{"id":931,"date":"2021-06-01T19:28:12","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T19:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/passwordbits.com\/?page_id=931"},"modified":"2026-01-15T21:45:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:45:15","slug":"password-cracking-calculator","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/passwordbits.com\/password-cracking-calculator\/","title":{"rendered":"Password Cracking Calculator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<style>\n    .password-calc-container {\n        font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, sans-serif;\n        max-width: 800px;\n        margin: 20px auto;\n        background: #fff;\n        border-radius: 8px;\n        box-shadow: 0 2px 8px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);\n        overflow: hidden;\n    }\n    .password-calc-header {\n        background: linear-gradient(135deg, #1e73be 0%, #1557a0 100%);\n        color: white;\n        padding: 30px;\n        text-align: center;\n    }\n    .password-calc-header h3 {\n        margin: 0 0 10px 0;\n        font-size: 28px;\n        font-weight: 700;\n    }\n    .password-calc-subtitle {\n        font-size: 15px;\n        opacity: 0.95;\n        margin: 0;\n    }\n    .password-calc-section {\n        padding: 30px;\n        background: #fff;\n    }\n    .password-calc-form-group {\n        margin-bottom: 25px;\n    }\n    .password-calc-label {\n        color: #1f2937;\n        font-weight: 600;\n        font-size: 16px;\n        margin-bottom: 10px;\n        display: block;\n    }\n    .password-calc-input {\n        padding: 12px 16px;\n        font-size: 18px;\n        width: 120px;\n        border: 2px solid #e5e7eb;\n        border-radius: 6px;\n        background: #fff;\n        color: #1f2937;\n        transition: all 0.2s ease;\n        font-weight: 600;\n    }\n    .password-calc-input:focus {\n        outline: none;\n        border-color: #1e73be;\n        box-shadow: 0 0 0 3px rgba(30, 115, 190, 0.1);\n    }\n    .password-calc-checkboxes {\n        background: #f9fafb;\n        padding: 20px;\n        border-radius: 8px;\n        border: 1px solid #e5e7eb;\n    }\n    .password-calc-checkboxes div {\n        margin: 12px 0;\n        display: flex;\n        align-items: center;\n    }\n    .password-calc-checkboxes input[type=\"checkbox\"] {\n        width: 18px;\n        height: 18px;\n        margin-right: 12px;\n        cursor: pointer;\n        accent-color: #1e73be;\n    }\n    .password-calc-checkboxes label {\n        color: #374151;\n        cursor: pointer;\n        font-size: 15px;\n        user-select: none;\n        line-height: 1.5;\n    }\n    .password-calc-reuse-section {\n        margin-top: 15px;\n        padding-top: 15px;\n        border-top: 2px solid #e5e7eb;\n    }\n    .password-calc-reuse-section label {\n        font-weight: 600;\n        color: #dc2626;\n    }\n    .password-calc-button {\n        background: #1e73be;\n        color: white;\n        padding: 14px 28px;\n        border: none;\n        border-radius: 6px;\n        cursor: pointer;\n        font-size: 16px;\n        font-weight: 600;\n        width: 100%;\n        transition: all 0.2s ease;\n        box-shadow: 0 2px 4px rgba(30, 115, 190, 0.2);\n    }\n    .password-calc-button:hover {\n        background: #1557a0;\n        box-shadow: 0 4px 8px rgba(30, 115, 190, 0.3);\n        transform: translateY(-1px);\n    }\n    .password-calc-button:active {\n        transform: translateY(0);\n    }\n    .password-calc-results {\n        background: #f9fafb;\n        padding: 30px;\n        border-top: 1px solid #e5e7eb;\n        min-height: 100px;\n    }\n    .password-calc-result-item {\n        margin: 15px 0;\n        padding: 20px;\n        background: white;\n        border-radius: 8px;\n        line-height: 1.8;\n        border-left: 4px solid #1e73be;\n        box-shadow: 0 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.05);\n        animation: slideIn 0.4s ease;\n    }\n    @keyframes slideIn {\n        from {\n            opacity: 0;\n            transform: translateY(10px);\n        }\n        to {\n            opacity: 1;\n            transform: translateY(0);\n        }\n    }\n    .password-calc-result-item b {\n        color: #1e73be;\n        font-size: 15px;\n        font-weight: 700;\n    }\n    .password-calc-stat {\n        color: #1f2937;\n        font-weight: 700;\n        font-size: 20px;\n    }\n    .password-calc-weak {\n        color: #dc2626;\n        font-weight: bold;\n    }\n    .password-calc-weak-box {\n        background: #fef2f2;\n        border-left-color: #dc2626;\n    }\n    .password-calc-error {\n        color: #dc2626;\n        padding: 15px 20px;\n        background: #fef2f2;\n        border-radius: 8px;\n        margin: 15px 0;\n        border-left: 4px solid #dc2626;\n        font-weight: 600;\n    }\n    .password-calc-note {\n        font-size: 14px;\n        color: #6b7280;\n        margin-top: 20px;\n        padding-top: 20px;\n        border-top: 1px solid #e5e7eb;\n        line-height: 1.6;\n    }\n    .password-calc-note a {\n        color: #1e73be;\n        