John the Ripper is free and Open Source software, distributed primarily in source code form. If you would rather use a commercial product tailored for your specific operating system, please consider , which is distributed primarily in the form of "native" packages for the target operating systems and in general is meant to be easier to install and use while delivering optimal performance.

To verify authenticity and integrity of your John the Ripper downloads, please use our . You will most likely need to download a "Windows - binaries" archive above. However, if you choose to download the source code instead (for a specific good reason), then please refer to these pages on and . You may also consider the further down this page.

These and older versions of John the Ripper, patches, unofficial builds, and many other related files are also .

You may , including a . Also relevant is this by Solar Designer, the author of John the Ripper.

There's a . The more experienced users and software developers may , along with revision history information for each source file.

There's a for use with John the Ripper. It includes lists of common passwords, wordlists for 20+ human languages, and files with the common passwords and unique words for all the languages combined, also with mangling rules applied and any duplicates purged.

Additionally, you may download or purchase on a CD, which includes a pre-built copy of John the Ripper 1.7.8 ready for use without requiring another OS and without having to install on a hard disk (although that is supported). You may not even have a hard disk, or it may be fully occupied by an existing OS install which won't be used or touched. You just boot off the CD, enter the shell (bash and tcsh are included), optionally configure networking with the setup tool (say, if you need to transfer password files to the RAM disk), and start using John! The CD-booted system is fully functional, you may even let it go multi-user with virtual consoles and remote shell access. Besides John, also included and available for use right off the CD are Nmap port scanner, SSH (OpenSSH), FTP (lftp, vsftpd), and Telnet clients and servers, a text Web browser with SSL support (ELinks), an SMTP mail system (Postfix), a POP3 daemon (popa3d), a MUA with POP3 and IMAP client support (Mutt), and more.

An implementation of one of the modern password hashes found in John is also available for use in your software or on your servers.

There's a for PAM-aware password changing programs, which can be used to prevent your users from choosing passwords that would be easily cracked with programs like John.

We may help you integrate modern password hashing with and/or proactive password strength checking with into your OS installs, please check out our .

There's a mailing list where you can share your experience with John the Ripper and ask questions. Please be sure to specify an informative message subject whenever you post to the list (that is, something better than "question" or "problem"). To subscribe, enter your e-mail address below or send an empty message to <john-users-subscribe at lists.openwall.com>. You will be required to confirm your subscription by "replying" to the automated confirmation request that will be sent to you. You will be able to at any time and we will not use your e-mail address for any other purpose or share it with a third party. However, if you post to the list, other subscribers and those viewing the archives may see your address(es) as specified on your message. The list archive is available , as well as via and . Additionally, there's a on the .