dpaste vs bin
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
bin
Minimal, paste-only server written in Rust
| Feature | dpaste | bin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 61 · Good | 8 · At risk |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Python | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 641 | ★ 311 |
| First released | 2011 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com, GitHub Gist | Pastebin.com |
What are dpaste and bin?
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
bin
bin is an extremely minimal pastebin server written in Rust with no database and no configuration. It keeps pastes in memory and is designed to be small, fast, and easy to deploy.
- No database needed
- Tiny memory footprint
- Single binary
- Curl-friendly
dpaste vs bin: key differences
Dpaste is written in Python, while bin is built with Rust. Bin is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for dpaste. Dpaste is the more established project (first released 2011), while bin arrived in 2020. Dpaste has the considerably larger community, at 641 GitHub stars versus 311.
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 bin if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is dpaste or bin better?
Neither is universally better. dpaste has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are dpaste and bin free and open-source?
Yes. dpaste is licensed under MIT and bin under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run dpaste and bin with Docker?
dpaste: yes. bin: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, dpaste or bin?
bin has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for dpaste. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.