fiche vs pasty
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | fiche | pasty |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 16 · At risk | 46 · Fair |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | C | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,550 | ★ 223 |
| First released | 2015 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com, termbin | Pastebin.com |
What are fiche and pasty?
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
pasty
pasty is a fast and lightweight code-pasting server written in Go. It supports configurable storage backends, paste expiration, and an autodelete feature for ephemeral snippet sharing.
- Fast snippet sharing
- Configurable storage backends
- Paste expiration
- Simple deployment
fiche vs pasty: key differences
Fiche is written in C, while pasty is built with Go. Fiche is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for pasty. Fiche is the more established project (first released 2015), while pasty arrived in 2020. Fiche has the considerably larger community, at 1,550 GitHub stars versus 223. Pasty 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 pasty if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is fiche or pasty better?
Neither is universally better. fiche has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are fiche and pasty free and open-source?
Yes. fiche is licensed under MIT and pasty under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run fiche and pasty with Docker?
fiche: check the project docs for container support. pasty: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, fiche or pasty?
fiche has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for pasty. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.