pasty vs sprunge
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | pasty | sprunge |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 46 · Fair | 15 · At risk |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 223 | ★ 721 |
| First released | 2020 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com | Pastebin.com, termbin |
What are pasty and sprunge?
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
sprunge
sprunge is a minimalist, command-line oriented pastebin server designed for piping text directly from the terminal. It returns a short URL for any uploaded content with almost no configuration.
- Terminal pipe uploads
- No database required
- Short URL output
- Tiny footprint
pasty vs sprunge: key differences
Pasty is written in Go, while sprunge is built with Python. Sprunge is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 128 MB for pasty. Sprunge is the more established project (first released 2010), while pasty arrived in 2020. Sprunge has the considerably larger community, at 721 GitHub stars versus 223. Pasty lists first-class Docker deployment; sprunge does not.
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 sprunge if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- Written in Python
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is pasty or sprunge better?
Neither is universally better. sprunge has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are pasty and sprunge free and open-source?
Yes. pasty is licensed under MIT and sprunge under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run pasty and sprunge with Docker?
pasty: yes. sprunge: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, pasty or sprunge?
sprunge has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 128 MB for pasty. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.