Drift vs Pastefy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Pastefy
Modern pastebin with folders, encryption, and an API
| Feature | Drift | Pastefy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 18 · At risk | 70 · Good |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Vue |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,364 | ★ 457 |
| First released | 2022 | 2019 |
| Replaces | GitHub Gist | Pastebin.com, GitHub Gist |
What are Drift and Pastefy?
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
Pastefy
Pastefy is a modern, open-source pastebin application with a clean interface. It supports client-side encryption, multi-paste folders, an extensive API, and optional user accounts.
- Client-side encryption
- Multi-paste folders
- Full REST API
- Optional accounts
Drift vs Pastefy: key differences
Drift is written in TypeScript, while Pastefy is built with Vue. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Drift versus Apache-2.0 for Pastefy. Pastefy is the more established project (first released 2019), while Drift arrived in 2022. Drift has the considerably larger community, at 1,364 GitHub stars versus 457.
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 Pastefy if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Vue
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Drift or Pastefy 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 Pastefy free and open-source?
Yes. Drift is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Pastefy under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Drift and Pastefy with Docker?
Drift: yes. Pastefy: yes.