1Password Just Pledged $300,000 to DHH's Omarchy, and its Own Employees Aren't Happy

Omarchy has been on something of a roll now. Funding for its foundation has been climbing fast, from an $8 million launch to $10 million a few weeks later, and now crossing $13 million with the most recent pledge.

What's drawn my attention are the first two Corporate Patrons, 1Password and 37signals, both of whom have decided to pitch $100,000 a year for the next three years. Now, 37signals I get; DHH is heavily involved there, but 1Password was a surprise entry.

Naturally, not everyone's onboard with their pledge.

Signs of disagreement

This has not gone well with employees working at 1Password, with company leadership having to take certain damage control measures to assure their staff.

An internal Slack message has surfaced (courtesy of The Verge), which shows cofounder Roustem Karimov downplaying the criticism, telling team members that:

people have different personal opinions. You believe in your heart that DHH is evil, that you have the moral high ground, and that nothing will change your mind.

However, not everyone believes that. It is not fair to claim a monopoly and ostracize team members who might disagree with you. There are people who are afraid to speak up simply because they will be personally attacked.

CEO David Faugno responded on a different note, telling employees the company doesn't endorse DHH's views, while also noting that Omarchy is the second most used Linux distribution among 1Password's own users.

Why the backlash?

DHH is known to be someone who firmly falls on the "right" side of the political spectrum, someone who doesn't shy away from putting his opinions in public view.

He regularly posts blogs that show where he stands on certain societal issues, and some of his recent writeups are what's fueling this particular backlash.

His recent July post, titled "Wolves, sheep, and gypsies," compares Denmark's wolf population with the Romani people camping in Copenhagen parks, where he argues: "When gypsies take over public spaces, you deport them."

Then there's "As I remember London" from September 2025, where he laments about London losing its native Brit majority and a nod of approval for a Tommy Robinson march.

Of course, these aren't the only factors behind his disapproval, but you get the gist of it, right?

Users could jump ship

If you search for the terms "1Password" and "Omarchy" right now, you are bound to run into the many comments made by disgruntled 1Password users on Reddit and Hacker News.

They are calling the choice tone-deaf, given how many smaller open source projects could've benefited from the money. Some are already jumping to alternatives like Bitwarden, while others suggest self-hosting Vaultwarden or going with KeePass and its forks instead.

I see the issue compounding too. Back in February, 1Password raised subscription prices, taking effect at renewals from March 27. Individual plans went up 33 percent from $35.88 to $47.88 a year, and family plans went up 20 percent from $59.88 to $71.88.

Its community forum already has a long thread full of longtime users saying they were leaving over it. If 1Password continues playing with its users' trust like this, who knows what kind of exodus it will see next?