Search for "YubiKey vs passkey" and you will find plenty of articles picking a winner. The honest answer is that the comparison is malformed: a YubiKey is one of the places a passkey can live. They are not competitors. Once that is clear, the decision you actually face becomes much easier to make.
They run on the same standard
Both passkeys and hardware security keys implement FIDO2/WebAuthn. That matters because the security property people care about comes from the standard, not from the plastic.
A passkey is a public-key credential: the private half stays with you, the public half sits with the service. There is no shared secret to steal, so a breach of the service leaks nothing reusable. And the credential is origin-bound, meaning it will not present itself to a lookalike domain no matter how convincing the page is. That is what makes it phishing-resistant.
A YubiKey does exactly this too, because it is a FIDO2 authenticator. So when someone asks which is more phishing-resistant, the accurate answer is that both are, by the same mechanism.
The real question: where does the credential live?
This is the decision that actually changes your experience. A passkey can be stored in three places.
In your device's secure hardware (your phone's secure enclave, your laptop's TPM). Zero setup, unlocked by the biometric you already use. The credential is tied to that platform's ecosystem.
In a password manager. The vault holds the passkey and follows you across operating systems, which removes the ecosystem problem entirely.
On a hardware key. The credential lives on a device you physically carry and plug in or tap. It works on any machine, including one you do not own, and it never syncs anywhere.
Notice that only the third involves a YubiKey, and it is a storage choice rather than a different technology.
The honest drawback of synced passkeys
The friction is cross-ecosystem. A passkey created in Apple's Keychain does not natively sync to Google Password Manager or to a Windows machine. If you live on one platform, you will never notice. If you use an iPhone with a Windows PC, you can end up with a credential stranded somewhere you cannot reach it, at the moment you need to log in.
This is the practical reason many people put passkeys in a cross-platform password manager instead: the vault travels with you rather than with the operating system.
Keep your passkeys in a vault that follows youProton Pass stores and manages passkeys across browsers and platforms, so a credential created on one device is not stranded on another.→The honest drawback of hardware keys
Nothing syncs, which is the point and also the cost.
- You must carry it. No key, no login.
- You must buy two. A single hardware key is a single point of failure; losing it can lock you out of the accounts you protected most carefully. Register a backup and store it separately.
- It costs money, where platform passkeys are free.
In exchange you get a credential no cloud account holds, that works on any machine, and that is unaffected by which ecosystem you happen to be using.
How to choose
- You stay inside one ecosystem and want zero effort. Use the built-in platform storage. It is genuinely good, and free.
- You move between operating systems. Use a cross-platform password manager, so the vault travels rather than the credential being stranded.
- You want the credential device-bound, or you log in on machines you do not own, or you need extra protocols like PIV smart card. Use a hardware key such as a YubiKey, and buy a second one.
For most people, the largest security gain is simply moving off SMS codes and reused passwords onto any passkey at all. The storage question matters, but it matters less than making that first move.
The bottom line
There is no contest to settle here. Passkey describes the credential; YubiKey describes one place to keep it. Both defeat phishing through the same origin-binding property in FIDO2/WebAuthn. What you are really choosing is synced convenience against device-bound control, and whichever you pick, register a second credential so that losing one device does not lock you out.
Explainer based on the documented behaviour of the FIDO2/WebAuthn standard and on the platforms' published passkey capabilities, including Proton Pass's documented cross-platform passkey support. We have not performed hands-on testing of specific devices and quote no benchmark figures. Commercial links carry the rel="sponsored nofollow" attribute; an affiliate commission may apply at no extra cost to you and with no influence on the guidance.
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Is a YubiKey better than a passkey?
The question does not quite work, because a YubiKey is one of the places a passkey can be stored. Both rely on the same FIDO2/WebAuthn standard and both are phishing-resistant because the credential is bound to the site's real address. The genuine choice is where the credential lives: on a hardware key you carry, in your phone or laptop's secure hardware, or in a password manager. That decision changes portability and recovery, not the underlying cryptography.
Are passkeys as phishing-resistant as a hardware key?
Yes, for the phishing case specifically. Both are origin-bound, meaning the credential simply will not present itself on a fake domain, however convincing the page looks. That is the property that defeats phishing, and it comes from the FIDO2/WebAuthn standard rather than from the hardware. Differences between them show up in portability, recovery and control, not in resistance to a phishing page.
What is the real drawback of synced passkeys?
Ecosystem friction. A passkey created in Apple's Keychain does not natively sync to Google Password Manager or to a Windows machine, so people who mix platforms can find a credential stranded where they cannot reach it. Storing passkeys in a cross-platform password manager avoids this, because the vault follows you rather than the operating system.
Should I use a hardware key, my phone, or a password manager for passkeys?
Use a hardware key if you want the credential device-bound and portable across any machine, including ones you do not own, or if you also need protocols like PIV smart card. Use your phone or laptop's built-in storage if you stay inside one ecosystem and value zero setup. Use a cross-platform password manager if you move between operating systems and want one vault everywhere. Whichever you pick, register a second credential as backup.
