Hashcat
The world's fastest and most advanced password recovery utility.
Overview
Hashcat is the world's fastest and most advanced password recovery utility, supporting five unique modes of attack for over 300 highly-optimized hashing algorithms. hashcat currently supports CPUs, GPUs, and other hardware accelerators on Linux, Windows, and macOS, and has facilities to help enable distributed password cracking.
✨ Key Features
- GPU-based cracking for high performance
- Supports over 300 hash algorithms
- Multiple attack modes (dictionary, brute-force, mask, etc.)
- Distributed cracking support
- Open-source and free
🎯 Key Differentiators
- Performance (especially on GPUs)
- Number of supported hash types
Unique Value: Provides the fastest and most advanced password cracking capabilities available.
🎯 Use Cases (3)
✅ Best For
- Cracking password hashes at very high speeds
- Auditing the password strength of a large user base
💡 Check With Vendor
Verify these considerations match your specific requirements:
- Beginners (has a steeper learning curve than John the Ripper)
- Systems without a powerful GPU
🏆 Alternatives
Significantly faster than CPU-based crackers like the default John the Ripper.
💻 Platforms
✅ Offline Mode Available
💰 Pricing
Free tier: Hashcat is completely free and open-source.
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