Encrypting your sensitive data is important, but not all encryption tools are the same. Last week we asked you for your favorites, and then we looked at the top five file encryption tools and put them head to head. Now it’s time to crown the community favorite.
VeraCrypt, the spiritual (and in many ways, including its code, actual) descendant of TrueCrypt, took the top spot by a wide margin, bringing home close to 41% of the overall vote. It’s free, (mostly) open source, cross-platform, offers strong encryption, and offers all of the great features TrueCrypt did before its developers abandoned it.
Second place with 20% of the overall vote was 7-Zip, a file compression tool that also has the ability to create encrypted archives. It’s also free and cross-platform, and easy to use. Third place with close to 16% of the vote went to GNU Privacy Guard—more a platform than a product, but one with tons of individual tools that support its preferred encryption method, PGP. In fourth place with over 15% of the votes cast was Microsoft’s BitLocker, built in to and already available in Windows Vista and Windows 7 (Ultimate and Enterprise), and into Windows 8 (Pro and Enterprise), as well as Windows Server (2008 and later). Bringing up the rear with just over 7% of the overall vote was AxCrypt.
For more on each of these and the honorable mentions not listed here, make sure to head back to our full Hive Five feature to read more.
The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it didn’t get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it’s a bit of a popularity contest. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!