pasty vs Stikked
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | pasty | Stikked |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 46 · Fair | 14 · At risk |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Go | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 223 | ★ 989 |
| First released | 2020 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com | Pastebin.com |
What are pasty and Stikked?
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
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
pasty vs Stikked: key differences
Pasty is written in Go, while Stikked is built with JavaScript. Licensing differs — MIT for pasty versus BSD-3-Clause for Stikked. Pasty is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 256 MB for Stikked. Stikked is the more established project (first released 2011), while pasty arrived in 2020. Stikked has the considerably larger community, at 989 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 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 pasty 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 pasty and Stikked free and open-source?
Yes. pasty is licensed under MIT and Stikked under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run pasty and Stikked with Docker?
pasty: yes. Stikked: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, pasty or Stikked?
pasty has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for Stikked. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.