PrivateBin vs sprunge
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
VS
sprunge
Command-line oriented minimalist pastebin
| Feature | PrivateBin | sprunge |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 92 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Category | Pastebins & Snippets | Pastebins & Snippets |
| License | Zlib | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,610 | ★ 721 |
| First released | 2012 | 2010 |
| Replaces | Pastebin.com | Pastebin.com, termbin |
What are PrivateBin and sprunge?
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
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
PrivateBin vs sprunge: key differences
PrivateBin is written in PHP, while sprunge is built with Python. Licensing differs — Zlib for PrivateBin versus MIT for sprunge. Sprunge is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 256 MB for PrivateBin. Sprunge is the more established project (first released 2010), while PrivateBin arrived in 2012. PrivateBin has the considerably larger community, at 8,610 GitHub stars versus 721. PrivateBin lists first-class Docker deployment; sprunge does not.
Why pick each one
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
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 PrivateBin or sprunge 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 PrivateBin and sprunge free and open-source?
Yes. PrivateBin is licensed under Zlib and sprunge under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run PrivateBin and sprunge with Docker?
PrivateBin: yes. sprunge: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, PrivateBin or sprunge?
sprunge has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 256 MB for PrivateBin. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.