PDF Crack Time Calculator
Select your PDF encryption mode, password length, character set, and GPU cluster size to estimate how long it would take to recover the password using Hashcat on modern RTX 5090 GPUs.
PDF Crack Time Calculator
Estimate the candidate-search workload for a forgotten PDF password. This is an illustrative model, not a recovery quote.
AES-256 — password-based search. Usually requires weak or partially-remembered password clues.
Estimated candidate-search time
Short candidate searchCandidates to test: 308.9 million
Illustrative rate: 38K H/s per GPU × 8 GPUs
Search space: 26^6 = 308 915 776
Illustrative assumptions only. Actual times vary by KDF parameters, implementation, hardware, driver overhead, memory bandwidth, and parallelisation efficiency. Dictionary and rule-based attacks depend on the password pattern, so this output is not a probability or delivery promise.
How to Interpret These Estimates
Dictionary attacks test common patterns first. The estimates above represent worst-case brute-force times. In practice, a responsible recovery assessment starts with owner-provided clues and a bounded dictionary or rule-based search. Coverage varies by language, password pattern, hardware, and the exact PDF revision.
Mode 10400 (40-bit RC4) is a finite-key candidate. If your PDF uses 40-bit RC4 encryption, key-space analysis may replace ordinary password guessing. The exact file variant, implementation, hardware, and verification result still determine the route and timeline.
More hardware changes the candidate budget. Multi-GPU throughput depends on the algorithm, implementation, memory, thermal limits, and scheduling. Treat calculator output as an estimate, not a delivery promise.
Real-world factors can change the estimate materially. PDF 2.0 documents with increased SHA-256 KDF rounds (100+ instead of 50) reduce Hashcat throughput. GPU driver version, system memory bandwidth, and parallelisation overhead also affect actual speeds.
Hashcat Benchmark Reference
| Hashcat Mode | Encryption | Speed (RTX 5090) |
|---|---|---|
| 10400 | PDF 1.1-1.3 RC4 40-bit (key search) | 1,100,000,000 H/s |
| 10500 | PDF 1.4-1.6 RC4 128-bit | 9,800,000 H/s |
| 10600 | PDF 1.6+ AES-128 | 75,000 H/s |
| 10700 | PDF 1.7+ AES-256 (50-round KDF) | 38,000 H/s |
Benchmarks from Hashcat v6.3 on NVIDIA RTX 5090, early 2026. Actual speeds vary by driver version and system configuration.
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