PBKDF2 Key Derivation Tool
Derive keys from passwords with salt and iterations.
Free · no sign-up · runs locally·
About this tool
PBKDF2 stretches a password into a key by iterating an HMAC thousands of times, making brute-force proportionally expensive. It backs WPA2, older password managers, and the AES tool on this site.
OWASP currently recommends at least 600,000 iterations of PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA-256 for password storage. Configure salt (text or hex), iterations, and output length; derivation happens locally via the Web Crypto API.
Like everything on encrypt.tools, this runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is transmitted or stored.
Do the same in a terminal
Reproduce or cross-check this tool with standard command-line utilities. For deterministic operations like hashing and encoding, the output matches exactly.
$ openssl kdf -keylen 32 -kdfopt digest:SHA256 -kdfopt pass:password \
-kdfopt salt:salt -kdfopt iter:600000 PBKDF2
66:9C:FE:52:48:21:16:FD:A1:AA:2C:BE:40:9B:2F:56:C8:E4:56:37:52:B7:A2:8F:6E:AA:B6:14:EE:00:51:78Frequently asked questions about PBKDF2 Derivation
How many iterations should I use?+
OWASP recommends at least 600,000 iterations for PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA-256 for password storage in 2026. More iterations mean more work for attackers — and for you.
What is the salt for?+
A unique random salt per password ensures identical passwords produce different keys and defeats precomputed rainbow-table attacks. Never reuse a salt.
Is PBKDF2 still recommended?+
It's acceptable and widely supported, but Argon2 and scrypt are memory-hard and resist GPU cracking better. Prefer them for new password-storage designs.
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