Free Online SSH Key Generator

Generate RSA and Ed25519 SSH key pairs instantly in your browser. No sign-up, no tracking — your private key is never sent to any server. 100% client-side.

Key Type

Recommended — faster, smaller, and considered more secure than RSA.

Comment (optional — appended to public key)

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Last updated: May 24 2026

Reviewed by the QuickTooly Team

SSH Key Generator Guide

Why Use QuickTooly.com's SSH Key Generator?

100% client-side: Key generation runs entirely in your browser using cryptographically secure algorithms — no server contact.
Ed25519 & RSA support: Generate modern Ed25519 keys or traditional RSA-2048/4096 keys for maximum compatibility.
Ready-to-use format: Output matches the exact format expected by OpenSSH, GitHub, GitLab, and Linux servers.
Instant download: Save your public and private keys as standard files (id_ed25519, id_ed25519.pub) ready to deploy.
No registration: No email, no account, no tracking — just open the page and generate.
Free forever: Unlimited key generation with no usage caps or watermarks.

What is an SSH Key?

An SSH key is a cryptographic credential used to authenticate to remote servers and services without a password. It consists of a matched pair: a private key you keep secret on your machine and a public key you install on any server you want to access. When you connect, the server challenges your client to prove it holds the private key — no password is ever transmitted.

SSH keys are used everywhere in modern development: authenticating to GitHub and GitLab, logging into Linux servers, deploying via CI/CD pipelines, and connecting to cloud infrastructure on AWS, GCP, and Azure. They are more secure than passwords because they cannot be guessed, phished, or brute-forced.

Ed25519 vs RSA

Both key types are secure, but they differ in design and performance:

Ed25519 — Based on elliptic curve cryptography (Curve25519). Keys are tiny (68-character public key), generation is instantaneous, and signing is extremely fast. Supported by OpenSSH 6.5+ (2014) and all modern platforms. Recommended for new keys.
RSA-4096 — The traditional standard. Still required by some legacy systems, older SSH servers, or compliance frameworks that haven't approved elliptic curves. Keys are larger and generation is slower, but compatibility is universal.
RSA-2048 — Minimum acceptable RSA key size. Faster to generate than RSA-4096 with adequate security for most uses, though RSA-4096 is preferable for long-lived keys.

How to Use Your Generated SSH Keys

Once you have downloaded your key pair, follow these steps to use them:

1. Save the private key to ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 (or ~/.ssh/id_rsa for RSA) and set permissions:
```
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
```
2. Add the public key to the remote server's ~/.ssh/authorized_keys:
```
cat id_ed25519.pub >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
```
3. For GitHub/GitLab, paste the public key contents into Settings → SSH Keys.

4. Connect to your server:

ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 user@your-server.com

SSH Key Security Best Practices

To keep your SSH keys secure: never share or upload your private key anywhere, store it with chmod 600 permissions, use a passphrase for extra protection on personal machines, rotate keys periodically for critical servers, and use separate key pairs for different services rather than reusing one key everywhere. For team environments, consider certificate-based SSH authentication for centralized key management.

Why Choose QuickTooly.com?

QuickTooly.com is built by senior software engineers focused on fast, private, and dependency-free web tools. Our SSH key generator uses battle-tested open-source cryptography libraries — node-forge for RSA and tweetnacl for Ed25519 — running entirely in your browser. No registration, no data collection, no limits. The ideal tool for developers, sysadmins, and DevOps engineers who need SSH keys on demand.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to generate SSH keys in a browser?

Yes — when generation is 100% client-side. QuickTooly's SSH key generator runs entirely in your browser using the Web Crypto API and audited JavaScript libraries. Your private key is never transmitted over the network. You can verify this by opening DevTools → Network and observing zero outbound requests during generation.

Which key type should I choose?

Ed25519 for almost everything — it's faster, smaller, and has stronger security properties than RSA. Use RSA-4096 only when connecting to older SSH servers (OpenSSH < 6.5) or when a compliance policy specifically requires RSA.

What is the comment field for?

The comment is appended to the end of the public key line and is purely informational — it doesn't affect the key's cryptographic properties. Conventionally it's set to user@hostname to help you identify which key belongs to which machine when reviewing authorized_keys files.

Can I add a passphrase to my private key?

This tool generates unencrypted private keys for simplicity. To add a passphrase after downloading, run: ssh-keygen -p -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519. This encrypts the key file so that even if someone obtains it, they still need the passphrase to use it.

How do I add my SSH public key to GitHub?

Copy the entire public key text, go to GitHub → Settings → SSH and GPG keys → New SSH key, paste it in, and save. Then test with ssh -T git@github.com.

What file permissions should my SSH keys have?

The private key must be readable only by its owner: chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519. The ~/.ssh directory itself should be chmod 700. SSH will refuse to use a private key with overly permissive permissions as a security safeguard.