Drift vs Encrypted Pastebin
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
Encrypted Pastebin
Zero-knowledge encrypted text and code sharing
| Feature | Drift | Encrypted Pastebin |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Zlib |
| Language | TypeScript | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,363 | ★ 83 |
| First released | 2022 | 2016 |
| Replaces | GitHub Gist | Pastebin.com, 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 Encrypted Pastebin if…
- Released under the Zlib license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in PHP
Frequently asked questions
Is Drift or Encrypted Pastebin better?
Neither is universally better. Drift has the larger community, while Encrypted Pastebin is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Drift and Encrypted Pastebin free and open-source?
Yes. Drift is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Encrypted Pastebin under Zlib. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Drift and Encrypted Pastebin with Docker?
Drift: yes. Encrypted Pastebin: yes.