fiche vs PrivateBin
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?
fiche
Terminal pastebin server powered by netcat
VS
PrivateBin
Minimalist pastebin with zero-knowledge encryption
| Feature | fiche | PrivateBin |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | Zlib |
| Language | C | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,547 | ★ 8,509 |
| First released | 2015 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com, termbin | Pastebin.com |
Why pick each one
Choose fiche if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in C
Choose PrivateBin if…
- Released under the Zlib license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 8.5k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is fiche or PrivateBin better?
Neither is universally better. PrivateBin has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are fiche and PrivateBin free and open-source?
Yes. fiche is licensed under MIT and PrivateBin under Zlib. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run fiche and PrivateBin with Docker?
fiche: check the project docs for container support. PrivateBin: yes.