ToolHub

Slug Generator

Turn any title into a clean URL slug

Separator
(0 = no limit)
example.com/the-10-best-tools-for-web-developers-in-2026

the-10-best-tools-for-web-developers-in-2026

44 characters

A slug is the URL-friendly part of a web address. Good slugs are short, lowercase, hyphen-separated, and descriptive — they help both readers and search engines understand the page. Generated entirely in your browser.

Overview

What this tool does

Turn any title or text into a clean, URL-friendly slug. Choose hyphen or underscore separators, force lowercase, strip common filler words, and cap the length. Paste multiple lines to generate many slugs at once. It runs entirely in your browser.

The basics

What is a slug?

A slug is the readable part of a URL that identifies a specific page. In example.com/blog/best-coffee-makers-2026, the slug is best-coffee-makers-2026. Good slugs are short, lowercase, hyphen-separated, and describe the page so both people and search engines understand what's on it before they click.

Best practices

What makes a good slug

  • Keep it short — 3 to 5 meaningful words is ideal
  • Use lowercase only — uppercase can cause duplicate-URL issues on some servers
  • Separate words with hyphens, not underscores or spaces
  • Include your main keyword, drop filler words where it reads fine
  • Avoid dates and numbers that will make the URL feel stale (unless they're meaningful)
  • Make it readable — someone should guess the page topic from the URL alone

The classic question

Hyphens vs underscores

Always use hyphens

Google treats a hyphen as a word separator but an underscore as a word joiner. So best-coffee is read as two words ("best" and "coffee") while best_coffee can be read as the single word "bestcoffee". Hyphens are the SEO and web convention. Underscores are mostly a legacy habit from programming variable names.

When to trim

Removing stopwords

Stopwords are common filler words like "the", "a", "of", "and", and "to". Removing them makes slugs shorter and keyword-focused: "The Best Guide to Making Coffee" becomes best-guide-making-coffee.

But don't strip them blindly — sometimes they carry meaning. "The Office" should keep "the" because it identifies a specific show. Use the option when brevity helps, leave it off when the exact phrase matters.

Behind the scenes

Privacy and how it runs

Runs in your browser

Slugs are generated locally as you type. Nothing is sent anywhere.

Common questions

How do I create a URL slug?

Type your title, and the tool lowercases it, replaces spaces and punctuation with hyphens, removes special characters, and gives you a clean slug. Adjust the options to fit your site's conventions.

Should slugs match the page title exactly?

Roughly, but shorter. The title can be a full sentence; the slug should be a trimmed, keyword-focused version. They should clearly relate so the URL reflects the page content.

What characters are allowed in a slug?

Stick to lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens. Avoid spaces, uppercase, and special characters (they get percent-encoded into ugly URLs like %20). Accented characters are best transliterated to plain ASCII, which this tool does automatically.

Can I change a slug after publishing?

You can, but set up a 301 redirect from the old slug to the new one so existing links and search rankings carry over. Changing a slug without a redirect breaks every link to that page.

How long should a slug be?

Shorter is better — aim for under about 60 characters. Long URLs get truncated in search results and are harder to share. Trim to the essential keywords.

Related tools

Quick steps

1

Type a title

Paste a blog post title, product name, or any text. Put one item per line to generate many slugs at once.

2

Set your options

Choose hyphen or underscore, lowercase, whether to drop common words, and an optional max length.

3

Copy the slug

The clean, URL-safe slug appears with a preview of how it looks in a real URL. Copy it with one click.

Frequently asked questions

What is a URL slug?

The human-readable part of a web address that identifies a page, usually after the last slash. In 'example.com/blog/best-coffee-makers', the slug is 'best-coffee-makers'. Good slugs are short, lowercase, and describe the page content.

Should I use hyphens or underscores in URLs?

Hyphens. Google treats hyphens as word separators but underscores as word joiners, so 'best-coffee' reads as two words while 'best_coffee' can read as one. Hyphens are the SEO and convention standard for URL slugs.

How long should a slug be?

Short and descriptive — typically 3-5 words. Shorter slugs are easier to read, share, and remember. Removing filler words (the, a, of, and) while keeping the meaningful keywords usually gives the best result.

Should I remove stopwords from slugs?

Often yes, for brevity, but not always. Keep stopwords if removing them changes the meaning (for example, 'the-office' is a specific show). The 'remove common words' option is there when you want a tighter slug, off when you want the exact phrase.

Does the slug affect SEO?

Modestly. A clean, keyword-relevant slug helps both users and search engines understand the page, and descriptive URLs get slightly higher click-through rates. It's not a major ranking factor, but it's an easy win and good practice.

Can I generate many slugs at once?

Yes. Put each title on its own line and the tool generates a slug for every line in batch mode, with a copy-all button. Handy for migrating a list of posts or naming many pages consistently.