How to Create a Strong Password in 2026
Weak, reused passwords are still the number-one cause of account breaches. The good news: strong passwords are easy to make once you know what actually matters. Here's a practical guide for 2026.
What makes a password strong
Strength comes down to length and unpredictability, not clever symbol substitutions. A longer password has exponentially more possible combinations, which makes brute-force guessing impractical.
- Length first — aim for 16+ characters. Length beats complexity.
- Randomness — avoid names, dates, and dictionary words.
- A mix of character types — upper, lower, numbers, and symbols.
- Unique per site — never reuse the same password across accounts.
Mistakes to avoid
- Predictable substitutions like
P@ssw0rd— attackers know these patterns. - Personal info (birthday, pet, favorite team) that's easy to find or guess.
- Reusing one password everywhere — one breach then unlocks all your accounts.
- Short passwords, even if they look complex.
Generate one instantly
The easiest way to get a strong, unpredictable password is to generate one. Our password generatoruses your browser's secure random source, lets you set the length and character sets, and never sends anything to a server. Need many tokens or API keys at once instead? Use the random string generator.
Passphrases: strong and memorable
If you need to remember a password (like your master password), a passphrase of four or more random words is both strong and easy to recall — far better than a short, cryptic string you can't remember and end up reusing.
Use a password manager
You can't memorize a unique 16-character password for every account — nor should you try. A password manager generates and stores them, so you only remember one strong master password. Turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) wherever it's offered for a second layer of protection.
A note on hashing
Good services never store your password in plain text — they store a one-way hashof it. That means even the service can't read your password, and a database leak doesn't immediately expose it. It's a good sign of a service that takes security seriously.