What are the potential pitfalls of using md5 for password hashing in PHP, and what alternative methods are recommended?

Using md5 for password hashing in PHP is not recommended due to its vulnerability to brute force attacks and its fast computation speed. It is considered a weak hashing algorithm for storing passwords securely. Instead, it is recommended to use stronger hashing algorithms like bcrypt or Argon2 for secure password hashing in PHP.

// Using bcrypt for password hashing in PHP
$password = "secret_password";
$hashed_password = password_hash($password, PASSWORD_BCRYPT);