KeepsakeKeepsake vs OneDrive Personal Vault
OneDrive Personal Vault is a locked folder inside storage you already have — a good idea, free, and limited in two ways people discover late: three files without a Microsoft 365 subscription, and Microsoft holds the keys.
Is OneDrive Personal Vault enough, or do I need Keepsake?
Personal Vault is a 2FA-protected, auto-locking folder in OneDrive. On free (5 GB) and 100 GB plans it holds a maximum of three files; a Microsoft 365 subscription lifts that. Microsoft can decrypt what is in it. Keepsake encrypts every document on your device with a key Microsoft never sees, reads and files documents with offline OCR, and warns you before anything expires — and it can store its encrypted vault in that same OneDrive.
| Keepsake | OneDrive Personal Vault | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Zero-knowledge document vault | A locked folder inside OneDrive |
| Can the vendor read them? | Never — encrypted on your device | Yes — Microsoft holds the keys |
| File limit | Unlimited on Premium | 3 files without Microsoft 365 |
| OCR / reads your documents | Yes, on-device | Cloud OCR for search, on their servers |
| Expiry alerts & renewals | Yes — 30/7/lapsed, calendar feed | None |
| Family sharing of documents | Family Vault, key-based, up to 6 | Not in Personal Vault |
| Works offline | Fully | Limited — vault contents are not offline by default |
| Auto-lock | Yes, plus Travel Mode and a duress PIN | Yes, after inactivity |
| Price | Free / £19 yr Premium / £29 Family / £79 Teams | Included with OneDrive; needs Microsoft 365 past 3 files |
| Uses your existing storage | Yes — including OneDrive itself | It is OneDrive |
Keepsake prices are in pounds sterling (£); OneDrive Personal Vault's are its own published list prices, quoted in their original currency and unconverted.
When OneDrive Personal Vault is the better choice
- It costs nothing extra and it is already there — for three documents you genuinely may not need anything else.
- You are deep in Microsoft 365 already and want one less app.
- You want Microsoft's scale of redundancy and account recovery, and are comfortable that recovery implies they can decrypt.
When Keepsake is the better choice
- The three-file cap makes it a place for the passport, not for the family's paperwork.
- Microsoft can read what is inside. Keepsake's ciphertext can sit in the very same OneDrive, and Microsoft still cannot read it.
- A folder does not manage documents: no OCR filing on your device, no extracted identity fields, no expiry alerts, no renewal checklists, no travel capsule, no proof of existence.
Questions
Can I use Keepsake and OneDrive together?
That is the intended setup for many people. Keepsake's Sovereign Sync writes an encrypted vault into a OneDrive folder you own, so you keep Microsoft's reliability and lose Microsoft's ability to read anything.
Is Personal Vault end-to-end encrypted?
No. It adds a second authentication step and auto-locking on top of OneDrive's ordinary encryption; Microsoft still holds the keys and can decrypt for account recovery, legal process or its own features.
What is the three-file limit exactly?
On the free 5 GB tier and the 100 GB standalone plan, Personal Vault holds at most three files. A Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription removes the cap. Keepsake's free tier is 25 documents per device, and Premium is unlimited.
The honest verdict
Personal Vault is a sensible feature and a poor vault. It solves "lock the passport scan behind a second factor" and nothing else — three files, no intelligence, and a vendor who can open it. Keepsake is the layer that makes the storage you already pay for genuinely private, and adds everything a folder cannot do: reading documents, filing them, and warning you before they lapse.