Question 1

Is MD5 safe to use?

Accepted Answer

Not for security purposes — MD5 is cryptographically broken and shouldn't be used for passwords or integrity checks against a malicious actor. It's included here because it's still common for legacy checksums and cache keys.

Question 2

Which hash should I use for security?

Accepted Answer

SHA-256 or SHA-512 for most modern use cases. Note that none of these algorithms are appropriate for hashing passwords directly — use a dedicated password-hashing function like bcrypt or Argon2 for that instead.

Question 3

Are the hashes computed locally?

Accepted Answer

Yes. SHA-1/256/384/512 use your browser's built-in Web Crypto API (crypto.subtle.digest) and MD5 uses a small local JavaScript implementation — neither ever sends your input anywhere.

Question 4

Why do I get a different hash for the same text elsewhere?

Accepted Answer

Hashes are byte-exact — a trailing newline, different text encoding, or invisible whitespace will produce a completely different hash. Double-check the exact bytes being hashed on both sides.

Hash Generator

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