Popular password manager LastPass becomes an independent company (again)

Amid security concerns and price hikes, LogMeIn spins off LastPass as a independent business.

Popular password manager LastPass becomes an independent company (again)
Image credit: LastPass

LastPass, the popular password manager, has announced that it will become an independent company once again. This news comes just over six years since LogMeIn, an IT management business, acquired the software business.

The company outlined the changes in a recent blog post. It's short on detail, with much of the article summarising features developed since 2015, but it does confirm that LastPass will have more autonomy in the coming years.

Password managers have become a must-have in recent years. These apps securely store your logins, passwords, and other sensitive details, so you don't have to remember them. The idea is that you can create more secure passwords that aren't easy to recall as you don't have to.

LastPass has browser extensions, desktop software, and mobile applications, all secured by your one Master Password. The app was one of the first to offer multi-device support through the cloud and an easy-to-use experience, which helped popularised password managers.

But it has regularly been under fire since LogMeIn took the company over. There have been several security mishaps, like compromised accounts, two-factor authentication problems, and service outages.

Of course, these happen to all apps, and many users can forgive the occasional blip. But sentiment towards LastPass has soured in the past few years as prices increased sharply and free accounts become limited to single devices, effectively wiping out the app's usefulness.

Development has all but stalled, with very few new features or upgrades in several years, even with the price increase. While LastPass still ranks among the most secure password managers, it has quickly been overtaken by its competitors like 1Password or Bitwarden.

This latest development is presumably a course correction, allowing LastPass more autonomy to develop features and set prices more in line with the app's users than LogMeIn's management. But we'll have to wait and see if this holds, as LogMeIn still actually owns the app.