pasty vs Pinnwand
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | pasty | Pinnwand |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 46 · Fair | 73 · Good |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 223 | ★ 228 |
| First released | 2020 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com | Pastebin.com |
What are pasty and Pinnwand?
pasty
pasty is a fast and lightweight code-pasting server written in Go. It supports configurable storage backends, paste expiration, and an autodelete feature for ephemeral snippet sharing.
- Fast snippet sharing
- Configurable storage backends
- Paste expiration
- Simple deployment
Pinnwand
Pinnwand is a straightforward pastebin written in Python that supports multi-file pastes and expiration. It pairs with the steck command-line tool for posting pastes directly from the terminal.
- Multi-file pastes
- Command-line client
- Expiration support
- Simple deployment
pasty vs Pinnwand: key differences
Pasty is written in Go, while Pinnwand is built with Python. Licensing differs — MIT for pasty versus BSD-3-Clause for Pinnwand. Pasty is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Pinnwand. Pinnwand is the more established project (first released 2018), while pasty arrived in 2020.
Why pick each one
Choose pasty if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Go
Choose Pinnwand if…
- Released under the BSD-3-Clause license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is pasty or Pinnwand better?
Neither is universally better. Pinnwand has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are pasty and Pinnwand free and open-source?
Yes. pasty is licensed under MIT and Pinnwand under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run pasty and Pinnwand with Docker?
pasty: yes. Pinnwand: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, pasty or Pinnwand?
pasty has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Pinnwand. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.