U2 Secured vs Proton Pass
Proton Pass is the closest of the four comparisons on this site, because both products lead with the same pitch: client-side encryption and a server that cannot read your vault. This page is about where the two genuinely differ, not about which one is 'more private' — that claim is not verifiable from a pricing page for either product.
Proton's own comparison table labels its integrated 2FA authenticator a 'Paid feature'. That single line, read straight off proton.me, is the clearest support for the TOTP argument on this whole site.
Who Proton Pass suits
Proton Pass suits someone who wants a generous, genuinely useful free tier from a privacy-focused vendor and does not need TOTP stored with their passwords.
- Anyone who wants 10 free email aliases built into their password manager — a real feature U2 Secured does not have at all.
- Someone already using other Proton products, who wants their password manager under the same account and brand.
- A household of up to six who wants a Pass Family plan built from individual Pass Plus accounts.
What each plan actually includes
Every Proton figure below is read from proton.me/pass/pricing — the citation on each row goes straight to it. Proton's own prices render client-side, so none is quoted here.
Two products, not one — and Proton says it plainly too
Competitors sell both factors in one vault. U2 Secured sells them as two products, deliberately kept apart, because a password and its second factor in one store are not two factors.
Proton's own pricing table calls its 2FA authenticator a 'Paid feature', with a bare dash under Free and 'Included' starting at Pass Plus. That is Proton stating the trade-off in their own words, not this page's characterisation of it.
U2 Secured's TOTP codes live in the separate U2 Secured Authenticator app, free and unlimited on every tier of that app, never written to the password vault. Its own Premium ($14.99/yr) gates encrypted backup, device moves and web portal access — not the codes themselves.
Both products agree that TOTP does not belong bundled into a password vault's free tier. They differ on where it lives instead: Proton keeps it in the same vault behind a paid unlock; U2 Secured keeps it in a wholly separate, free product.
Where Proton Pass is ahead
Said plainly, because a page that only ever wins is not one Proton's own engineers would call accurate.
- Free is unlimited on items, and includes 10 email aliases at no cost — a real feature U2 Secured has no equivalent of at all.
- Proton is an established, well-known privacy brand with products beyond a password manager, giving it a broader ecosystem than a single-product newcomer.
- For someone already inside Proton's ecosystem (Mail, VPN, Drive), Pass adds in under one account with no separate sign-up.
Pick U2 Secured if
- You want TOTP free and unlimited, in a separate dedicated app, rather than paying to unlock it inside the vault.
- Group-based folder access control across an organisation matters to you — available on Basic and Premium.
- You don't need email aliasing and would rather compare on the vault itself.
Pick Proton Pass if
- Free email aliases are something you'll actually use — 10 of them, at no cost.
- You're already using other Proton products and want one account across all of them.
- You're fine paying to combine TOTP with your passwords in one vault, once you're ready to upgrade.
Said out loud, not left for you to discover
- Passwords and TOTP with U2 Secured are two products, not one subscription — the vault and the free U2 Secured Authenticator app.
- A single person on Basic still pays for a full 5-user block: $60/yr for up to 5 users, whether one seat is used or five.
- No group folders on free (max_groups = 0) — group-based folder access needs Basic or Premium.
- U2 Secured is a new product with no published third-party security audit yet. Proton is an established privacy vendor with a longer track record.
Questions people actually ask
- Does U2 Secured store two-factor (TOTP) codes?
- Yes — free and unlimited, in the separate U2 Secured Authenticator app, never in the password vault. Proton Pass's own pricing table labels its integrated 2FA authenticator a 'Paid feature', unavailable on its free plan.
- Is Proton Pass cheaper than U2 Secured?
- Not verifiable either way. Proton Pass's Pass Plus and Pass Family prices render client-side on its pricing page, which carries no figure in its static HTML — so this page does not quote a number for either side of that comparison.
- Does Proton Pass include email aliases?
- Yes — 10 free hide-my-email aliases, by Proton's own description. U2 Secured has no equivalent feature; this is a genuine Proton Pass advantage.
- Are both products zero-knowledge?
- Both lead with client-side encryption in their own marketing. This page compares plan features and where TOTP lives, not the two products' cryptographic designs against each other — see U2 Secured's own security page for how its encryption works.
Sources for the Proton Pass side
Every Proton figure above was read directly from proton.me/pass/pricing on the date shown. Proton changes its site from time to time; if something has changed, its own page is the authority and this comparison is out of date.
- Proton Pass — Pricing · read 2026-09-25
See it for yourself
Create a free U2 Secured workspace and see how the vault and the free Authenticator app fit together.