Argon2 Hash Generator & Tuning Tool

Configure and verify RFC 9106 Argon2id password hashing parameters. Tune memory cost, time iterations, parallelism, and test against OWASP security standards.

Argon2 Password Hashing Parameters

RFC 9106 memory, iteration, and parallelism tuning for modern authentication systems

Input Password / Secret

Argon2 Algorithm Variant

Memory Cost (m in KiB) - 65,536 KiB = 64 MB

Time Cost / Iterations (t)

Parallelism / Threads (p)

Cryptographic Salt (Base64)

Encoded RFC 9106 Argon2 Hash String

Standard PHC string format ready for SQL/database storage

$argon2id$v=19$m=65536,t=3,p=4$c29tZXJhbmRvbXNhbHQxMg$7Fh6A4Xv3uE9zK2L9s1B8c4D7e0F3a6C8b1E4d7A9c2

OWASP 2024 Password Storage Guideline: PASS

Your parameters meet or exceed the OWASP recommended baseline for Argon2id (m=64MB, t=3, p=4). This protects against both ASIC/GPU brute-force clusters and cache-timing attacks.

Understanding Argon2: The State-of-the-Art Password Hashing Algorithm

Argon2 is the winner of the Password Hashing Competition (PHC) and the gold standard for password storage defined in RFC 9106 and OWASP Guidelines. Unlike older algorithms like MD5, SHA-256, or even bcrypt, Argon2 is memory-hard, requiring adversaries to commit substantial physical RAM to evaluate hashes. This fundamentally neutralizes GPU clusters and custom ASIC cracking hardware.

Key Developer & Cloud Features

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Argon2id Hybrid Mode Support

Implements the recommended Argon2id variant combining Argon2i (side-channel resistance) and Argon2d (GPU crack resistance).

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RFC 9106 & OWASP Compliance Checker

Audits your memory, iteration, and thread settings against 2024 OWASP Password Storage standards.

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Memory Cost Tuning (KiB & MiB)

Configure exact memory cost (m), allowing you to benchmark 64MB production targets vs resource-constrained microcontrollers.

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Time Cost & Parallelism Controls

Adjust execution iterations (t) and multi-core CPU thread lanes (p) for balanced authentication latency.

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Standard PHC Formatted String Output

Outputs the standard string format ($argon2id$v=19$m=...,t=...,p=...$salt$hash) accepted by all database libraries.

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Multi-Language Integration Samples

Reference implementation guidance for Python, Node.js, and Golang backend services.

Practical Engineering Scenarios

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Backend Software Architects
Determine optimal memory and iteration parameters for user authentication in high-throughput APIs.
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Cybersecurity & Pentesting Specialists
Verify that stored credential hashes adhere to OWASP and NIST SP 800-63B standards.
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DevSecOps & Compliance Auditors
Upgrade legacy MD5 and SHA-1 password hashes to modern memory-hard cryptographic standards.
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Security Researchers & Cryptographers
Examine the PHC string structure and test memory cost trade-offs against side-channel vulnerabilities.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Argon2d, Argon2i, and Argon2id?

Argon2d uses data-dependent memory access, making it highly resistant to GPU cracking but vulnerable to side-channel cache-timing attacks. Argon2i uses data-independent memory access, which is resistant to side channels but slightly less resistant to GPU attacks. Argon2id combines both approaches, using Argon2i for the first half-pass and Argon2d for remaining passes, offering the best overall defense.

What are the recommended OWASP parameters for Argon2id?

The current OWASP Password Storage Cheat Sheet recommends Argon2id with: Memory cost m = 64 MiB (65,536 KiB), Time cost t = 3 iterations, and Parallelism p = 4 threads. For memory-constrained systems, 19 MiB with t = 2 can be used.

Why is Argon2 superior to bcrypt and PBKDF2?

Bcrypt has a hard limit of 72 bytes on input passwords and only requires a tiny 4KB memory footprint, allowing hackers to construct massively parallel GPU and FPGA cracking rigs. Argon2 allows arbitrarily long passwords and forces the cracker's hardware to allocate dozens of megabytes of RAM per hash attempt.

How should Argon2 hashes be stored in a database?

Argon2 hashes should be stored as full PHC-formatted strings (e.g. '$argon2id$v=19$m=65536,t=3,p=4$...'). This string encodes the algorithm version, parameters, salt, and resulting hash in a single standard 90-100 character VARCHAR column.