Why NanoID Is Replacing UUID: Features, Benefits, and Limitations

UUID has long been the most common universal identifier in software development, but newer competitors like NanoID are challenging its dominance.

Understanding NanoID and Its Usage

Both UUID and NanoID can be generated easily in JavaScript via their respective NPM packages. Install NanoID with npm i nanoid and import it:

import { nanoid } from 'nanoid';
model.id = nanoid();

NanoID receives over 11.75 million weekly NPM downloads and runs about 60% faster than UUID.

Compared with UUID, NanoID is younger, has more GitHub stars, and shows a steeper growth trend on NPM.

1. NanoID Is Only 108 Bytes

NanoID is 4.5 times smaller than UUID and has no external dependencies, reducing overall bundle size by about 35%.

Smaller IDs lead to more compact objects, which benefits data transmission and storage as applications scale.

2. Greater Security

Many random generators rely on insecure Math.random() , whereas NanoID uses the crypto module and the Web Crypto API, making it more secure.

It also employs a uniform algorithm instead of a simple random % alphabet approach.

3. Fast and Compact

NanoID is 60% faster than UUID and uses an alphabet of 21 characters instead of UUID’s 36.

0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ_abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz-

It supports 14 programming languages, including C#, Go, Rust, Swift, and more.

C#, C++, Clojure, Crystal, Dart & Flutter, Deno, Go, Elixir, Haskell, Janet, Java, Nim, Perl, PHP, Python (with dict), Ruby, Rust, Swift.

4. Compatibility

NanoID works with libraries such as PouchDB, CouchDB, WebWorkers, Rollup, React, and React‑Native.

You can generate an ID directly in the terminal with npx nanoid . Using NanoID in JavaScript requires Node.js.

import { nanoid } from '@reduxjs/toolkit';
console.log(nanoid()); // 'dgPXxUz_6fWIQBD8XmiSy'

5. Custom Alphabet

Developers can define their own alphabet and ID length:

import { customAlphabet } from 'nanoid';
const nanoid = customAlphabet('ABCDEF1234567890', 12);
model.id = nanoid();

In the example, the custom alphabet is ABCDEF1234567890 and the ID length is 12.

6. No Third‑Party Dependencies

Because NanoID has no external dependencies, it remains stable over time, reduces bundle size, and avoids dependency‑related issues.

Limitations and Future Focus

Experts note that NanoID has few obvious drawbacks, but its non‑human‑readable format can make debugging harder. Using NanoID as a primary key may cause issues with clustered indexes because the IDs are not sequential.

Looking Ahead…

NanoID is becoming the most popular unique‑ID generator in the JavaScript ecosystem, with many developers preferring it over UUID.

Using the default alphabet, NanoID can generate over 2.2 million IDs per second; with a custom alphabet, it can generate over 1.8 million IDs per second.

Given its small size, URL‑friendliness, security, and speed, the author recommends adopting NanoID for future projects instead of UUID.