Passage by 1Password

Overview

Passage is a passkey-first authentication product, acquired by 1Password in 2022 and operated as a subsidiary. It focuses narrowly on making passkeys and WebAuthn easy to adopt, with drop-in components and SDKs that let teams ship phishing-resistant login quickly. It is best understood as a specialist passwordless layer rather than a full CIAM platform.

What it is good at

Passkeys are the entire focus, and it shows: the passwordless and WebAuthn experience is polished, with clean SDKs and hosted UI that abstract the ceremony complexity (see the add passkeys recipe for what that involves under the hood). The 1Password backing brings credibility and a large consumer-credential footprint, which helps with passkey adoption. For a greenfield consumer app that wants passkeys as the primary method, it is a fast path.

Where it falls short

The narrow focus is also the limitation. Broad protocol federation, enterprise SSO, deep authorization, and governance are not the point, so it is not a fit for B2B enterprise readiness or as a system of record. Teams that later need SAML, organizations, or rich lifecycle management will outgrow it. The roadmap and positioning are tied to 1Password's strategy, which buyers should factor in.

Pricing

Usage-based with a free tier for getting started. Because it is a single-purpose layer, weigh its cost against bundling passwordless into a fuller platform with the TCO calculator.

Best for, and who should look elsewhere

Choose Passage for passkey-first consumer apps, especially within the 1Password ecosystem. To add passkeys onto an existing IdP without replacing it, compare Corbado; for passwordless plus a broader platform, see Stytch and Descope; for drop-in step-up auth, see Authsignal.

Bottom line

A polished, passkey-first specialist backed by 1Password, ideal for greenfield consumer passwordless and not intended as a full CIAM platform.