dpaste vs pasty
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | dpaste | pasty |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 61 · Good | 46 · Fair |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Python | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 641 | ★ 223 |
| First released | 2011 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com, GitHub Gist | Pastebin.com |
What are dpaste and pasty?
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
pasty
pasty is a fast and lightweight code-pasting server written in Go. It supports configurable storage backends, paste expiration, and an autodelete feature for ephemeral snippet sharing.
- Fast snippet sharing
- Configurable storage backends
- Paste expiration
- Simple deployment
dpaste vs pasty: key differences
Dpaste is written in Python, while pasty is built with Go. Pasty is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for dpaste. Dpaste is the more established project (first released 2011), while pasty arrived in 2020. Dpaste has the considerably larger community, at 641 GitHub stars versus 223.
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 pasty if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is dpaste or pasty 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 pasty free and open-source?
Yes. dpaste is licensed under MIT and pasty under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run dpaste and pasty with Docker?
dpaste: yes. pasty: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, dpaste or pasty?
pasty has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for dpaste. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.