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hashcat vs John the Ripper: catalog facts
hashcat	John the Ripper
Best for: Auditing how quickly the password hashes in your own systems can be recovered	Best for: Auditing passwords, especially in hash formats that other tools do not support
Free Free and open source under the MIT licence.	Free Free and open source under the GPL, with some components under a relaxed variant.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Over 590 hash modes and ten attack modes, including masks and rule-based mutation CUDA, HIP, Metal and OpenCL backends, with mixed device types in one system All 4 strengths for hashcat Over 590 hash modes and ten attack modes, including masks and rule-based mutation CUDA, HIP, Metal and OpenCL backends, with mixed device types in one system Named sessions with restore after interruption, and a thermal watchdog Keyboard layout mapping for disk encryption passwords typed on a non-US keyboard	The jumbo build supports hundreds of hash and cipher types, including many obscure ones Runs on a very wide range of platforms including old and unusual ones All 4 strengths for John the Ripper The jumbo build supports hundreds of hash and cipher types, including many obscure ones Runs on a very wide range of platforms including old and unusual ones Strong rule-based and incremental attack modes, not just dictionaries Packaged by every major distribution plus Homebrew, Flathub and Snap
Only legitimate against hashes you are authorised to test Needs a capable GPU to be useful; CPU-only cracking is slow All 4 limitations for hashcat Only legitimate against hashes you are authorised to test Needs a capable GPU to be useful; CPU-only cracking is slow Command line with a large option surface and a real learning curve Driver and backend setup is frequently the hardest part	The project states jumbo has low quality requirements and that bugs are to be expected GPU support is weaker than hashcat's for the common hash types All 4 limitations for John the Ripper The project states jumbo has low quality requirements and that bugs are to be expected GPU support is weaker than hashcat's for the common hash types Command line only, with a substantial learning curve Only legitimate against systems you are authorised to test
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: MIT	License: GPL-2.0
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Offline features available
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for hashcat github.com/hashcat/hashcat Catalog checked September 21, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for John the Ripper github.com/openwall/john Catalog checked September 21, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.