Bitwarden scrubs ‘Always free’ and ‘Inclusion’ values from its website as longtime execs step down

Bitwarden, the maker of a popular free password manager and other security solutions, is quietly making changes. In February, longtime CEO Michael Crandell moved to an advisory role, according to Linked In, with no announcement from the company. His replacement, Michael Sullivan, former CEO of both Acquia and Insightsoftware, touts his experience with “all facets of mergers and acquisitions” on his own Linked In page, including experience working with leading private equity firms. CFO Stephen Morrison also left Bitwarden in April, replaced by former InVision CEO Michael Shenkman. Both Crandell and Morrison joined the company in 2019. Kyle Spearrin, who started Bitwarden as a fun hobby project in 2015, remains the company’s CTO. Meanwhile, Bitwarden has made some subtle tweaks to its website. The page for its personal password manager no longer includes the phrase “Always free.” Previously this appeared under the “Pick a plan” section partway down the page, but that section no longer mentions the free plan, though it remains available elsewhere on the page. Bitwarden made this change in mid-April, according to the Internet Archive. Bitwarden has also stopped listing “Inclusion” and “Transparency” as tentpole values on its careers page. The company has long defined its values with the acronym “GRIT,” which used to stand for “Gratitude, Responsibility, Inclusion, and Transparency.” After May 4, it changed the acronym to stand for “Gratitude, Responsibility, Innovation, and Trust.” The phrase “inclusive environment” still appears under a description of Gratitude, while “transparency” is mentioned under the Trust heading. They’re just no longer the focus. These changes arrive not long after Bitwarden doubled the price of its Premium password manager plan, from $10 to $20. When the company revealed these changes in February, it tucked them into