Password Managers: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Bitwarden remains the category leader in the Password Managers benchmark, posting valid recommendation coverage of 84.1% in September 2026. The gap to second-place 1Password is 8.3 points, with 1Password at 75.8% valid recommendation coverage.

Across the full July 2026 to September 2026 series, NordPass and Proton Pass posted the largest gains in valid recommendation coverage, each up 4.2 points from baseline — NordPass from 61.3% to 65.5%, and Proton Pass from 58.3% to 62.5%. 1Password recorded the largest baseline-to-current decline, down 2.3 points, from 78.1% to 75.8%.

September 2026 itself carried movement for three brands beyond normal month-to-month variation. 1Password declined 5.6 points, from 81.4% in August 2026 to 75.8% in September, reversing the gain it had built during August and pulling the brand below its July baseline. Bitwarden declined 4.9 points, from an August 2026 peak of 89.0% to 84.1% in September, partially reversing its August gain but remaining 3.3 points above its July baseline. LastPass declined 3.3 points, from 6.1% in August 2026 to 2.8% in September, extending its baseline-to-current decline and putting the brand below its starting July level of 4.9%. All other tracked brands were stable in September 2026, within normal month-to-month variation.

The benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations in each month and produced 528 qualified observations in September 2026.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth is the number of canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation. The six families are ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. Bitwarden's coverage peaked at 89.0% in August 2026, and 1Password reached 81.4% in the same month, before both eased in September 2026.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Password Managers

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. The measurement funnel below shows how observations were qualified.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. See AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

This table is the primary current-month benchmark view, sorted by valid recommendation coverage.

How to Read the Standings

Presence rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand appears at all, regardless of positive or negative context. Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations where the brand is recommended as a viable option. Top-three rate is the share where the brand appears in the top three recommendation slots. Rank-one rate is the share where the brand is the single first recommendation. Net sentiment is the balance of positive over negative mentions, from -1.0 (all negative) to 1.0 (all positive) with 0 meaning neutral.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Month-over-month moves were more pronounced than the baseline comparisons suggest. 1Password declined by 5.6 points between August 2026 and September 2026, Bitwarden by 4.9 points, and LastPass by 3.3 points, each beyond normal month-to-month variation. NordPass, Proton Pass, and RoboForm also eased from their August 2026 levels but remained above their July 2026 baselines. Zoho Vault and Zoho Inventory each showed no presence in September 2026, with Zoho Vault's 0.6% coverage in August 2026 not persisting into the current month.

Category Leader: Bitwarden

Bitwarden held the top valid recommendation coverage at 84.1% in September 2026, up from 80.8% in July 2026. Presence rose to 98.3% in September 2026 from 96.4% in July 2026, and top-three placement increased to 72.7% from 69.4%. Rank-one placement moved to 29.5% in September 2026 from 30.9% in July 2026.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The leading brands show contrasting placement profiles.

Close coverage can still hide different first-position rates. 1Password trails Bitwarden by 8.3 points in coverage yet leads rank-one placement by 11.4 points in September 2026.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both months fell into the Brand Recommendation class.

The current public series measures brand recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the pricing and value or multi-brand comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index benchmarks how often and how prominently brands appear in AI-generated answers to real buyer questions across six canonical AI/search surface families. Each monthly measurement tracks presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment for every tracked brand in the vertical.

• AI Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Authority Value

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