Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

hashcat VS John the Ripper

Compare hashcat VS John the Ripper and see what are their differences

hashcat logo hashcat

The World's Fastest CPU/GPU powered password cracker.

John the Ripper logo John the Ripper

A fast password cracker for Unix, macOS, Windows, DOS, BeOS, and OpenVMS
  • hashcat Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-03-11
  • John the Ripper Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-26

hashcat features and specs

  • Performance
    Hashcat is known for its high performance and speed, leveraging both CPU and GPU to accelerate the process of hashing and password cracking.
  • Open Source
    Hashcat is open-source software, which allows users to inspect, modify, and enhance the code according to their needs.
  • Multi-Platform Support
    Hashcat supports multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, providing flexibility to users regardless of their operating system.
  • Extensive Algorithm Support
    Supports a wide range of hashing algorithms, including MD5, SHA-family, and others, making it versatile for various use cases.
  • Community and Documentation
    Strong community support and comprehensive documentation help users troubleshoot and optimize their hashing processes.

Possible disadvantages of hashcat

  • Complexity
    Hashcat can be complex and intimidating for beginners due to its command-line interface and extensive configuration options.
  • Resource Intensive
    Gaining full benefits from Hashcat requires substantial computational resources, particularly high-end GPUs, which might not be accessible to everyone.
  • Ethical Concerns
    Hashcat can be used for both ethical and unethical purposes. There is potential for misuse in conducting unauthorized attacks.
  • System Compatibility Issues
    Occasional compatibility issues with certain hardware or drivers can be a barrier to seamless operation.
  • Legal Restrictions
    Depending on the jurisdiction, using Hashcat for certain activities like cracking passwords can be illegal or heavily regulated.

John the Ripper features and specs

  • Versatility
    John the Ripper supports a wide range of encryption and hash algorithms, making it highly versatile for different password-cracking scenarios.
  • Customizable
    Users can customize and extend its functionality with additional rules, making it adaptable to specific needs.
  • Open Source
    As open-source software, John the Ripper is free to use and has a large community contributing to its development, ensuring it stays up-to-date.
  • Speed
    It offers optimized performance for cracking passwords, often running faster than many other tools.
  • Multi-platform Support
    John the Ripper is available on various operating systems such as UNIX, Windows, and macOS, which increases its accessibility.

Possible disadvantages of John the Ripper

  • Complexity
    The tool has a steep learning curve and can be complex to operate, especially for users who are not familiar with command-line interfaces.
  • Resource Intensive
    John the Ripper can be resource-intensive, requiring significant processing power and memory for efficient password cracking.
  • Limited GUI Options
    While it is powerful, John the Ripper lacks a strong graphical user interface, which could be a drawback for users preferring visual interaction.
  • Legal and Ethical Concerns
    Using John the Ripper to crack passwords without permission can raise legal and ethical issues, as it is primarily a security testing tool.
  • Potential for Misuse
    There is the potential for misuse by malicious actors given its ability to crack passwords, highlighting the importance of ethical use.

hashcat videos

Hashcat : advanced password recovery tool | #HashCat on #MacOS & #Linux

More videos:

  • Review - Introduction to Hashcat
  • Review - Password Cracking with HashCat (ft £20,000 cracking PC!)

John the Ripper videos

Wireshark & John the Ripper Review

More videos:

  • Review - Hydra vs John The Ripper- Which one is better? | My opinioin ? |🤔🤔
  • Tutorial - How to Crack Passwords in Kali Linux Using John The Ripper

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to hashcat and John the Ripper)
Security & Privacy
69 69%
31% 31
CD Image Creator
66 66%
34% 34
Personal Finance
100 100%
0% 0
Password Unlocker
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using hashcat and John the Ripper. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, hashcat seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 44 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

hashcat mentions (44)

  • Is there a way to brute force wifi passwords from a known list
    My preferred method of cracking is Hashcat. Source: over 1 year ago
  • ELI5 : how can brute forcing password still exist if sites lock the account after several failed attempts?
    They usually fire it into something like hashcat on a machine with multiple GPUs. Source: over 1 year ago
  • Notes from competing in my first CTF
    For this, I downloaded wordlists such as the rockyou wordlist and used tools such as Hashcat and John the ripper. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • We are closer than ever to getting the debug build of Steel Battalion: Line of Contact, however we need your help!
    Righto, well let's assume the password format you've suggested is correct. The hashcat command to attack it should be:. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • How to make a specified wordlist?
    IIRC (and this is knowledge from a few years ago, when I was more involved in things), Hashcat has the ability to do variations. It can also use your GPU instead of just the CPU so that you can make an absurd number of guesses per second. (Like really, really absurd). Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

John the Ripper mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of John the Ripper yet. Tracking of John the Ripper recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing hashcat and John the Ripper, you can also consider the following products

MDCrack - MDcrack is a an aggressive cracker for MD2 MD4 MD5 HMAC-MD4 HMAC-MD5 NTLM PIX IOS APACHE FREEBSD IPB2 CRC32 CRC32B ADLER32 hashes

Kon-Boot - Kon-Boot is a password hacking, password recovery tool for Windows and Mac.

CrackStation - CrackStation is a web-based service that is used for retrieving passwords by cracking their hashes.

ophcrack - Ophcrack is a Windows Password cracker based on Rainbow Tables. Features

Wifite - To attack multiple WEP, WPA, and WPS encrypted networks in a row.

Password Recovery Bundle - Quickly recover or reset passwords for Windows, PDF, ZIP, RAR, Office Word/Excel/PowerPoint documents. Retrieve passwords for instant messengers, email accounts, web browsers, FTP logins, and more.