Confused newby

Good choice! In case that you do not see the premium features within Bitwarden, “log out” (not “lock”) and back in.

See: License Paid Features | Bitwarden Help & Support
In short: You will need it if you intend to self-host instead of using the infrastructure Bitwarden provides.
This is completely optional.

We do; at least we try really, really hard. But sometimes…well…

The account for Bitwarden (the password manager) does not have to be related to the account for the community forum. Some people (including me) prefer to use different eMail-addresses to keep even the eMail-address for the password manager as some kind of a secret.

This is just a short-cut to be able to create another account for the password-manager for example for your parents, your kids, spouse, etc. Or of course if you would like to use another account for school or business related things. See: Account Switching | Bitwarden Help & Support

I would recommend to install both and then use them for a week or two to figure out what works best for you.

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