Bcrypt Password Hash Generator

Generate secure Bcrypt password hashes and verify passwords for secure storage in websites and applications

Higher values are more secure but take longer to compute

About Bcrypt

Bcrypt is a password-hashing function designed by Niels Provos and David Mazières, based on the Blowfish cipher. It was created specifically for password hashing and incorporates several security features that make it ideal for this purpose.

Key features of Bcrypt:

  • Salting: Automatically generates and incorporates a random salt, protecting against rainbow table attacks
  • Adaptive cost: Allows adjustment of the computational cost to keep pace with hardware improvements
  • Slow algorithm: Deliberately computationally intensive to resist brute-force attacks
  • One-way function: Cannot be reversed to retrieve the original password

Security Note: While Bcrypt is very secure, it's important to stay updated with the latest security recommendations. For extremely sensitive applications, consider newer algorithms like Argon2.

Understanding Bcrypt Hash Format

A Bcrypt hash consists of several components, each with a specific meaning:

$2b$12$R8xMkvrSuQ8J3wgBFvNR4eDXxpz.JjRWpO6V4sFGLz/42WoUVSFLG

12 = Cost factor (rounds)
R8x...R4e = Salt (22 characters)
DXx...FLG = Hash (31 characters)

The hash begins with $2b$ which indicates the Bcrypt algorithm version. The next part is the cost factor (or work factor), which determines how computationally intensive the hashing process is.

Cost FactorRelative Computation TimeRecommended Use Case
10Base reference (1x)Development environments, non-critical applications
12~4x longer than cost factor 10Production environments, standard security applications
14~16x longer than cost factor 10High-security applications, sensitive data

Bcrypt Implementation in Different Languages

Here are examples of how to use Bcrypt in common programming languages:

Node.js:


const bcrypt = require('bcrypt');
const saltRounds = 12;
const password = 'MySecurePassword123';

// Generate hash
const hash = await bcrypt.hash(password, saltRounds);
// Result: '$2b$12$R8xMkvrSuQ8J3wgBFvNR4eDXxpz.JjRWpO6V4sFGLz/42WoUVSFLG'

// Verify password
const isMatch = await bcrypt.compare(password, hash);
// Result: true

Python:


import bcrypt

password = b'MySecurePassword123'
salt = bcrypt.gensalt(rounds=12)

# Generate hash
hashed = bcrypt.hashpw(password, salt)
# Result: b'$2b$12$R8xMkvrSuQ8J3wgBFvNR4eDXxpz.JjRWpO6V4sFGLz/42WoUVSFLG'

# Verify password
is_valid = bcrypt.checkpw(password, hashed)
# Result: True

PHP:


<?php
$password = 'MySecurePassword123';
$options = ['cost' => 12];

// Generate hash
$hash = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_BCRYPT, $options);
// Result: '$2y$12$R8xMkvrSuQ8J3wgBFvNR4eDXxpz.JjRWpO6V4sFGLz/42WoUVSFLG'

// Verify password
$isValid = password_verify($password, $hash);
// Result: true
?>

Best Practices for Password Security

  • Never store passwords in plain text - Always hash passwords before storing them
  • Use a secure hashing algorithm - Bcrypt, Argon2, or PBKDF2 are recommended
  • Implement proper cost factors - Higher is more secure but also slower
  • Consider future-proofing - Design your system to allow upgrading hash algorithms in the future
  • Implement additional security measures - Rate limiting, account lockouts, and 2FA add extra layers of protection