SHA-256 Hash Generator
Type or paste text — the SHA-256 hash is calculated automatically, entirely in your own browser.
How to use the SHA-256 generator
- Type or paste the text you want to hash.
- The SHA-256 hash (64 hexadecimal characters) is calculated automatically as you type.
- Press "Copy hash" to put the result on your clipboard.
What is SHA-256?
SHA-256 is a cryptographic hash function that takes any text and computes a unique, fixed-length 256-bit value (64 hexadecimal characters). The same input always produces the same hash, but even a tiny change to the text produces a completely different hash. This makes SHA-256 useful for checksums (verifying a file or text hasn't been altered), digital signatures, and as a building block in many security protocols.
Hashing is not encryption — there's no way back from a hash to the original text. SHA-256 also isn't well suited to storing passwords alone (use a dedicated password-hashing algorithm like bcrypt or Argon2 for that), since SHA-256 is designed to be fast to compute, which makes it vulnerable to brute-force attacks on short passwords.
Hashing is not encryption
Encrypted text can be decrypted back with the right key. A hash cannot — it is a one-way function, and there is no «decrypt» button however much computing power you have. That is the whole point: a service can store the hash of your password and still verify that you typed it correctly, without knowing the password itself.
Another central property is the avalanche effect. Change a single character in the input and the hash becomes completely different — not slightly different. That makes SHA-256 suitable for detecting whether a file has been altered, since even a one-byte difference produces an entirely new checksum. Note that hashing passwords in practice requires a slow, salted function such as bcrypt or Argon2; plain SHA-256 is too fast for that purpose.
Frequently asked questions
Is my text sent to a server?
No. The entire calculation happens in your own browser with JavaScript — the text never leaves your device.
Can I reverse a hash back to the original text?
No. SHA-256 is a one-way function — there's no mathematical way to compute the original text from the hash alone.
Is this suitable for hashing passwords?
Not alone. For password storage, use an algorithm specifically designed for it, like bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2 — these are deliberately slow to make brute-force attacks impractical, unlike SHA-256, which is optimized for speed.