text-decoration: none;\n        font-weight: 600;\n    }\n    .password-calc-note a:hover {\n        text-decoration: underline;\n    }\n    .password-calc-strength-indicator {\n        display: inline-block;\n        padding: 4px 12px;\n        border-radius: 4px;\n        font-size: 13px;\n        font-weight: 700;\n        text-transform: uppercase;\n        letter-spacing: 0.5px;\n        margin-left: 10px;\n    }\n    .strength-weak {\n        background: #fef2f2;\n        color: #dc2626;\n    }\n    .strength-moderate {\n        background: #fef3c7;\n        color: #d97706;\n    }\n    .strength-strong {\n        background: #d1fae5;\n        color: #059669;\n    }\n    .strength-very-strong {\n        background: #dbeafe;\n        color: #1e73be;\n    }\n\n    \/* Mobile responsiveness *\/\n    @media (max-width: 640px) {\n        .password-calc-container {\n            margin: 10px;\n            border-radius: 0;\n        }\n        .password-calc-header {\n            padding: 20px;\n        }\n        .password-calc-header h3 {\n            font-size: 22px;\n        }\n        .password-calc-subtitle {\n            font-size: 14px;\n        }\n        .password-calc-section {\n            padding: 20px;\n        }\n        .password-calc-results {\n            padding: 20px;\n        }\n        .password-calc-result-item {\n            padding: 15px;\n        }\n        .password-calc-stat {\n            font-size: 18px;\n            word-break: break-word;\n        }\n        .password-calc-checkboxes {\n            padding: 15px;\n        }\n        .password-calc-checkboxes label {\n            font-size: 14px;\n        }\n    }\n<\/style>\n\n<div class=\"password-calc-container\">\n    <div class=\"password-calc-header\">\n        <h3>Password Strength Calculator<\/h3>\n        <p class=\"password-calc-subtitle\">Find out how much it would cost to crack your password<\/p>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <section class=\"password-calc-section\" name=\"calcStrength\">\n\n        <div class=\"password-calc-form-group\">\n            <label class=\"password-calc-label\">Password Length:<\/label>\n            <input type=\"number\" value=\"8\" min=\"1\" max=\"100\" id=\"txtLength\" class=\"password-calc-input\">\n        <\/div>\n\n        <div class=\"password-calc-form-group\">\n            <label class=\"password-calc-label\">Select Character Set:<\/label>\n\n            <div class=\"password-calc-checkboxes\">\n\n                <div>\n                    <input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"cbLower\" name=\"cbLower\" checked=\"\">\n                    <label for=\"cbLower\">Lowercase (a, b, c)<\/label>\n                <\/div>\n\n                <div>\n                    <input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"cbUpper\" name=\"cbUpper\" checked=\"\">\n                    <label for=\"cbUpper\">Uppercase (A, B, C)<\/label>\n                <\/div>\n\n                <div>\n                    <input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"cbNum\" name=\"cbNum\" checked=\"\">\n                    <label for=\"cbNum\">Numbers (1, 2, 3)<\/label>\n                <\/div>\n\n                <div>\n                    <input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"cbSpe\" name=\"cbSpe\" checked=\"\">\n                    <label for=\"cbSpe\">Special (!, @, #)<\/label>\n                <\/div>\n\n                <div class=\"password-calc-reuse-section\">\n                    <input type=\"checkbox\" id=\"cbReuse\" name=\"cbReuse\">\n                    <label for=\"cbReuse\">I have reused this password on multiple websites<\/label>\n                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n        <button type=\"button\" id=\"btnCalc\" class=\"password-calc-button\">Calculate Strength<\/button>\n\n        <div class=\"password-calc-note\">\n            <strong>Note:<\/strong> This calculator assumes randomly generated passwords (e.g., from a password manager).\n            Human-created passwords are inherently weaker due to predictable patterns.\n        <\/div>\n\n    <\/section>\n\n    <section class=\"password-calc-section password-calc-results\" name=\"formAnswer\">\n\n        <p id=\"combo\"><\/p>\n        <p id=\"entropy\"><\/p>\n        <p id=\"pMoney\"><\/p>\n\n    <\/section>\n<\/div>\n\n<script>\n\n    document.getElementById(\"btnCalc\").addEventListener(\"click\", calculateStrength);\n\n    function calculateStrength() {\n\n        let length = document.getElementById(\"txtLength\").value;\n        let charSet = 0;\n        let entropy = 0;\n        let combination = 0;\n        let pMoney = 0;\n        let tooLarge = 0;\n\n        internationalNumberFormat = new Intl.NumberFormat('en-US');\n\n        let checkLower = document.getElementById(\"cbLower\");\n        let checkUpper = document.getElementById(\"cbUpper\");\n        let checkNum = document.getElementById(\"cbNum\");\n        let checkSpe = document.getElementById(\"cbSpe\");\n        let checkReuse = document.getElementById(\"cbReuse\");\n\n        \/\/If user reuses the password make it weak\n        if (checkReuse.checked == true) {\n\n            document.getElementById('combo').innerHTML = \"<div class='password-calc-result-item password-calc-weak-box'><span class='password-calc-weak'><b>Password Strength: WEAK!