dpaste vs Drift
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | dpaste | Drift |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 61 · Good | 18 · At risk |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 641 | ★ 1,364 |
| First released | 2011 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com, GitHub Gist | GitHub Gist |
What are dpaste and Drift?
dpaste
dpaste is an open-source pastebin application built with Django for sharing code and text snippets. It offers syntax highlighting, snippet expiration, and a simple API for posting from scripts.
- Django-based platform
- Syntax highlighting
- Snippet expiration
- Scripting API
Drift
Drift is a self-hostable pastebin and snippet manager that serves as a Gist alternative. It offers multi-file pastes, a polished editor, expiration, and visibility controls.
- Multi-file pastes
- Polished editor
- Visibility controls
- Gist-like experience
dpaste vs Drift: key differences
Dpaste is written in Python, while Drift is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for dpaste versus AGPL-3.0 for Drift. Dpaste is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Drift. Dpaste is the more established project (first released 2011), while Drift arrived in 2022. Drift has the considerably larger community, at 1,364 GitHub stars versus 641.
Why pick each one
Choose dpaste if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
Choose Drift if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is dpaste or Drift better?
Neither is universally better. Drift has the larger community, while dpaste is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are dpaste and Drift free and open-source?
Yes. dpaste is licensed under MIT and Drift under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run dpaste and Drift with Docker?
dpaste: yes. Drift: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, dpaste or Drift?
dpaste has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Drift. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.