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Cybersecurity · head to head

Passbolt vs Transcend

Passbolt logo

Passbolt

Cybersecurity

Open-source password manager for teams with self-hosted or cloud deployment

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Transcend logo

Transcend

Cybersecurity

Privacy request automation, consent and AI governance across internal systems

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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.; Transcend value is proportional to integration coverage, so every bespoke internal service needs a connector that your engineers build and then maintain, and the automation promise degrades quietly each time an internal API changes and nobody updates the connector.
  • They diverge on capability: Passbolt covers Password sharing and folders, Transcend covers Data subject request automation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Passbolt and Transcend actually diverge.

Attributes where Passbolt and Transcend differ
AttributePassboltTranscend
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelopen-sourcequote
Free tierYesNo
Platformsweb, windows, mac, linux, apiWeb, API

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 Transcend

  • Data subject request automation
  • Silo discovery
  • Column level data mapping
  • Consent and preference management
  • Consent Mode support
  • AI governance
  • Assessments
  • Audit evidence

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 Transcend
  • Provisioning vault access from an existing LDAP/AD directorynot Transcend
  • Sharing credentials across engineering or IT teams via folders and groupsnot Transcend
  • Automating credential retrieval through the CLI or open APInot Transcend

Transcend

  • A consumer app processing millions of user records that has to delete a user across a warehouse, a CRM, a support desk and three internal services within a statutory deadlinenot Passbolt
  • A privacy team that currently fulfils requests by emailing system owners and wants machine evidence that deletion actually occurrednot Passbolt
  • A company wiring consent signals through to advertising and analytics platforms so refused consent is honoured downstream rather than only at the bannernot Passbolt
  • An organisation putting policy controls on which customer data models and internal agents may read, ahead of an AI governance auditnot 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.

Transcend

  • Value is proportional to integration coverage, so every bespoke internal service needs a connector that your engineers build and then maintain, and the automation promise degrades quietly each time an internal API changes and nobody updates the connector.
  • Pricing is quoted and scales with data volume and integration count, so the cost grows precisely as the company grows, and there is no public anchor to negotiate against at renewal.
  • It is deep on fulfilment and consent but thinner than OneTrust on wider governance, third party risk and ethics programme management, so a large enterprise privacy office may end up running two vendors.
  • Deployment requires engineering time to install and authorise integrations into production data stores, which means the privacy team cannot buy and implement it alone and the project competes with engineering roadmap.
  • Automated deletion against production systems is a destructive operation, so organisations without good staging environments and confident data ownership move slowly and often run the tool in advisory mode for months before letting it execute.

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

Transcend

On request
  • Transcend$undefined/year
    • Priced by data volume, integrations and modules
    • Subject request automation
    • Consent and preference 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.
Passbolt review

Choose Transcend if

  • You need data subject request automation.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want silo discovery.
Transcend review

Questions people ask

Is Passbolt or Transcend better?
Neither clearly leads. Passbolt starts at Free and Transcend at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Passbolt or Transcend?
Passbolt has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Passbolt and On request for Transcend.
Does Passbolt or Transcend run on more platforms?
Passbolt runs on web, windows, mac, linux, api. Transcend runs on Web, API.
Can I use Passbolt for free?
Yes. Passbolt has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Transcend starts at On request.
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 Transcend is typically brought in for.
What can Passbolt do that Transcend cannot?
Passbolt covers Password sharing and folders, Groups and role-based access, Browser extensions and CLI, Open API. Transcend covers Data subject request automation, Silo discovery, Column level data mapping, Consent and preference 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.

Source
Transcend: How is Transcend different from a subject request ticketing tool?

It executes the request against your systems through integrations rather than routing a task to a person. That is the whole product, and it is why the deployment requires engineering involvement.

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.

Source
Transcend: What does it cost?

Nothing is published. Reported deals begin around 10,000 US dollars a year and rise with data volume, integration count and modules such as AI governance.

Passbolt: What license is Passbolt distributed under?

All Passbolt editions, including Pro and Enterprise, are distributed under the AGPL v3 open-source license.

Source
Transcend: Can it replace OneTrust?

For subject rights, consent and data mapping, often yes. For third party risk, ethics reporting and wider GRC programme management it is narrower.

Transcend: Does it handle unregistered systems?

It scans for personal data silos rather than relying solely on a declared inventory, which routinely surfaces systems the privacy register did not contain.

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