Vaultwarden Folders for You, Collections for Your Team
Understanding personal and shared password organization in Vaultwarden
What are folders?
Folders are personal structures for organizing vault items. Think of them like folders on your computer, they help you categorize passwords, cards, and notes the way you prefer. Only you see your folder structure. If you store a banking password in a Banking folder, it remains your password. Folders don't support sharing. They're a personal preference layer on top of your vault, useful for keeping your vault organized.
What are collections?
Collections are organizational structures designed for sharing. When you create a collection, you decide which team members can see and edit items inside it. Collections use role-based access control: you grant different permissions to different users based on their role. Items in a collection are owned by the organization, not by an individual.
Collections require an organization to exist first. Once you set up an organization, you can create as many collections as you need.
The key difference
Folders are private. Collections are shared. Folders help you organize your personal vault. Collections give your team access to shared credentials. You can use both at the same time. You might receive a password in a collection (from your organization), then file it in your personal folder (for your sorting preference). The folder structure remains yours alone.
Why this matters
The confusion between folders and collections stops many people from setting up team password sharing. Some people think they can share a folder and are surprised when it doesn't work. Others don't realize collections require an organization setup. Understanding the distinction means you can choose the right approach for your use case: go solo with folders, or scale to a team with collections.
Folders vs Collections at a glance
Why Managed Vaultwarden for Folders and Collections
Collections require infrastructure and planning. Managed Vaultwarden handles the complexity.
Organizations in minutes
Managed Vaultwarden comes with organizations pre-configured and ready. No reverse proxy setup. No SSL certificates to manage. No Docker troubleshooting. Opsily handles the infrastructure so you focus on building your team's shared vault.
Role-based access built in
Collections work out of the box with granular user permissions. Control which team members see which passwords. Assign roles that match your organization structure. Add or revoke access instantly with no downtime.
Backups and recovery
Automated daily backups in German data centers. If anything goes wrong, your shared vault is recoverable. Zero manual intervention required. Your team's passwords are safe.
Built for teams who need reliability
From personal folders to team collections
How to set up shared password management in three steps
Set up a team in your managed Vaultwarden instance. This unlocks collections, member roles, and team management features.
Organize shared credentials by team, department, or project. Add passwords directly to collections. No folder-to-collection conversion needed.
Add team members and assign them to collections based on their role. Permissions take effect immediately. No waiting, no deployment.
Set up a team in your managed Vaultwarden instance. This unlocks collections, member roles, and team management features.
Organize shared credentials by team, department, or project. Add passwords directly to collections. No folder-to-collection conversion needed.
Add team members and assign them to collections based on their role. Permissions take effect immediately. No waiting, no deployment.
Create your organization
Set up a team in your managed Vaultwarden instance. This unlocks collections, member roles, and team management features.
Build your collections
Organize shared credentials by team, department, or project. Add passwords directly to collections. No folder-to-collection conversion needed.
Invite your team and set permissions
Add team members and assign them to collections based on their role. Permissions take effect immediately. No waiting, no deployment.
Migrate personal credentials when ready
Move credentials from your personal folders to collections. No data loss. No downtime. Switch back anytime if you change your mind.
Zero vendor lock-in
Both folders and collections are open-source standards. Switch between them anytime without penalty. Export your entire vault at any moment. Your passwords are always yours to keep or take elsewhere.
Built on trust and transparency
Open-source community backing, enterprise-grade infrastructure, and strong privacy standards
Open-source transparency
68.6K GitHub stars and 3.3K forks mean thousands of developers review the code. No hidden features. No backdoors. Community-driven security.
GDPR-compliant German hosting
Hosted in secure German data centers. Your data lives where privacy laws are strongest. Meets GDPR requirements without extra configuration or legal complexity.
Encrypted end-to-end
Passwords are encrypted on your device before they ever leave your browser. Even Vaultwarden's server cannot read them. Organization metadata (names, emails) is visible to your server operator for functionality.
Common questions about folders and collections
Use folders when you are the only person managing the vault. Folders help you organize your personal credentials without sharing anything with others. Even team members can use folders for personal organization—they remain private. If no one else needs to see a password, keep it in your personal folders.