Passphrase and PIN Generator

Passwords you can remember and nobody can guess

Long random passwords are strong but hard to remember. A passphrase made of several random words gets you the same strength in a form your brain can hold. This tool builds them from the EFF long wordlist and shows how strong they are.

Passphrases

Choose how many words (three to ten), a separator and a few options:

• Capitalise each word satisfies sites that require uppercase.
• Add a random digit to one word satisfies sites that demand a number.
• Separator can be a hyphen, space, dot, underscore or nothing.

The tool generates a batch so you can pick one you find memorable. Because every word is chosen at random, you should use the result as it is rather than swapping words for ones you like better; that would reduce the randomness.

Entropy explained

Each word from a 7,776-word list adds about 12.9 bits. Five words give roughly 65 bits, which would take an attacker an impractically long time to guess offline. The panel under the results shows the total and a plain label from Weak to Very strong.

PINs

Choose four to twelve digits. With "avoid repeats, runs and doubled patterns" on, you will not get 0000, 1234 or 4545. PINs have about 3.3 bits per digit, so use them only where wrong guesses are limited by lockouts.

Good habits

1. Use a unique passphrase for each important account, or one master passphrase plus a password manager.
2. Turn on two-factor authentication wherever it is offered.
3. Do not store passphrases in plain text notes or email.
4. Never reuse a PIN across devices and cards.
5. Write down a master passphrase on paper and keep it somewhere safe until it is memorised.

Privacy

Secrets are created in your browser with its secure random generator. They are never uploaded, logged or saved.