Drift vs Opengist
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Opengist
Self-hosted pastebin powered by Git
| Feature | Drift | Opengist |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 18 · At risk | 88 · Excellent |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,364 | ★ 3,353 |
| First released | 2022 | 2023 |
| Replaces | GitHub Gist | GitHub Gist |
What are Drift and Opengist?
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
Opengist
Opengist is a self-hosted pastebin and snippet manager where every snippet is a Git repository. It supports revisions, syntax highlighting, embedding, and access via the web, Git, and an API.
- Git-backed snippets
- Revision history
- Syntax highlighting and embeds
- OAuth login support
Drift vs Opengist: key differences
Drift is written in TypeScript, while Opengist is built with Go. Opengist is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Drift. Opengist has the considerably larger community, at 3,353 GitHub stars versus 1,364.
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 Opengist if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (3.4k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is Drift or Opengist better?
Opengist is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Drift if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Drift and Opengist free and open-source?
Yes. Drift is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Opengist under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Drift and Opengist with Docker?
Drift: yes. Opengist: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Drift or Opengist?
Opengist 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.