Passphrase Generator

Because the strength lives in the random selection, not in secrecy of the method. Each word drawn uniformly from the EFF 7,776-word list adds log2(7776), about 12.9 bits, so six words give roughly 78 bits: about 300 quintillion equally likely phrases. An attacker who knows exactly which list and how many words you used still has to search that entire space. Compare a phrase you invented yourself: it comes from the tiny space of things a human would think of, and crackers search that space first.

Six from the EFF long list for most uses, which is EFF's own recommendation, roughly 78 bits. Use seven or eight (90 to 103 bits) for high-value, long-lived secrets like a password manager master password or disk encryption. Four words (52 bits) is acceptable only where an online service throttles guessing; do not use it for anything that could be attacked offline.

No, and it is a perfect illustration of the difference between method and instance. The METHOD from that famous comic, randomly choosing words, is excellent. That specific PHRASE has been the world's best-known example for over a decade and sits in every cracking dictionary. The same applies to any phrase you pick because you like it: picking is not random. Generate, do not choose.

The EFF long list has 7,776 words (12.9 bits each), including longer words, and is the recommended default with the stronger math. The easy-typing list has 1,024 short common words (exactly 10 bits each), chosen for fast phone typing. Five easy-list words (50 bits) roughly match four EFF words (52 bits); the tool shows the list size and per-word bits for whichever you pick, so the trade is explicit.

Only random ones. Capitalizing every first letter is a fixed rule, so this tool honestly counts it as zero added entropy. The random-digit separator and appended random number do add entropy (about 3.3 bits per digit) because they are randomly drawn. If a site demands a capital letter and a digit, use those options and let the words carry the real strength.