Question 1

What's the difference between memorable and passphrase?

Accepted Answer

A passphrase is multiple words joined by separators — 'pedal-delphine-arabia-blaring-cramp'. A memorable password is a short concatenation of capitalized words plus numbers and symbols — 'PedalArabia47!'. Passphrases are stronger for the same character count because each word contributes ~13 bits of entropy. Memorable passwords are more familiar-looking and pass legacy 'must contain a number and a symbol' rules that some sites still enforce. Use a passphrase when you can, memorable when the site rejects long inputs.

Question 2

How memorable is this really?

Accepted Answer

Two capitalized words plus a 2-digit number plus a symbol gives a pattern like CapWord1CapWord2NN!. The cognitive load is similar to remembering a phone number — most people can hold one in working memory long enough to type it after seeing it twice. For long-term memorization, passphrases beat memorable passwords because the words form a more vivid mental image. Memorable mode is best used as a transient password you'll change soon, or to satisfy legacy complexity rules without abandoning all reasonable entropy.

Question 3

Is this strong enough?

Accepted Answer

It depends on word count. 2 EFF words + number + symbol = ~33 bits entropy = crackable in ~1 day against unsalted fast hashes. 3 words + number + symbol = ~46 bits = crackable in ~3 months. 4 words + number + symbol = ~59 bits = ~17 years. For typical website accounts with rate limiting on the server side, 2 words is fine; for anything offline-attackable, use the passphrase generator with 5+ words instead.

Memorable Password Generator

Frequently Asked Questions