Same. When I started using 1p, the vault was stored locally, and it was possible to decrypt it at the command line using openssl. They prided themselves on this. They moved to cloud-based, and at one point I went to check if data export worked, and it did not. I opened a support ticket, and before even offering any actual help they wanted to know why I wanted to export my data anyway. Then they wanted me to download and run some telemetry binary to collect info about my system. I figured out the problem myself without them, and told them why I felt this meant they now had a value set that meant I could not rely on them going forward. They offered me a discount code.

Bitwarden is great.

I remember when they gave enough information about their vault formats that I could write my own linux app to fetch data out of their .opvault format in roughly an afternoon!

Same. I think here is a good place to shout out to Vaultwarden:

https://github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden

Your password data, back under your own control.

Why does it need a server? Does bitwarden have the ability to just use a local vault?

Bitwarden is cloud-based with synchronization to local caches. If you want total control over your data with Bitwarden you will need to run the server/cloud side. I'd caution that running a Bitwarden server is not for everyone, as one could make the security worse than the Bitwarden-company-hosted cloud service.

I run Vaultwarden on my LAN, with no public/Internet facing service, and sync only on my LAN.

If you're looking for something that's offline first go for pass [0], gopass [1], or any keepass-compatible [2][3][4] password manager and sync the database yourself.

[0]: https://www.passwordstore.org/

[1]: https://www.gopass.pw/

[2]: https://keepassxc.org/

[3]: https://www.keepassdx.com/

[4]: https://strongboxsafe.com/

I'd add Keepassium for iOS, I think it's free for a single database.

https://keepassium.com/

Same, though I just use the free Bitwarden, not sure what the paid one provides.

It's been good. Very simple and reliable. Has barely changed in years of use and hasn't needed to.

I pay them for the TOTP authentication alone, so that I don't have to never ever use google authenticator ever again, but it also feels good to be able to support such an awesome project, even if it's only a little.

I pay them for the family plan. Being able to share items with my wife and kids (particularly joint accounts) is extremely useful, and they do it without creating two classes of passwords (like LastPass, my previous vault).

BTW, the paid accounts provide TOTP code storage, more comprehensive password health reports, emergency vault access for others, hardware key support, someone to call with problems[0], and encrypted file sending.[0]

[0] https://bitwarden.com/pricing/