<\/b><br>Reusing passwords makes them vulnerable to credential stuffing attacks. Every account needs its own unique password.<\/span><\/div>\";\n            document.getElementById('entropy').innerHTML = \"\";\n            document.getElementById('pMoney').innerHTML = \"\";\n\n        } else {\n\n            \/\/Add up character set values\n            if (checkLower.checked == true) {\n                charSet += 26;\n            }\n\n            if (checkUpper.checked == true) {\n                charSet += 26;\n            }\n\n            if (checkNum.checked == true) {\n                charSet += 10;\n            }\n\n            if (checkSpe.checked == true) {\n                charSet += 32;\n            }\n\n            \/\/ Validate at least one character set is selected\n            if (charSet === 0) {\n                document.getElementById('combo').innerHTML = \"<span class='password-calc-error'><b>Error:<\/b> Please select at least one character set.<\/span>\";\n                document.getElementById('entropy').innerHTML = \"\";\n                document.getElementById('pMoney').innerHTML = \"\";\n                return;\n            }\n\n            \/\/ Calculate combinations using BigInt for accuracy\n            combination = BigInt(charSet) ** BigInt(length);\n\n            \/\/ Calculate entropy of password\n            entropy = (Math.log2(charSet) * length).toFixed(2);\n\n            if (entropy >= 256) {\n\n                tooLarge = 1;\n\n            } else {\n\n                \/\/ It cost $6 to go through 2^32 (4294967296) passwords at 100k iterations\n                pMoney = Number(combination) \/ 4294967296;\n                \/\/ Take the combinations you have and divide by 2^32\n                pMoney = pMoney * 6;\n                \/\/ Multiply by $6 per 2^32 guesses\n                pMoney = pMoney \/ 2;\n                \/\/ Average case (only need to try half the passwords)\n                pMoney = pMoney \/ 100000;\n                \/\/ Adjust from 100k iterations to 1 iteration\n\n                pMoney = internationalNumberFormat.format(pMoney.toFixed(0));\n\n            }\n\n            \/\/Display answers\n\n            if (tooLarge == 0) {\n                document.getElementById('combo').innerHTML = \"<div class='password-calc-result-item'><b>Combinations:<\/b> <span class='password-calc-stat'>\" + combination.toLocaleString('en-US') + \"<\/span><\/div>\";\n                document.getElementById('entropy').innerHTML = \"<div class='password-calc-result-item'><b>Entropy:<\/b> <span class='password-calc-stat'>\" + entropy + \" bits<\/span><\/div>\";\n                document.getElementById('pMoney').innerHTML = \"<div class='password-calc-result-item'><b>Cost to Crack:<\/b> <span class='password-calc-stat'>$\" + pMoney + \" USD<\/span><div class='password-calc-note' style='border-top: none; padding-top: 10px; margin-top: 10px;'>Cost based on 1 PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 iteration. Actual cost may be lower with weaker hashing (e.g., MD5) or higher with stronger key derivation (e.g., 100k iterations). Based on <a href='https:\/\/blog.1password.com\/cracking-challenge-update\/' target='_blank'>1Password's research<\/a>: $6 USD per 2\u00b3\u00b2 guesses at 100k iterations.<\/div><\/div>\";\n\n            } else {\n\n                document.getElementById('combo').innerHTML = \"<div class='password-calc-result-item'><b>Combinations:<\/b> <span class='password-calc-stat'>Astronomical<\/span><\/div>\";\n                document.getElementById('entropy').innerHTML = \"<div class='password-calc-result-item'><b>Entropy:<\/b> <span class='password-calc-stat'>256+ bits<\/span><\/div>\";\n                document.getElementById('pMoney').innerHTML = \"<div class='password-calc-result-item'><b>Cost to Crack:<\/b> <span class='password-calc-stat'>Beyond calculation<\/span><br><span style='color: #6b7280; font-size: 14px; display: block; margin-top: 10px;'>You're way beyond overkill for password strength. This password is virtually uncrackable.<\/span><\/div>\";\n\n            }\n\n        }\n\n    }\n\n<\/script>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"note\">Note<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This calculator assumes the password is randomly generated by a password manager (Example: AqdPHw=x7*Mz7LPp). <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Reusing a password gives you a weak score because password reuse increases your chances of being affected by <a href=\"https:\/\/auth0.com\/blog\/what-is-credential-stuffing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">credential stuffing attacks<\/a>. Every account needs to have its own random password that you never reuse; a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PdB7KCjrFT4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">password manager<\/a> makes this easy. