Password strength tester
Type a password and instantly see how strong it really is: a five-level strength meter, the entropy in bits, and an estimated offline crack time. Unlike a simple “8 characters with a number” rule, this measures the actual size of the search space an attacker faces and flags passwords that look strong but are easy to guess.
How it works
The tester computes entropy from the character pool and length, estimates an offline crack time, then assigns a 0–4 score with safeguards for weak patterns:
pool = 26 (a–z) + 26 (A–Z) + 10 (0–9) + 33 (symbols), only the types present
entropy = length × log2(pool) bits
guesses = 2^entropy ÷ 2
crack = guesses ÷ 10,000,000,000 guesses/sec (offline, fast hash)
A common-password match or under 28 bits forces a score of 0. Otherwise the bands are under 40 bits = 1, under 60 = 2, under 80 = 3, and 80+ = 4. Specific suggestions tell you which lever — length, variety, uniqueness — will help most.
Worked examples
The password Summer2024 (10 chars, pool 62 — upper, lower, digits):
- Entropy: 10 × log2(62) ≈ 59.5 bits → score 2 (Fair)
- It also resembles a common seasonal-year pattern, so the tester downgrades it and suggests adding length and a symbol. A version like
Summer2024!kq8would reach 80+ bits and score 4.
| Password | Pool | Entropy | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 123456 | 10 | 19.9 bits | 0 — Very weak |
| iloveyou | 26 | 37.6 bits | 0 — Common password |
| Summer2024 | 62 | 59.5 bits | 2 — Fair |
| Summer2024!kq8 | 95 | 97.7 bits | 4 — Very strong |
| correct horse battery staple | 27 (a–z + space) | 136 bits | 4 — Very strong |
Why some “strong-looking” passwords still score low
The tester checks against a list of the most common breached passwords and applies pattern penalties. If a password matches or closely resembles an entry on that list — even if it contains uppercase, digits, and symbols — it scores 0. This is not a bug: attackers prioritise known passwords and predictable patterns (seasonal words + year, keyboard walks, common substitutions like @ for a) long before exhausting the full search space.
The practical implication: a 12-character password constructed from a random character generator is far stronger in practice than a 15-character one built from a word you know, even if the entropy calculator gives them similar scores.
Common patterns that score lower than expected
Summer2024!— seasonal word + year + symbol: classic patternqwerty123— keyboard walkP@ssw0rd— common substitution; appears in every cracking wordlist- Your name + birth year or pet name + number
- Any single dictionary word, regardless of case or symbol appended
The best practice is a password manager generating long, genuinely random strings. If you need something memorable, a diceware passphrase (four or five random words chosen by rolling dice from a large wordlist) gives strong entropy from length while remaining human-readable.
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