Password Tools
Five ways to make a password and one way to check one. The right choice depends almost entirely on who has to type it.
Which one do you want?
Every generator here produces a password nobody can guess. They differ in what happens next — in whether a machine fills the field or a person types it, and in what that person has to do with it.
| If the password is | Use | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Filled in by a password manager | Password Generator | 16 chars · 103 bits |
| Typed from memory, with no length limit | Passphrase | 6 words · 78 bits |
| Typed into a signup form that caps the length | Memorable | 4 words · 41 bits |
| Read out loud to another person | Pronounceable | 5 syllables · 45 bits |
| One you already have | Strength Checker | nothing is sent |
The rule behind the table
Most of your passwords should not be memorable at all. If software fills the field, a fully random string is stronger and costs you nothing to remember, which is why the password generator is the default answer and the site's homepage.
The other three exist for the handful you actually type: a device login, the manager itself, an account you need on somebody else's laptop. Each buys memorability at a different price, and each page states that price in bits rather than implying there is no cost.
Words or syllables?
The passphrase and memorable generators both draw real words, from EFF's long and short lists respectively. The pronounceable generator uses no dictionary at all — its 285 syllables were never words — which makes it about twice as dense per character as either.
In practice: words when you have to recall it a week later, syllables when you have to say it down a phone line.
Checking a password you did not generate
The strength checker estimates how many guesses an attacker would need rather than counting character variety, which is why it ratesPassword1! at 11.9 bits where the usual formula says 65.7.
Whatever you type into it stays in the page. If you have any doubt about that — and you should have some doubt about any site that asks for a password — test it with a stand-in of the same length and shape, or disconnect from the internet first and watch it keep working.
All 5 tools
- Password GeneratorStrong random passwords, up to 50 at once.
- Passphrase GeneratorWord-based passphrases you can actually type.
- Password Strength CheckerTest a password without sending it anywhere.
- Memorable Password GeneratorShort real words that fit a signup form.
- Pronounceable Password GeneratorPasswords you can say out loud.