pasty vs PrivateBin
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
PrivateBin
Minimalist pastebin with zero-knowledge encryption
| Feature | pasty | PrivateBin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 46 · Fair | 92 · Excellent |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | Zlib |
| Language | Go | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 223 | ★ 8,610 |
| First released | 2020 | 2012 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com | Pastebin.com |
What are pasty and PrivateBin?
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
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
pasty vs PrivateBin: key differences
Pasty is written in Go, while PrivateBin is built with PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for pasty versus Zlib for PrivateBin. Pasty is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for PrivateBin. PrivateBin is the more established project (first released 2012), while pasty arrived in 2020. PrivateBin has the considerably larger community, at 8,610 GitHub stars versus 223.
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 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 pasty 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 pasty and PrivateBin free and open-source?
Yes. pasty is licensed under MIT and PrivateBin under Zlib. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run pasty and PrivateBin with Docker?
pasty: yes. PrivateBin: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, pasty or PrivateBin?
pasty has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for PrivateBin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.