Pinnwand vs Snippet Box
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Pinnwand | Snippet Box |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 73 · Good | 17 · At risk |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Python | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 228 | ★ 1,092 |
| First released | 2018 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com | GitHub Gist, Pastebin.com |
What are Pinnwand and Snippet Box?
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
Snippet Box
Snippet Box is a self-hosted application for organizing and searching your personal collection of code snippets. It offers syntax highlighting, tagging, and a clean interface for reusing saved code.
- Snippet organization
- Syntax highlighting
- Tag-based search
- SQLite storage
Pinnwand vs Snippet Box: key differences
Pinnwand is written in Python, while Snippet Box is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for Pinnwand versus MIT for Snippet Box. Snippet Box 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 Snippet Box arrived in 2021. Snippet Box has the considerably larger community, at 1,092 GitHub stars versus 228.
Why pick each one
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
Choose Snippet Box if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.1k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is Pinnwand or Snippet Box better?
Neither is universally better. Snippet Box has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Pinnwand and Snippet Box free and open-source?
Yes. Pinnwand is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Snippet Box under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pinnwand and Snippet Box with Docker?
Pinnwand: yes. Snippet Box: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Pinnwand or Snippet Box?
Snippet Box 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.