Pinnwand vs wastebin
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted pastebins & snippets options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
wastebin
Minimal pastebin server written in Rust
| Feature | Pinnwand | wastebin |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 73 · Good | 82 · Excellent |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Python | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 228 | ★ 860 |
| First released | 2018 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com | Pastebin.com |
What are Pinnwand and wastebin?
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
wastebin
wastebin is a minimal, fast pastebin service backed by SQLite and written in Rust. It offers syntax highlighting, paste expiration, optional encryption, and a tiny resource footprint.
- Tiny resource usage
- SQLite storage
- Syntax highlighting
- Paste expiry and encryption
Pinnwand vs wastebin: key differences
Pinnwand is written in Python, while wastebin is built with Rust. Licensing differs — BSD-3-Clause for Pinnwand versus MIT for wastebin. Wastebin 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 wastebin arrived in 2022. Wastebin has the considerably larger community, at 860 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 wastebin if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is Pinnwand or wastebin better?
Neither is universally better. wastebin has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Pinnwand and wastebin free and open-source?
Yes. Pinnwand is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and wastebin under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pinnwand and wastebin with Docker?
Pinnwand: yes. wastebin: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Pinnwand or wastebin?
wastebin 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.