Unique ID Generator
Generate compact 10-character unique identifiers that combine a time-based component with cryptographic randomness. These IDs are short, URL-safe, and naturally sortable by creation time.
Instructions
Click the button below to generate a new unique identifier. Each ID contains a Base62-encoded timestamp followed by random characters to reduce the chance of collisions. The resulting identifier can be used in databases, APIs, URLs, and distributed systems.
What Is a Unique Identifier?
A unique identifier (ID) is a value used to distinguish records, users, or objects within a system. Unique IDs are commonly used in databases, APIs, distributed systems, and authentication mechanisms to ensure that each entity can be reliably referenced.
Well-designed identifiers must avoid collisions, remain compact, and often work safely across multiple servers or services.
Why Use Base62 Encoding?
Base62 encoding uses digits and letters to represent numeric values in a compact format. By using the characters a–z, A–Z, and 0–9, Base62 produces short, URL-safe identifiers that are significantly shorter than decimal representations.
This makes Base62 especially useful for identifiers that need to appear in URLs, APIs, or database keys.
Time-Sortable Identifiers
Identifiers that include a timestamp component can be naturally sorted by creation time. This property is useful for logging systems, database indexing, and distributed services that generate identifiers across multiple processes.
Time-sortable IDs also improve database performance because newly generated records tend to appear near the end of indexed sequences.
Randomness and Collision Resistance
Even when timestamps are used, multiple identifiers may be generated within the same millisecond. Adding random characters significantly reduces the chance that two IDs will be identical.
Using cryptographically secure random generators
such as random_int() ensures that the
random component cannot be predicted and remains
safe for most application scenarios.