This page is an overview of the history of Proton Pass, prepared by our editorial team. The company's own documentation always remains the primary source for exact dates, versions and specifications. Here we have collected what users remember and value: how the product appeared, why its features matter and how a password manager grew out of an email service that started with a crowdfunding campaign.
The history of most password managers begins with a simple desire to "store logins somewhere safe". The history of Proton Pass began differently — with an ambitious idea to build an entire privacy ecosystem in which passwords are just one protected piece of a much larger picture.
Proton before Proton Pass: email as the starting point
Proton was founded in 2014 by scientists who met at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Their first product, Proton Mail, offered something that barely existed at the time: email with end-to-end encryption that ordinary people could actually use. The project was funded by a crowdfunding campaign and grew quickly, proving that privacy was not a niche interest but a mainstream need.
Over the following years the company added more services: Proton Calendar, Proton Drive and Proton VPN. Each new product followed the same philosophy — strong encryption by default, transparent security and a business model based on subscriptions rather than advertising. Switzerland, with its strict privacy laws, was not just a headquarters but part of the promise itself.
By the early 2020s millions of people trusted Proton with their most sensitive communication. And that created an obvious question: what about the keys to all those accounts?
The password problem hiding in plain sight
Every privacy-conscious user faced the same contradiction. Their messages were encrypted, their files were encrypted, their connection was encrypted — but their passwords were still scattered across browsers, notebooks and spreadsheets. The weakest link in an otherwise protected digital life was the one credential that guarded everything else.
Proton's community kept asking for a password manager built on the same principles as the rest of the ecosystem: end-to-end encryption, open source, no tracking. Instead of rushing a quick tool to market, the team took a route that later defined the product — it started with an acquisition that brought a crucial piece of technology in-house.
SimpleLogin and the road to Proton Pass
In 2022 Proton acquired SimpleLogin, a popular open-source service for email aliases. Aliases let users create random addresses that forward to their real inbox, so a website never learns who is really behind a signup. For a password manager this was a perfect match: a login and a disposable identity belong together.
The acquisition also brought a team experienced in building privacy tools for a global audience. It gave Proton both the technology and the people needed for its next big step, and it shaped Proton Pass before the first line of its code was written. When users later discovered that alias creation was built directly into the password manager, they were seeing the result of a decision made years earlier.
Proton Pass beta and public launch
Proton Pass entered beta in early 2023, initially for select users, and was released to the public later that year. From day one it offered what the ecosystem was missing: a vault with end-to-end encryption, browser extensions, mobile apps and a free plan that covered the essentials. Password sharing, secure notes and credit card storage arrived alongside it.
The product was open source from the start and underwent independent security audits — a rarity in a market where many competitors keep their code closed. Free and paid tiers were designed so that basic protection never required a subscription, while the paid plan added unlimited aliases, extra vaults and advanced features for power users.
For many long-time Proton users the launch felt like the last missing piece. The account they already used for email and files could now also guard the passwords to everything else.
Passkeys and the modern era
As the industry began moving toward passkeys — a password-free, phishing-resistant way to sign in — Proton Pass was among the first managers to embrace the standard. Support for passkeys arrived across platforms, turning the app from a simple vault into a bridge between the password era and whatever comes next.
Desktop applications for Windows, macOS and Linux joined the browser extensions and mobile apps, so the same vault could follow users to every device they owned. Features like dark web monitoring, a built-in authenticator and family plans expanded the product further, while the underlying promise stayed unchanged: your data is encrypted before it leaves your device.
Today Proton Pass continues to develop together with the wider Proton ecosystem, and each release adds polish rather than changing the core idea. The interface evolves, the feature list grows, but the philosophy is the same one that powered a crowdfunded email service in 2014.
Why this history matters
The story of Proton Pass is a story of gradually expanding trust. First users trusted an email service with their messages. Then they trusted the same company with files, calendars and network traffic. Finally they trusted it with the keys to their digital lives — the passwords themselves. Each stage added responsibility, yet the basic idea never changed: a person should get a simple tool, while the complicated work — encryption, sync, audits — should happen without their involvement.
It is also a reminder that good security products are rarely built overnight. Proton Pass grew out of years of experience, a strategic acquisition and a community that kept asking for better tools. That patience is visible in the product today: it feels calm, deliberate and finished, even though it is still young compared to the giants of the industry.
What this history teaches
If there is one lesson in this timeline, it is that privacy tools succeed when they stop being difficult. Proton Mail made encryption usable for ordinary people; Proton Pass does the same for password management. Neither asks users to become security experts — they simply make the safe option the convenient one.
And we are confident about one thing: the next chapter will be as interesting as the previous ones. Follow the updates in our guides, and return to the practical instructions whenever you need help here and now — whether you are setting up your first vault or fixing a login problem.