bin vs wastebin
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | bin | wastebin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 8 · At risk | 82 · Excellent |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, bare-metal | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 311 | ★ 860 |
| First released | 2020 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com | Pastebin.com |
What are bin and wastebin?
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
wastebin
wastebin is a minimal, fast pastebin service backed by SQLite and written in Rust. It offers syntax highlighting, paste expiration, optional encryption, and a tiny resource footprint.
- Tiny resource usage
- SQLite storage
- Syntax highlighting
- Paste expiry and encryption
bin vs wastebin: key differences
Both projects are written in Rust. Bin is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for wastebin. Bin is the more established project (first released 2020), while wastebin arrived in 2022. Wastebin has the considerably larger community, at 860 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 wastebin if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is bin or wastebin better?
Neither is universally better. wastebin has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are bin and wastebin free and open-source?
Yes. bin is licensed under MIT and wastebin under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run bin and wastebin with Docker?
bin: yes. wastebin: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, bin or wastebin?
bin has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for wastebin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.