Passphrase Generator
Random words joined into a passphrase you can remember and type, for the passwords you can’t keep in a password manager.
Made in this page with your browser’s secure random generator. Nothing is logged, sent or saved, and passphrases never go in the page address.
A password you can remember and type
Some passwords can’t live in a password manager: the one that unlocks your computer, the manager’s own master password, or a Wi-Fi password you read out to a guest. You type these, often from memory, and a string like 7#qL!x9v is hard to recall and easy to mistype. A passphrase of random everyday words is easier on both counts and, with enough words, just as hard to guess.
How to use it
- Choose how many words. Five is a good start; use six or more for a master password.
- Pick what goes between the words, and turn on capitals or a number if a site insists on them.
- Choose a passphrase you can picture, and use it exactly as shown: swapping in words you like better makes it easier to guess.
- Type it a few times to learn it. Press Regenerate whenever you want a new set.
Why words are easier to remember
Memory holds a few familiar words far more easily than a dozen unrelated symbols. Five words can become a small scene in your head: a lantern swinging from a maple over a cradle. You remember the picture, and the words come back with it. The strength comes from the random choice, not from unusual words, so the words can stay simple.
How strong is it?
Each word comes from a list of 2,048 everyday words, so each adds exactly 11 bits of randomness: five words give 55 bits, six give 66 and eight give 88. The number adds about 6.6 bits. Capitals add none, because they’re always in the same place. With nothing between the words and no capitals, two different runs of words can spell the same thing, so the figure becomes a ceiling.
Good to know
- Fair: words are picked with crypto.getRandomValues; 2,048 is a power of two, so every word is exactly as likely as any other.
- Easy to say: the list leaves out words that sound like others, such as pair and pear.
- Private: nothing is logged, sent, saved or put in the page address.
- Writing it down: if you need a paper copy while you learn it, keep it somewhere safe at home, away from the device it unlocks.
- Other tools: for logins kept in a password manager, the Password Generator makes long random passwords; for a name, try the Username Generator.