Custom Hash IDs vs Nanoid

Developers should use Custom Hash IDs when they need to generate public-facing identifiers that are secure, non-predictable, and do not reveal sensitive information like database row counts or sequential patterns, such as in RESTful APIs, URL shorteners, or e-commerce systems meets developers should use nanoid when they need to generate unique ids for resources like database records, urls, or file names, especially in web applications where short, readable, and secure ids are preferred over longer uuids. Here's our take.

Custom Hash IDs

Nice Pick

Developers should use Custom Hash IDs when they need to generate public-facing identifiers that are secure, non-predictable, and do not reveal sensitive information like database row counts or sequential patterns, such as in RESTful APIs, URL shorteners, or e-commerce systems

Pros

• They are particularly useful for preventing enumeration attacks, improving user experience with readable IDs, and enabling features like referral codes or tracking tokens without relying on database primary keys
• Related to: hash-functions, cryptography

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Nanoid

Developers should use Nanoid when they need to generate unique IDs for resources like database records, URLs, or file names, especially in web applications where short, readable, and secure IDs are preferred over longer UUIDs

Pros

• It is ideal for use cases such as generating slugs for blog posts, creating unique session tokens, or as primary keys in databases, as it reduces storage and bandwidth usage compared to traditional UUIDs while maintaining high entropy for security
• Related to: javascript, node-js

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Custom Hash IDs is a concept while Nanoid is a library. We picked Custom Hash IDs based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Custom Hash IDs wins

Based on overall popularity. Custom Hash IDs is more widely used, but Nanoid excels in its own space.