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"updated\">Updated<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve updated the password strength calculator to reflect 1Password&#8217;s findings from this great article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.1password.com\/cracking-challenge-update\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/blog.1password.com\/cracking-challenge-update\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1Password found that it cost about $770 to crack a 40bit password using their 100,000 iterations of PBKDF2-H256.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I took this baseline and calculated it so that it&#8217;s at 1 iteration instead of 100k because we don&#8217;t know how all internet passwords are stored, and assuming 1 PBKDF2-H256 is good enough. <strong>If the password is stored in MD5 or other weak hashing algos then the cost to crack will be much lower. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From that, we can see what it cost to crack just one password using this calculator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"time-vs-money\">Time vs. Money<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The old calculator would give you a time estimate of how long it would take but going off money is a far better estimate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The time value can change by how much someone is willing to spend. So if you focus on just the cost to crack the password, you get a more universal answer that is far easier to understand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doing it this way can put into context what you&#8217;re protecting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your Netflix account is worth about $20 a month, so having a password that would take $8,000 to crack might be a little overkill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But if you have millions in the bank, then having a bank password that takes billions of dollars to crack might be worth it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"important\">Important!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once again, this calculator assumes the password was randomly generated by a password manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you created this password, we must assume it&#8217;s weak as people are not good at picking passwords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, this calculator is for passwords and not passphrases. To see how long it would take to crack a passphrase or master password, <a href=\"https:\/\/passwordbits.com\/passphrase-cracking-calculator\/\">go here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"why-this-password-cracking-calculator\">Why This Password Cracking Calculator?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The reason for this password cracking calculator is that all the other ones kinda suck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first mistake they make is having you type your password on the website. Not only is that dumb, but it poses a security risk. We can easily determine the strength of a password without you typing it in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second mistake is that they&#8217;re not based on real-world cracking. Them not having real-world math backing up their claims is no better than someone telling you a random number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The last mistake is that they don&#8217;t factor in people-created passwords or people reusing passwords. Most people don&#8217;t know reusing passwords is bad because no one is telling them; I go into more detail about how password education happens at the sign-up pages <a href=\"https:\/\/passwordbits.com\/password-education\/\">here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Password Strength Calculator Find out how much it would cost to crack your password Password Length: Select Character Set: Lowercase (a, b, c) Uppercase (A, B, C) Numbers (1, 2, 3) Special (!, @, #) I have reused this password on multiple websites Calculate Strength Note: This calculator assumes randomly generated passwords (e.g., from a &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Password Cracking Calculator\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/passwordbits.com\/password-cracking-calculator\/#more-931\" aria-label=\"Read more about Password Cracking Calculator\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-931","page","type-page","status-publish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/passwordbits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/passwordbits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/passwordbits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passwordbits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/passwordbits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=931"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/passwordbits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1841,"href":"https:\/\/passwordbits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/931\/revisions\/1841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/passwordbits.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}