Self-Hosting Vaultwarden: Your Private Password Manager

What Is Vaultwarden?

Vaultwarden (formerly bitwarden_rs) is a lightweight, self-hosted implementation of the Bitwarden password manager API. It's compatible with all official Bitwarden clients — browser extensions, desktop apps, and mobile apps.

Why Self-Host Your Password Manager?

Security

Your encrypted password vault lives on your server. Not on LastPass's servers (which have been breached multiple times), not on any third-party infrastructure.

Cost

Bitwarden Premium: $10/year per user. 1Password: $36/year per user. Vaultwarden: free.

Features

Vaultwarden includes features that Bitwarden locks behind premium:

Deploying Vaultwarden

1. Find Vaultwarden in TinyPod's app catalog

2. Deploy with 0.1 cores and 128 MB RAM (it's incredibly lightweight)

3. Access the web vault at your subdomain

4. Create your account

Setting Up Clients

Browser Extension

1. Install the Bitwarden browser extension

2. Click the gear icon before logging in

3. Set "Server URL" to your Vaultwarden URL

4. Log in with your account

Desktop App

1. Download the Bitwarden desktop app

2. Before logging in, click "Self-hosted"

3. Enter your Vaultwarden URL

4. Log in

Mobile App

1. Install Bitwarden from App Store / Play Store

2. Tap the gear icon

3. Set server URL

4. Log in

Security Hardening

Disable Registration

After creating your accounts, disable new user registration:

SIGNUPS_ALLOWED=false

Admin Panel

Set an admin token for the admin panel:

ADMIN_TOKEN=your-random-token

2FA

Enable two-factor authentication for your account. Vaultwarden supports TOTP, WebAuthn (security keys), and email 2FA.

Backups

Your encrypted vault is stored in a SQLite database. Back it up daily. The backup is encrypted — even if stolen, it's useless without your master password.

Resource Usage

Vaultwarden is one of the lightest self-hosted applications:

It can literally run alongside 30 other apps without anyone noticing.