MD5 vs SHA-256: Which Hash Should You Use?

MD5 is broken for security but still useful for checksums. SHA-256 is the modern default.

The short answer

Never use MD5 for passwords or signatures. Use SHA-256 or better for security. MD5 is fine for non-security checksums and cache keys.

Why MD5 is broken

MD5 has known collision attacks. Two different files can produce the same MD5 hash. For security, that is fatal.

Why SHA-256 is safe

No practical collision attacks exist against SHA-256 as of 2025. It is the current industry standard.

What about passwords?

Use neither. For passwords, use bcrypt, scrypt or Argon2. Plain hashes are too fast.

Try it

Generate hashes with our MD5 Generator or SHA-256 Generator.