What is Bcrypt?
Bcrypt is a password hashing function designed by Niels Provos and David Mazières in 1999. It's an adaptive function that uses a salt and a variable amount of iterations to make password cracking extremely difficult. Bcrypt is considered one of the most secure password hashing algorithms available and is widely recommended for storing passwords in applications and databases. Our Bcrypt generator tool makes it easy to generate secure bcrypt hashes instantly.
Why Bcrypt?
- Adaptive Security: Automatically adjusts computation time as computers become faster
- Salted Hashing: Each hash includes a unique salt preventing rainbow table attacks
- Irreversible: Cannot be reversed to get the original password
- Industry Standard: Used by major tech companies and security experts
- Open Source: Publicly reviewed and vetted algorithm
How Bcrypt Works
Bcrypt uses the Blowfish cipher algorithm and combines it with a salt and cost factor. When you hash a password with bcrypt, it generates a unique salt, runs the password through multiple iterations (determined by the cost factor), and produces a fixed-length hash. The same password will always produce the same hash when verified, but different passwords will never produce the same hash. Each bcrypt hash includes the salt and cost factor, allowing verification without storing the original password.
Common Applications
- User Authentication: Storing user passwords in web applications
- Database Security: Hashing passwords in database systems
- API Keys: Securing API authentication tokens
- Credential Storage: Protecting sensitive credentials
- Password Verification: Comparing user input with stored hashes
- Security Testing: Testing password strength and security
Bcrypt Hash Format
A bcrypt hash looks like this: $2b$12$R9h7cIPz0gi.URNNX3kh2OPST9/PgBkqquzi.Ss7KIUgO2t0jWMUW
It contains: algorithm identifier ($2b$), cost factor (12), salt, and hash. The cost factor determines how many iterations are used - higher numbers mean more security but slower processing.