How Long Should a Password Be in 2026?
Entropy, brute-force timelines, and what security experts say about password length versus complexity in 2026.
By EpicToolify Editorial
The answer is straightforward: longer is always better. NIST Special Publication 800-63B recommends a minimum of 8 characters for most accounts, but security researchers advocate 16+ for anything important.
Here's why: each additional character multiplies the number of possible combinations exponentially. A 12-character random password has roughly 95¹² ≈ 54 billion billion possible combinations — currently infeasible to brute force.
Length matters more than complexity. A random 20-character lowercase string is harder to crack than a 10-character password with symbols, numbers, and mixed case.