bin vs PrivateBin
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
bin
Minimal, paste-only server written in Rust
VS
PrivateBin
Minimalist pastebin with zero-knowledge encryption
| Feature | bin | PrivateBin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 8 · At risk | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | Zlib |
| Language | Rust | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 311 | ★ 8,609 |
| First released | 2020 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com | Pastebin.com |
What are bin and PrivateBin?
bin
bin is an extremely minimal pastebin server written in Rust with no database and no configuration. It keeps pastes in memory and is designed to be small, fast, and easy to deploy.
- No database needed
- Tiny memory footprint
- Single binary
- Curl-friendly
PrivateBin
PrivateBin is a minimalist, open-source online pastebin where the server has zero knowledge of pasted data. Content is encrypted and decrypted in the browser, with options for expiration, password, and burn-after-reading.
- Zero-knowledge encryption
- Burn after reading
- Password protection
- Discussion and expiry options
bin vs PrivateBin: key differences
Bin is written in Rust, while PrivateBin is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for bin versus Zlib for PrivateBin. Bin is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for PrivateBin. PrivateBin is the more established project (first released 2012), while bin arrived in 2020. PrivateBin has the considerably larger community, at 8,609 GitHub stars versus 311.
Why pick each one
Choose bin if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Rust
Choose PrivateBin if…
- Released under the Zlib license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 8.6k GitHub stars
Frequently asked questions
Is bin 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 bin and PrivateBin free and open-source?
Yes. bin is licensed under MIT and PrivateBin under Zlib. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run bin and PrivateBin with Docker?
bin: yes. PrivateBin: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, bin or PrivateBin?
bin has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for PrivateBin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.