fiche vs MicroBin
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
MicroBin
Tiny, feature-rich pastebin and file-sharing service
| Feature | fiche | MicroBin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 16 · At risk | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | C | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,550 | ★ 4,563 |
| First released | 2015 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com, termbin | Pastebin.com |
What are fiche and MicroBin?
fiche
fiche is a minimalist terminal pastebin server written in C that accepts pastes piped over netcat. Users upload text from the command line and receive a short URL with no client software needed.
- Netcat-based uploads
- No client needed
- Short URL output
- Tiny C server
MicroBin
MicroBin is a super tiny, configurable, self-contained pastebin and URL shortener written in Rust. Despite its small size it supports file uploads, encryption, QR codes, and expiring pastes.
- Single small binary
- File uploads and URL shortening
- Optional encryption
- QR code generation
fiche vs MicroBin: key differences
Fiche is written in C, while MicroBin is built with Rust. Licensing differs — MIT for fiche versus BSD-3-Clause for MicroBin. Fiche is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for MicroBin. Fiche is the more established project (first released 2015), while MicroBin arrived in 2022. MicroBin has the considerably larger community, at 4,563 GitHub stars versus 1,550. MicroBin lists first-class Docker deployment; fiche does not.
Why pick each one
Choose fiche if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.6k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
Choose MicroBin if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (4.6k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is fiche or MicroBin better?
Neither is universally better. MicroBin has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are fiche and MicroBin free and open-source?
Yes. fiche is licensed under MIT and MicroBin under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run fiche and MicroBin with Docker?
fiche: check the project docs for container support. MicroBin: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, fiche or MicroBin?
fiche has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for MicroBin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.