Developer Table

Hash Algorithm Comparison Chart

Published September 8, 2026

How common hash algorithms compare by output length and current security status. For how hash functions work, see What Is a Hash Function?.

Algorithm Output Length Status
MD5 128-bit (32 hex characters) Broken, not secure for cryptographic use
SHA-1 160-bit (40 hex characters) Broken, not secure for cryptographic use
SHA-256 256-bit (64 hex characters) Secure, widely used
SHA-512 512-bit (128 hex characters) Secure, widely used

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is MD5 safe to use for storing passwords?

No. MD5 is cryptographically broken and too fast to compute, making it vulnerable to brute-force and collision attacks. Password storage should use a purpose-built algorithm like bcrypt or Argon2, not a general-purpose hash.

Why does SHA-256 produce a 64-character output?

Each byte of the 256-bit (32-byte) hash is represented as 2 hex characters, so 32 bytes × 2 equals 64 hex characters.

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