Hash Generator (MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256)
Generate MD5, SHA-1, and SHA-256 hashes from any text as you type.
MD5
6cd3556deb0da54bca060b4c39479839
SHA-1
943a702d06f34599aee1f8da8ef9f7296031d699
SHA-256
315f5bdb76d078c43b8ac0064e4a0164612b1fce77c869345bfc94c75894edd3
How to use this tool
Type or paste text; the MD5, SHA-1 and SHA-256 hashes update as you go, each with a copy button. Text is hashed as UTF-8, the encoding almost every other tool uses, so ₹, é or Hindi text gives the same hash here as in Python, Node.js or sha256sum.
Worked example: one character changes everything
| Text | SHA-256 |
|---|---|
Hello, world! | 315f5bdb76d078c43b8ac0064e4a0164612b1fce77c869345bfc94c75894edd3 |
hello, world! | 68e656b251e67e8358bef8483ab0d51c6619f3e7a1a9f0e75838d41ff368f728 |
Hello, world! plus a line break | d9014c4624844aa5bac314773d6b689ad467fa4e1d1a50a1b8a99d5a95f72ff5 |
A capital letter or an invisible line break at the end gives a completely different hash. When a hash from here doesn't match one from a script, check for a trailing newline first: echo "Hello, world!" | sha256sum hashes the text with a line break added, which is the third row, not the first.
Checking a downloaded file
This tool hashes text, not files. To check a download against the SHA-256 checksum a website publishes, run certutil -hashfile file.zip SHA256 in a Windows command prompt, shasum -a 256 file.zip on a Mac, or sha256sum file.zip on Linux, and compare the result with the published value.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which hash algorithm should I use?
SHA-256 for integrity checks, such as comparing a file or message with a published checksum. MD5 and SHA-1 are broken for security: people can deliberately create two different inputs with the same hash. They are still fine for non-security jobs like cache keys or spotting duplicate records, which is why they are shown here.
Can I store passwords as SHA-256 hashes?
No. SHA-256 is designed to be fast, so an attacker with a leaked database can try billions of guesses. Passwords need a deliberately slow, salted algorithm; the OWASP Password Storage Cheat Sheet recommends Argon2id, with scrypt, bcrypt and PBKDF2 as alternatives. Use your framework's built-in password hashing rather than any of the three hashes here.
Is hashing the same as encryption?
No, and this is a common confusion. Encryption is reversible with the right key — you can decrypt ciphertext back to the original data. Hashing is one-way by design: there's no key that turns a hash back into the original input. That's exactly what makes hashing useful for checking that data hasn't changed.
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