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NIST password guidelines: what the US government actually recommends for passwords

NIST Special Publication 800-63B is the US government's official guidance on digital identity, including password policy. It explicitly recommends against many of the rules you've been told your whole life: no mandatory character mixing (uppercase + lowercase + number + symbol), no periodic password changes, no password hints, and no knowledge-based authentication (mother's maiden name, first pet). The old rules made passwords weaker, not stronger.

Security domain
Standards
Official guidelines and compliance
Topic focus
NIST guidelines
nist-guidelines

How this is calculated

NIST's key recommendations: minimum 8 characters for user-chosen passwords, 6 for machine-generated. No composition rules (must include uppercase, number, etc.) because they lead to predictable patterns (Password1!). No periodic password changes unless there's evidence of compromise, because forced rotation leads to weaker passwords (Password1!, Password2!, Password3!). Screen new passwords against a list of commonly compromised passwords. Allow paste in password fields (disabling paste encourages shorter, weaker passwords). Support Unicode (emoji in passwords is valid). Allow at least 64 characters maximum length. These guidelines were published in 2017 and updated in 2024. Organizations that still enforce 90-day rotation and complexity rules are following outdated guidance that NIST itself repudiated.

Verdict

NIST's guidelines are the gold standard for password policy. Length over complexity. No forced rotation. Block known compromised passwords. Allow paste. These rules make passwords both more secure and less annoying for users.

More Passwords scenarios

Password length guide
password-length
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Passphrase vs password
passphrase-vs-password
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Password manager guide
password-manager
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Password entropy
password-entropy
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Brute force resistance
brute-force
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2FA vs strong password
2fa-vs-password
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Password hashing
password-hashing
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Password mistakes
password-mistakes
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Biometrics vs passwords
biometrics
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Password generators
generator-tools
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Password reuse risks
password-reuse
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Frequently asked questions

How long should a secure password be?
16 characters or more, drawn from uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols. A 16-character mixed password is currently impractical to brute-force with commodity hardware, while 8-character ones can be cracked in hours by modern GPUs.
Is the generated password actually random?
Yes. The generator uses the browser's crypto.getRandomValues(), a cryptographically secure random source backed by OS entropy. The output is suitable for production password managers, API keys, and seed phrases.
Is my password saved anywhere?
No. The entire generator runs in your browser, with no network requests, no logging, and nothing stored. Close the tab and the password is gone from memory. Check your browser's Network tab to verify there are no outbound calls when a new password is generated.
What's the difference between a passphrase and a password?
A passphrase is a string of dictionary words (like "correct-horse-battery-staple"), long but memorable. A password is usually shorter with mixed character classes (like "Kx9$mQ2!pR"). Passphrases are typically stronger per character of memory effort, and this tool generates both styles.
Should I use the same password everywhere?
Never. Use a password manager (Bitwarden, 1Password, Apple Passwords) and generate a unique strong password for every site. Password reuse is the single biggest cause of account takeover. One breached service leaks the credential, and every other account using it is automatically compromised.
How often should I change my passwords?
Modern guidance (NIST SP 800-63B) says don't rotate strong unique passwords on a schedule. Only change them if you suspect compromise. Forced rotation encourages weak, incremented passwords. Strong password + password manager + 2FA is safer than any rotation policy.

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