce Plus$6/month
- Minimum 5,000 users billed annually
- Everything in Essential
- Adaptive multi-factor authentication
- PingOne for Customers Essential$35000/year
- Flat annual fee
- No-code identity orchestration
- Unified customer profiles
- PingOne for Customers Plus$50000/year
- Flat annual fee
- Everything in Essential
- Adaptive MFA and device management
Which should you pick?
Choose Passbolt if
- You need password sharing and folders.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on web, windows, mac, linux, api.
- You also want groups and role-based access.
Choose Ping Identity if
- You need single sign-on.
- You work on Web, Linux, Windows.
- You also want adaptive mfa.
Questions people ask
- Is Passbolt or Ping Identity better?
- Neither clearly leads. Passbolt starts at Free and Ping Identity at $3/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Passbolt or Ping Identity?
- Passbolt has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Passbolt and $3/month for Ping Identity.
- Does Passbolt or Ping Identity run on more platforms?
- Passbolt runs on web, windows, mac, linux, api. Ping Identity runs on Web, Linux, Windows.
- Can I use Passbolt for free?
- Yes. Passbolt has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Ping Identity starts at $3/month.
- What is Passbolt best used for?
- Passbolt is most often used for self-hosting a team password manager for data sovereignty, provisioning vault access from an existing ldap/ad directory, sharing credentials across engineering or it teams via folders and groups, automating credential retrieval through the cli or open api. Of those, self-hosting a team password manager for data sovereignty and provisioning vault access from an existing ldap/ad directory are not what Ping Identity is typically brought in for.
- What can Passbolt do that Ping Identity cannot?
- Passbolt covers Password sharing and folders, Groups and role-based access, Browser extensions and CLI, Open API. Ping Identity covers Single sign-on, Adaptive MFA, Identity orchestration, API access management.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Passbolt: Is Passbolt free to use?
Yes. The Community Edition is free forever with unlimited users, including password sharing, folders, groups, role-based access, browser extensions, a CLI, and an open API.
SourcePing Identity: Can I still buy ForgeRock?
Not as a separate product. Ping acquired ForgeRock in 2023 and the capabilities are sold within the Ping portfolio. Existing customers should ask about the specific migration path for their components.
Passbolt: What does the Pro Edition cost and add?
Pro Edition costs $4.90 per user per month billed annually, with a 10-user minimum, and adds LDAP/AD provisioning, single sign-on, account recovery escrow, activity audit logs, and next-business-day support.
SourcePing Identity: What is the real minimum spend?
PingOne for Workforce Essential is 3 USD per user per month with a 5,000 user annual minimum, so roughly 180,000 USD a year before anything else.
Passbolt: What license is Passbolt distributed under?
All Passbolt editions, including Pro and Enterprise, are distributed under the AGPL v3 open-source license.
SourcePing Identity: Is MFA included?
Basic authentication policies are in Essential. Adaptive MFA and passwordless require the Plus tier at 6 USD per user per month.
Related pages
More on Ping Identity
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