Drift vs Pinnwand
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
Pinnwand
Python pastebin with a command-line companion
| Feature | Drift | Pinnwand |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | TypeScript | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,363 | ★ 226 |
| First released | 2022 | 2018 |
| Replaces | GitHub Gist | Pastebin.com |
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 Pinnwand if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Drift or Pinnwand better?
Neither is universally better. Drift has the larger community, while Pinnwand is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Drift and Pinnwand free and open-source?
Yes. Drift is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Pinnwand under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Drift and Pinnwand with Docker?
Drift: yes. Pinnwand: yes.