NanoID Generator — Short IDs & ULID Online | GadgetSurge

About NanoID Generator

NanoID produces short, URL-safe identifiers. At the default 21 characters with the 64-symbol alphabet, entropy is about 126 bits — comparable to UUID v4’s roughly 122 bits of randomness, in a 36-character hyphenated string.

ULID packs a 48-bit millisecond timestamp in the first 10 characters and 80 bits of randomness in the remaining 16, encoded in Crockford base32 (no I, L, O, or U). ULIDs sort by creation time, which improves database index locality compared to random UUID v4; UUID v7 is the standardized time-ordered alternative in the UUID family.

Shortening NanoID or shrinking the alphabet reduces collision resistance. Estimate expected ID volume before choosing a length much below 21.

Never use Math.random() for production IDs — it is not cryptographically secure. This tool uses crypto.getRandomValues for NanoID bytes and ULID randomness, with monotonic ULIDs when generating multiple IDs in the same millisecond.

All generation runs in your browser — IDs are not logged or stored on a server.

How to Use NanoID Generator

1. Choose NanoID or ULID mode at the top of the tool.
2. For NanoID, set length (default 21), alphabet preset, and count (1–100).
3. For ULID, set count — each ID is 26 Crockford base32 characters with a decoded ISO timestamp.
4. Click Generate, then copy individual IDs or Copy All for your app or database seed.

Common Use Cases

• URL slugs and public IDs: Issue short NanoIDs for share links instead of sequential integers.
• Sortable primary keys: Use ULIDs when you want time-ordered inserts without a separate created_at index.
• Log correlation: Generate batches of IDs for tracing requests across services.
• Test fixtures: Seed databases with unique IDs during local development.
• Session tokens (with care): Prototype token formats — always pair production tokens with server-side validation.
• Comparing ID formats: Evaluate NanoID length vs UUID v4 string size in API payloads.

Frequently Asked Questions

NanoID vs UUID v4?

NanoID is shorter (21 vs 36 characters), URL-safe by default, and offers similar collision resistance at default settings.

What is a ULID?

A 26-character lexicographically sortable ID: timestamp plus randomness in Crockford base32.

Why are ULIDs sortable?

The time component is at the start, so string sort order matches creation order within the same millisecond granularity.

What is UUID v7?

A UUID standard with a Unix timestamp in the high bits — another time-ordered option alongside ULID.

Does shorter NanoID risk collisions?

Yes. Fewer characters mean less entropy. Estimate volume before using very short IDs in production.

Is Math.random() used?

No. This tool uses crypto.getRandomValues for secure random bytes.

What alphabets are available?

Default URL-safe, alphanumeric, lowercase, numbers only, or a custom alphabet with rejection sampling to avoid modulo bias.

How many IDs per click?

You can generate between 1 and 100 IDs at once.