massCode vs paste
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | massCode | paste |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 91 · Excellent | 14 · At risk |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 7,000 | ★ 574 |
| First released | 2019 | 2018 |
| Replaces | GitHub Gist, SnippetsLab | Pastebin.com, GitHub Gist |
What are massCode and paste?
massCode
massCode is a free, open-source code snippets manager for developers with a built-in code editor and folder organization. It stores snippets locally and supports tagging and full-text search.
- Built-in code editor
- Folder and tag organization
- Local snippet storage
- Full-text search
paste
paste is a minimalist, self-hosted pastebin service written in Go that stores text snippets and returns short URLs. It is designed to be tiny, dependency-free, and easy to run from a single binary.
- Single static binary
- Filesystem-based storage
- Short URL generation
- Simple HTTP API
massCode vs paste: key differences
MassCode is written in TypeScript, while paste is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for massCode versus MIT for paste. Paste is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for massCode. MassCode has the considerably larger community, at 7,000 GitHub stars versus 574. Paste lists first-class Docker deployment; massCode does not.
Why pick each one
Choose massCode if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Mature project with 7k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Choose paste if…
- Extremely lightweight
- Trivial to deploy
Watch out for
- Very minimal feature set
- No syntax highlighting UI
Frequently asked questions
Is massCode or paste better?
Neither is universally better. massCode has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are massCode and paste free and open-source?
Yes. massCode is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and paste under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run massCode and paste with Docker?
massCode: check the project docs for container support. paste: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, massCode or paste?
paste has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for massCode. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.