Hash Generator
Generate MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 hashes from any text — entirely in your browser via the Web Crypto API.
- Runs in your browser
- No upload, no tracking
- Free forever
How it works
A hash generator turns any text into a fixed-length, one-way digest — a fingerprint used to verify file integrity, generate checksums and detect tampering. This tool computes MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 side by side; the SHA family uses the browser's hardware-accelerated crypto.subtle Web Crypto API, while MD5 runs as pure JavaScript. Everything is processed locally, so your input never leaves the page. It is built by JusDB, a managed database operations team, alongside its other developer utilities.
- 1
Enter your text
Type or paste any text into the input box. Hashing is debounced and updates automatically as you type.
- 2
Read all four digests
MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 are computed at once so you can compare outputs without re-running anything.
- 3
Copy the one you need
Each algorithm has its own copy button; a checkmark confirms the digest is on your clipboard.
Frequently asked questions
- What hash algorithms are supported?
- The tool supports MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, and SHA-512. SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 use the browser's native Web Crypto API. MD5 uses a pure JavaScript implementation since it is not part of the Web Crypto standard.
- Is my data safe?
- Yes. All hashing is performed locally in your browser. Your input text is never sent to JusDB or any server. SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 use the browser's hardware-accelerated crypto.subtle API.
- What is a hash used for?
- Hashes are used to verify file integrity, generate checksums, create digital fingerprints of data, and (with purpose-built algorithms like bcrypt) store passwords securely.
- Should I use MD5 or SHA-1 for security?
- No. MD5 and SHA-1 are considered cryptographically broken for security purposes. Use SHA-256 or SHA-512 for anything security-sensitive. MD5 and SHA-1 are still fine for non-security uses like checksums.
- Can I use these hashes to store passwords?
- No. General-purpose hashes like SHA-256 are far too fast and are not designed for passwords. Use a purpose-built, slow algorithm such as bcrypt, scrypt or Argon2 — try our bcrypt generator for that.
- Why are all four hashes computed at once?
- As you type, the tool hashes your input with MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 simultaneously (debounced) so you can compare and copy any of them without re-running. Each output has its own copy button.
Choosing the right hash for the job
A cryptographic hash maps data of any size to a fixed-length digest, and the same input always produces the same output. The defining trait is that it runs one way: you cannot reverse a digest back into the original text. Hashing is therefore not encryption — there is no key and no decrypt step. What it gives you instead is a compact, comparable fingerprint of content, and that single property quietly powers a surprising amount of everyday infrastructure.
Integrity, checksums and content addressing
The most common honest use of a hash is proving that bytes did not change. When you download a release and the project publishes a SHA-256 digest, you hash your copy and compare: a match means the file arrived intact and untampered. The same idea scales up — deduplication systems skip storing two files whose digests are identical, and content-addressable stores (Git commits, container layers, IPFS) use the hash itself as the address of the data. HTTP ETags lean on the same trick to tell a browser whether a cached resource is still current. In all of these cases you are using the digest as a stable identity for a blob of bytes.
Broken for security, fine for checksums
MD5 and SHA-1 are both considered cryptographically broken: researchers can construct two different inputs that produce the same digest (a collision), which defeats any use that relies on a digest being unforgeable — signatures, certificates, or trust decisions. That does not make them useless. For a non-adversarial checksum, a cache key, or a quick way to spot accidental corruption, MD5 and SHA-1 are fast and perfectly serviceable. The rule of thumb: if an attacker would benefit from forging a match, reach for the SHA-2 family (SHA-256 or SHA-512); if you only need to detect accidental change, the older algorithms are fine.
Why you must not hash passwords with these
A general-purpose hash is engineered to be fast, and speed is exactly what you do not want for passwords. A modern GPU can compute billions of SHA-256 digests per second, so a leaked table of SHA-256 password hashes can be brute-forced at enormous scale. Password storage needs the opposite: a deliberately slow, salted, memory-hard function such as bcrypt, scrypt or Argon2, tuned so each guess costs real time. If you are storing credentials, use our bcrypt generator rather than any algorithm on this page. Reserve the digests here for integrity, fingerprinting and checksums — and when you need to move binary data through text-only channels alongside a checksum, pair them with the Base64 encoder & decoder.
Quick test: if the answer to "could someone benefit from faking a match?" is yes, use SHA-256 or stronger; if the answer is "I need to get the original value back," you want encryption, not a hash; and if the value is a password, you want bcrypt, scrypt or Argon2 — never a raw MD5 or SHA digest.