Heritkey vs. Google Inactive Account Manager: your Google data, or the keys to everything?
Google's Inactive Account Manager decides what happens to your Google Account if you stop using it. It's a good, free safety net for Gmail, Photos and Drive. But your family needs more than a download link from Google. Here's how it compares with Heritkey, and why they work best together.
Lock in the $3.99/month early-access price →Or $74.99 once for life. Your heirs never pay. Waitlist members keep the launch price.
What Inactive Account Manager does well
You choose how long Google should wait before treating your account as inactive. When that time is up, after warning you by text and email, Google can notify up to 10 people with a message you wrote, share the data you selected through a download link, and delete the account if you prefer. Setup takes about ten minutes. See how Inactive Account Manager works.
Three gaps it leaves
- The wait. When Google introduced the current version, the waiting periods offered were 3, 6, 12 or 18 months. Bills, subscriptions and deadlines don't wait that long.
- Google only. Your contacts get copies of the Google data you selected. Not the logins to your bank, your pension, your other email addresses or anything else.
- A copy, not access. A download link isn't a way into the services that rely on your Gmail address for password resets and codes.
Side by side
| Google Inactive Account Manager | Heritkey | |
|---|---|---|
| Shares copies of Gmail, Photos and Drive | ✓ Yes | ⚠ Documents you add |
| Passes on passwords to other accounts | ✗ No | ✓ Yes |
| Accounts outside Google | ✗ No | ✓ Any account, any service |
| Shortest wait before access | ✗ Months of inactivity | ✓ From 7 days, your choice |
| Your heir can ask for access | ✗ No, it's triggered by inactivity | ✓ They request it, you can refuse |
| End-to-end encrypted, unreadable to the provider | ✗ Google holds the keys | ✓ We never have your key |
| Your wishes and personal messages | ⚠ One message to your contacts | ✓ Yes, per person |
| Price | Free | $3.99 a month or $74.99 once |
Lock in the $3.99/month early-access price →Or $74.99 once for life. Your heirs never pay. Waitlist members keep the launch price.
Which one should you choose?
Both. Set up Inactive Account Manager for your Google data, and keep in Heritkey the passwords, backup codes, account list and instructions your family will need in the first weeks, long before Google's timer runs out. If you also use an iPhone, see Heritkey vs. Apple Legacy Contact.
Google's details come from its help pages and security blog as of October 2026. Heritkey is launching soon; its details describe how it's being built.