bin vs Stikked
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
Stikked
Feature-rich PHP pastebin with API and themes
| Feature | bin | Stikked |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 8 · At risk | 14 · At risk |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Rust | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 311 | ★ 989 |
| First released | 2020 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com | Pastebin.com |
What are bin and Stikked?
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
Stikked
Stikked is an open-source PHP pastebin with a wide range of features including syntax highlighting, an API, themes, and spam protection. It has long been a popular choice for self-hosted code sharing.
- Syntax highlighting
- Themes and customization
- API access
- Spam protection
bin vs Stikked: key differences
Bin is written in Rust, while Stikked is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for bin versus BSD-3-Clause for Stikked. Bin is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Stikked. Stikked is the more established project (first released 2011), while bin arrived in 2020. Stikked has the considerably larger community, at 989 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 Stikked if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is bin or Stikked better?
Neither is universally better. Stikked has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are bin and Stikked free and open-source?
Yes. bin is licensed under MIT and Stikked under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run bin and Stikked with Docker?
bin: yes. Stikked: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, bin or Stikked?
bin has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Stikked. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.