Switch from 1Password to LitePassword (small-team guide)
1Password Teams Starter is great until your team is 5 people paying $19.95/mo for a feature set built for 50. Here's how to land on LitePassword in twenty minutes.
Step-by-step migration from 1Password
- 01
Export from 1Password (1pux format)
In the 1Password desktop app: File → Export. Select all items, choose 1Password Unencrypted Export (1pux). Save locally. The 1pux file contains your vault contents in plaintext — treat it like a loaded weapon until step 8.
- 02
Create your LitePassword account
app.litepassword.com/sign-up. Use the same work email if possible (makes 1Password account cleanup easier later). Pick a strong master password — different from your 1Password one. Save the recovery key somewhere physical (fireproof safe, sealed envelope).
- 03
Map 1Password vaults to LitePassword vaults
List your 1Password vaults: Personal, Shared, Team, Private, plus any custom ones. In LitePassword, decide which become shared vaults (Production credentials, Marketing, etc.) and which stay in your private vault. Create the shared vaults empty first.
- 04
Import secrets by type
1Password items have categories (Login, Password, Credit Card, Secure Note, etc.). LitePassword has equivalents. Open the 1pux export, group by category, and create matching LitePassword secrets one by one. Skip 1Password-specific item types you do not use (Driver License, Passport, etc.) — re-create them as Custom in LitePassword.
- 05
Move TOTP codes to a dedicated app
LitePassword does not generate TOTP codes today. For 2FA-enabled accounts, move TOTP seeds to a dedicated authenticator (Google Authenticator, Authy, Yubico Authenticator). Store backup recovery codes in LitePassword Secure notes.
- 06
Invite your team
Users page → Invite user by email + role. Admins (founders), Managers (full team), View only (contractors). They sign up, set their own master password, generate their own recovery key.
- 07
Grant per-vault access
For each invited member, open Manage Vault Access. Grant only the shared vaults they need. The wrapping happens automatically; on their first unlock they re-wrap with their master-derived key.
- 08
Securely delete the 1pux export
The 1pux file is now redundant and dangerous to keep. Mac: srm -v export.1pux. Linux: shred -u export.1pux. Windows: SDelete -p 3. Empty trash.
- 09
Cancel 1Password Teams or Business
In 1Password Admin: Billing → cancel. Wait for the cycle to end before removing seats (so you have a backup if migration revealed gaps). Each member should also revoke their 1Password account access if they want a clean exit.
A pragmatic note on 1Password
1Password is excellent. The autofill is best-in-class, the Secret Key is a great pattern, and Watchtower is genuinely useful. The reason small teams migrate is rarely “1Password is broken” — it’s usually “we’re paying $19.95/mo for Teams Starter or $7.99/user/mo for Business and only using 30% of the surface area.”
If that’s not you, stay on 1Password. The product is worth its price for the right team.
What you give up
Three honest gaps versus 1Password:
- Browser extension autofill — not in v1.
- TOTP generation — not in v1; use a dedicated authenticator app.
- CLI for engineering workflows — on roadmap.
What you get back: flat pricing capped at $10/mo for the entire team (up to 12 users), hard limits visible in the app, three roles instead of “groups + collections + custom permissions”, and a recovery model with no admin reset.
A practical migration tip: do it in vault batches
Don’t try to migrate all 80 secrets in one session. Pick one shared vault (say, “Production credentials”), migrate those 20 secrets, invite the 3 people who need access, validate they can unlock. That’s ~15 minutes and you’ve proven the flow works.
Then do the next vault tomorrow. By the end of the week you’re fully migrated and you’ve caught any per-vault edge cases (custom fields, weird category mappings) as you went, not all at once at the end.
After the migration: kill the 1pux
The 1pux file is your most dangerous asset for as long as it exists. It’s an unencrypted dump of every credential your team has. After validation, securely delete it. srm, shred, or SDelete depending on OS. Don’t email it, don’t put it in cloud sync, don’t leave it in Downloads.
Done migrating from 1Password? Cancel their seat.
LitePassword bills only for active users. No long-term commitment, no cancellation fee.
Considering other tools instead of 1Password?
Common questions about leaving 1Password
Will I lose my 1Password vault during migration?
No. Your 1Password account stays active until you cancel. Run both in parallel for a few days to validate the migration, then decommission 1Password.
What about 1Password Secret Key — does LitePassword have an equivalent?
Yes, called the recovery key. Same concept (entropy generated on your device, never transmitted, required to recover the account), different name. Save it the same way you'd save your 1Password Emergency Kit.
I use 1Password browser autofill heavily. Will I miss it?
Yes. LitePassword is a web vault with one-click copy on every field; the browser extension is on the roadmap but not in v1. If autofill is a core daily workflow for many people on your team, consider this gap before migrating.
My team uses 1Password Watchtower for breach alerts. Does LitePassword have this?
No. The product is just the vault. Set up haveibeenpwned.com email alerts for the same coverage at $0/mo extra.
What about 1Password's CLI for engineering teams?
LitePassword does not have a CLI today. If you use the 1Password CLI for secrets in CI/CD or local dev, you should keep 1Password for that specific use case and use LitePassword for everything else, or wait for the LitePassword CLI roadmap item to ship.
How long does the whole migration really take?
For a 10-person team with ~80 secrets, plan ~20 minutes of focused work for the export + secret-by-secret import + team invite. Validation across the team takes another day in calendar time as people sign up and confirm they can unlock the vaults you granted.
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