Last updated: March 2026
What Is the CSS Box Shadow Generator?
This tool lets you visually design CSS box shadows without writing code by hand. Adjust horizontal and vertical offset, blur, spread, color, and opacity using intuitive sliders, and watch the result update in real time on the preview card. When you are happy with the shadow, copy the generated CSS or Tailwind class with one click.
Unlike most shadow generators, this one supports up to five stacked shadow layers, which is how professional designers create realistic depth effects. You can also toggle inset shadows, reorder layers, and choose from twelve built-in presets covering Material Design, neumorphism, glow effects, and more.
Understanding CSS Box Shadow Properties
The box-shadow property accepts a comma-separated list of shadows. Each shadow value contains: h-offset v-offset blur spread color, with an optional inset keyword.
Horizontal offset shifts the shadow left (negative) or right (positive). Vertical offset shifts it up (negative) or down (positive). A value of 0 0 places the shadow directly behind the element, which is perfect for glow effects.
Blur radius determines how soft or sharp the shadow edge appears. Zero blur gives a hard-edged shadow. Higher values create a more diffused, natural look. Spread radius makes the shadow larger (positive) or smaller (negative) than the element itself.
Design Trends: Material, Neumorphism, Glassmorphism
Material Design uses five elevation levels, each with two shadow layers: a key light shadow (sharper, smaller) and an ambient shadow (softer, wider). This creates a realistic paper-on-surface effect. Google's specification defines exact shadow values for each level, and you can replicate all of them with the Material presets in this tool.
Neumorphism (soft UI) uses two shadows on a matching background: a light shadow on one side and a dark shadow on the other, creating the illusion that the element is extruded from the surface. The key is matching the element's background color to the page background and using subtle offsets.
Glassmorphism combines a translucent background with a subtle shadow and backdrop blur. While this generator handles the shadow portion, you will also need backdrop-filter: blur() and a semi-transparent background color to complete the glass look.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the CSS box-shadow property?
The CSS box-shadow property adds one or more shadow effects to an element. Each shadow is defined by horizontal offset, vertical offset, blur radius, spread radius, and color. You can add multiple comma-separated shadows and use the inset keyword for inner shadows. It is one of the most used CSS properties for creating depth and visual hierarchy.
How do I add multiple box shadows to one element?
Separate each shadow with a comma in the box-shadow property. For example: box-shadow: 0 2px 4px rgba(0,0,0,0.1), 0 8px 16px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); The browser renders them in order, with the first shadow on top. Use this generator's 'Add Layer' button to visually stack up to 5 shadow layers.
What is the difference between blur and spread?
Blur radius controls how soft or diffused the shadow appears — higher values create a softer, more spread-out shadow. Spread radius controls how much the shadow grows or shrinks relative to the element — positive values make the shadow larger, negative values make it smaller. A zero spread with high blur creates a soft glow; a zero blur with positive spread creates a solid border-like effect.
Is there a performance cost to box shadows?
Box shadows are rendered by the GPU on modern browsers and have minimal performance impact for most use cases. However, very large blur values (100px+), multiple layers on many elements, or animating box-shadow can cause repaint jitter. For animated shadows, consider transitioning opacity on a pseudo-element instead of animating the shadow values directly.