Built by one person, on purpose.

Password managers are everyday infrastructure, and the good ones kept moving in a direction I did not want to follow. Pricing went subscription-only and climbed. Unlocking a desktop app started to require an account and a live connection.

The account requirement is the part that bothered me. It is not a feature anyone asked for. It is a consequence of keeping millions of vaults on a server, and it quietly makes the company running that server part of your security model.

Local alternatives exist and I used them for years. Most of them ask you to assemble the experience yourself, which is fine for the people who enjoy that and hard to recommend to anyone else.

So Buddy is the version I wanted: a vault that stays on your own machine, an app that is pleasant to use every day, and a license you buy once.

The obvious question about software from one developer is whether it lasts. The honest answer starts with the architecture: because Buddy holds no vaults, there is no fleet of servers to keep online and no cost that grows with every customer. Running it is a website and a license check.

That is why it does not need to get bigger to stay alive, and it is the difference that should matter to you. A product that has to keep growing eventually starts charging rent, adding tiers nobody asked for, or looking for a buyer.

I write the code and I answer the support mail, so when you email Buddy you reach the person who can change how it works. I also use it all day, which is the most reliable quality control I know of.

And if I ever did stop: the vault format is documented, the cryptography is public, and a standalone tool exports your data without needing the app or me. That is not a promise you have to take my word for, it is three repositories you can read today.