Drift vs not-th.re
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Drift
Self-hostable Gist alternative with a clean editor
VS
not-th.re
Simple paste sharing platform, with client side encryption, featuring
| Feature | Drift | not-th.re |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Shell |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,363 | ★ 16 |
| First released | 2022 | 2025 |
| Replaces | GitHub Gist | — |
Why pick each one
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
Choose not-th.re if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Shell
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Drift or not-th.re better?
Neither is universally better. Drift has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Drift and not-th.re free and open-source?
Yes. Drift is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and not-th.re under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Drift and not-th.re with Docker?
Drift: yes. not-th.re: yes.