Hash Generator

Hash Generator turns any text into a hash: a fixed-length fingerprint that changes completely if even one character of the text changes. Choose an algorithm from the list, paste your text, click Generate and copy the result. The list covers the hashes you are likely to need, MD5, SHA-1, the SHA-2 family (SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512) and SHA-3, along with older and specialist ones such as RIPEMD, Whirlpool, Tiger, CRC32 and Adler-32. The hash is calculated by SEOpeck's server with PHP's built-in hashing functions.

How to use the Hash Generator

1. Choose the algorithm. The list starts with MD2, so change it to the one you need, for example SHA256.
2. Type or paste the text to hash. Spaces and line breaks count, so paste exactly what you mean to hash.
3. Click Generate, then Copy to take the hash.

A worked example

The text hello, all lower case with nothing after it, gives:

• MD5: 5d41402abc4b2a76b9719d911017c592
• SHA1: aaf4c61ddcc5e8a2dabede0f3b482cd9aea9434d
• SHA256: 2cf24dba5fb0a30e26e83b2ac5b9e29e1b161e5c1fa7425e73043362938b9824
• CRC32B: 3610a686

Change a single letter to Hello and the SHA256 becomes 185f8db32271fe25f561a6fc938b2e264306ec304eda518007d1764826381969, with no visible connection to the first. That is what makes hashes useful for spotting changes.

Which algorithm to choose

• SHA-256: the safe default for checksums, signatures and API requests, and what most download pages publish.
• SHA-512 and SHA-3: longer or newer alternatives where a system asks for them.
• MD5 and SHA-1: fine for spotting accidental changes and for legacy systems that still expect them, but both are broken for security: different inputs with the same hash can be made on purpose.
• CRC32 and Adler-32: short checksums for catching transmission errors, not for security.
• Passwords: none of these. Use a slow, salted algorithm such as bcrypt, which you can try with the Bcrypt Generator.

When it comes in handy

• Comparing a hash from your code or database with the expected value while you debug.
• Producing the hash of a string in the exact algorithm a system or API asks for.
• Seeing how output length differs between algorithms before you pick one.
• Getting a quick MD5 of a string: the MD5 Generator does just that with no list to choose from.

Common mistakes

• An extra newline or space. echo "hello" | sha256sum hashes "hello" plus a line break and gives 5891b5b5…, not 2cf24dba…. Use printf "hello" or echo -n on the command line, and check for trailing spaces in the box.
• Different text encoding. Hashes work on bytes. Text with accented letters or emoji is hashed as UTF-8 here; a system that uses another encoding gets a different hash.
• Upper or lower case hex. The output is lower case. 2CF24DBA… and 2cf24dba… are the same hash written differently, so compare them case-insensitively.

Limits

• It hashes text you type or paste, not files. To check a download, use certutil -hashfile file.zip SHA256 on Windows or sha256sum file.zip on Linux and macOS.
• Hashes are plain, unsalted and not keyed, so it is not an HMAC or password-hashing tool.

To learn how websites should store passwords and why speed matters, read our guide to strong passwords and hashing.

Frequently asked questions