How to Create a Strong Password

Long, random, and different for every account — generated securely in your browser.

A strong password is not a clever one. Human cleverness follows patterns — names, birthdays, keyboard walks, a word with the vowels swapped — and those patterns are exactly what password-cracking software tries first. Strength comes from being long and genuinely random, and from never being reused. The Password Generator creates random passwords locally in your browser with a cryptographically secure generator; a generated password is never sent anywhere or stored by the site.

The three rules that matter

Length beats complexity. Every extra character multiplies the number of combinations an attacker must try. Sixteen characters is a good minimum for an important account; more is better, and a long passphrase of several random words is strong for the same reason. Random beats memorable-invented. A generator has no favorite band, pet, or football team to leak into the password. Unique beats everything. If one site leaks its passwords and you reused the same one elsewhere, every account with that password is exposed. A different password for every account confines a leak to one place.

Step by step

  1. Open the generator. Go to the Password Generator. It runs entirely in your browser — passwords are created on your device and are never transmitted or stored.
  2. Set the length. Choose at least 16 characters. If a site allows more, use more.
  3. Choose the character sets. Include uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, unless the site's rules forbid some of them — in that case, match its rules and add length instead.
  4. Generate and use it immediately. Copy the password straight into the sign-up or password-change form. Do not retype it by hand; copying avoids mistakes.
  5. Save it properly, then repeat. Store the password in a password manager, or in your own private records kept somewhere safe. Then generate a fresh one for your next account — never reuse.

Remembering without reusing

Nobody memorizes dozens of 16-character random strings, and you are not meant to. A reputable password manager remembers them for you, protected by one strong master password — make that one a long passphrase you can type and remember. For the master password and other must-memorize secrets, a passphrase of several unrelated words, with a number or symbol mixed in, is both strong and humanly memorable. Avoid the classic traps: names and dates from your life, a single dictionary word, predictable substitutions, and the same password with a different number at the end for each site.

Sharing a long Wi-Fi password with guests? The guide on how to create a QR code shows how to turn it into a code guests can scan instead of type.

Generate a strong password now

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