SHA Hash Generator
Generate SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 hashes. Computed locally — your text never leaves the browser.
About this tool
The SHA Hash Generator takes the text you enter and produces its SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 digests in hexadecimal. It uses the Web Crypto API built into your browser, so the calculation happens locally and what you type is never sent to us.
A hash is a fingerprint, not encryption — the process is one-way by design and no key turns a digest back into the original input. That makes it useful for integrity work: confirming a file matches a published value, or comparing two payloads without storing either. It is the wrong tool for data you need to read back, and a bare hash is the wrong way to store passwords. For help getting credential storage right in your own applications, talk to our cyber security team.
How to use it
Paste or type your input and select Generate hashes. What you get back:
- SHA-256 — the sensible default for integrity checks, and what most vendors publish alongside downloads.
- SHA-512 — a longer digest from the same family, for where a platform or standard calls for it specifically.
- SHA-1 — included because legacy tooling still emits it. Practical collision attacks against SHA-1 have been demonstrated, so do not rely on it for anything security-relevant. The same applies to MD5.
- Whitespace counts. A trailing newline or a different line ending changes the digest completely, which is the usual reason two seemingly identical inputs do not match.
Common questions
Can a hash be reversed back to the original text?
No. Hashing is one-way and there is no decrypt operation. If you need to recover the original data later you need encryption, not hashing, and that means managing keys properly.
Is SHA-256 good enough, or should I use SHA-512?
SHA-256 is a sound default for integrity checking and is what most standards and vendors specify. SHA-512 is also sound and worth using where a protocol or compliance requirement asks for it. Neither is a substitute for a password hashing function.
Why should I not store passwords as SHA-256 hashes?
General-purpose hash functions are built to be fast, which is the opposite of what password storage needs. Modern practice is a slow, salted, purpose-built algorithm such as bcrypt, scrypt or Argon2, configured with a work factor suited to your hardware.