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Fast but not cryptographically secure. Still widely used for:
ā¢ File integrity checks (checksums)
ā¢ Non-security-critical fingerprinting
ā¢ Database indexing
Deprecated for security purposes since 2017. Google demonstrated a practical collision attack (SHAttered).
Part of the SHA-2 family. Currently the gold standard for:
ā¢ Digital signatures
ā¢ Certificate verification
ā¢ Blockchain (Bitcoin uses SHA-256)
ā¢ Password hashing (with salt)
Same family as SHA-256 but with a larger output. Used when extra security margin is needed.
Compare the SHA-256 hash of a downloaded file with the one published by the developer to ensure it hasn't been tampered with.
Hash a password and compare it against a stored hash (always use salt + proper algorithms like bcrypt in production).
Generate checksums for data before and after transmission to detect corruption.ā¢ ā
SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512
ā¢ ā
Uses Web Crypto API (cryptographically secure)
ā¢ ā
100% client-side
ā¢ ā
Copy any hash with one click ā¢ Password Generator ā Generate strong passwords
ā¢ Base64 Encoder ā Encode/decode Base64 strings
ā¢ UUID Generator ā Generate unique IDs
ā¢ URL Encoder ā Encode URLs safely
Free MD5 & SHA-256 Hash Generator Online ā Secure & Private
What Are Hash Functions?
A hash function takes input data of any size and produces a fixed-size output (the "hash" or "digest"). Hash functions are one-way ā you can't reverse a hash back to the original input.
Common Hash Algorithms
MD5 (128-bit)
Fast but not cryptographically secure. Still widely used for:
ā ļø Never use MD5 for password hashing ā it's vulnerable to collision attacks.
SHA-1 (160-bit)
Deprecated for security purposes since 2017. Google demonstrated a practical collision attack (SHAttered).
SHA-256 (256-bit)
Part of the SHA-2 family. Currently the gold standard for:
SHA-512 (512-bit)
Same family as SHA-256 but with a larger output. Used when extra security margin is needed.
Why Client-Side Hashing Matters
If you're hashing sensitive data (passwords, API keys, personal information), using a server-side tool means you're sending your plaintext to someone else's server. That defeats the entire purpose of hashing.
Our Hash Generator runs 100% in your browser using the Web Crypto API. Your data never leaves your device.
Common Use Cases
Verifying File Downloads
Compare the SHA-256 hash of a downloaded file with the one published by the developer to ensure it hasn't been tampered with.
Password Verification
Hash a password and compare it against a stored hash (always use salt + proper algorithms like bcrypt in production).
Data Integrity
Generate checksums for data before and after transmission to detect corruption.