Hash Generator
Generate MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, and SHA-512 hashes from any string.
About the Hash Generator
This hash generator produces MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 digests from text you paste. Hashing is one-way, so the output identifies the input without revealing it — useful for integrity checks and fingerprint comparisons rather than for storing passwords.
A hash generator turns input of any length into a fixed-length digest. The same input always produces the same hash, and changing a single character produces a completely different one, which is what makes hashes useful for detecting change.
Algorithm choice matters. MD5 is broken for security — collisions can be produced deliberately — so it survives only as a non-adversarial checksum. SHA-256 is the current general-purpose default, used in TLS certificates, git object IDs and blockchain. SHA-512 is stronger and faster on 64-bit hardware.
One caution: none of these are suitable for storing passwords. They are designed to be fast, which is exactly wrong for password storage — that needs a deliberately slow algorithm such as bcrypt, scrypt or Argon2 so brute forcing is expensive.
How to use the Hash Generator
- Enter your text. Paste or type the string you want hashed.
- Pick an algorithm. Choose MD5, SHA-256 or SHA-512.
- Read the digest. The hash appears as a hexadecimal string.
- Compare or copy. Compare it against an expected value, or copy it.
Hash Generator features
- MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512
- All four digests produced from one input
- Copy any digest
- Computed on our server, which is the trade-off for covering all four algorithms
Frequently asked questions
Which algorithm should I use?
SHA-256 unless something specific requires otherwise. MD5 and SHA-1 are both broken for security purposes — deliberate collisions are achievable — and remain useful only for matching against a checksum somebody else already published in that form.
Can I hash passwords with this?
No. Password storage needs a deliberately slow algorithm with a per-user salt — bcrypt, scrypt or Argon2. A plain fast hash of a password can be attacked at billions of guesses per second.
Is my text sent to a server?
Yes — this one computes the digests server-side, which is how it offers MD5 and SHA-1 alongside the SHA-2 family. If the input is sensitive, use the offline hash generator instead, which runs entirely in your browser.
Why do MD5 and SHA-1 still appear everywhere?
Momentum. Plenty of published checksums, legacy systems and file manifests still use them, so you need to be able to produce one to compare. That is a very different thing from choosing one for new work.
Can I recover the original text from a hash?
Not by reversing it — hashing discards information. Short or common inputs can be found by guessing, though, which is exactly why unsalted password hashes fall so quickly.