How Often Should You Change Your Passwords in 2025?

You’ve probably heard advice like “change your password every 30 days.” But in 2025, this is outdated — and sometimes even harmful.

When You SHOULD Change Your Password

You should change your password immediately if:

• You reused it anywhere (see password reuse risks)
• You used a predictable pattern like qwerty or 123456
• The site was breached or leaked
• You logged in on a shared or public computer
• You received suspicious login alerts

If any of these happened, change it now — and use a strong passphrase or a random generator.

When You Do NOT Need to Change Your Password

Contrary to old advice, you do not need to rotate passwords often if:

• Your password is long and high-entropy (entropy explained here)
• You have MFA enabled
• The service isn’t compromised

Changing passwords too frequently causes people to create weaker ones — a common problem explained in attack behavior analysis.

What Security Experts Recommend in 2025

✔ Use extremely long, random passwords ✔ Use unique passwords everywhere ✔ Only change them when necessary ✔ Follow the rules in our high-risk account settings guide

How Often Should You Change Work Passwords?

Many companies still enforce monthly or quarterly changes — but most cybersecurity experts agree this is outdated. Strong, unique passwords + MFA provide far better protection.

When Kids and Teens Should Change Passwords

If kids reuse passwords across games, apps, or school accounts, help them switch to stronger habits using our kids' password habits guide.