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Should I use Pastebin?

Pastebin - pastebin.com

Depends. Fine as a free scratchpad for non-sensitive code snippets and quick text dumps. Anyone sharing secrets, credentials, or compliance-bound data should use an encrypted alternative instead.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~30 public sources: Reddit threads, security vendor write-ups, breach reporting, official pages, and review sites. Many review snippets were truncated; no numeric review rating could be verified.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo evidence in sources reviewed
  • Security posture

Pricing

$0

Free

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
PROPaid (see site for current price)

Best for

  • Developers sharing code snippets
  • Quick anonymous text dumps
  • Threat-intel researchers monitoring dumps

Not for

  • Anyone pasting passwords, keys, or secrets
  • Companies with compliance or audit requirements
  • Teams needing access control or private collaboration
  • Security-conscious users wanting zero-knowledge encryption

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

'Private' pastes are unlisted, not encrypted — assume anything you paste can become public.

medium

Corporate networks and security tools may block links, breaking shares with recipients.

medium

Attackers hide malicious payloads on it, so recipients may distrust links you share.

low

Guess: PRO membership needed for meaningful API limits — verify current limits before building on it.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • De facto default for quick code and text sharing
  • Long track record — running since 2002
  • Go-to tool for programmers sharing snippets
  • Official API and automation integrations exist
  • Massive archive — 10M+ active pastes reported

Cons

  • Regularly abused for malware hosting and command-and-control
  • Leaked credentials routinely surface on the site
  • Private pastes questioned — not truly private
  • Corporate security teams treat it as a risk domain
  • Lacks end-to-end encryption that competitors offer

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/26/2026 - 14 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x3review x4security x5news x2

Key stats

  • Value for money: 4/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 14

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 4/5. Free core product; PRO is optional
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Paste, click, share; go-to for programmers
  • Feature depth: 2/5. Minimal pastes; rivals add encryption, self-hosting
  • Support quality. No evidence in sources reviewed
  • Security posture: 2/5. No published CVEs, but leak and malware magnet
  • 2002 Founded Self-described #1 paste tool since 2002
  • Yes Free tier Core pasting is free; PRO optional
  • 10M+ Active pastes Reported by TechCrunch, 2011

Pricing

Free

$0

  • Public and unlisted pastes
  • Ad-supported

PRO

Paid (see site for current price)

  • Ad-free use
  • Higher limits, full API access

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Users treat it as the default quick-share tool for code and text, while security threads question whether anything sensitive belongs on it.

Full analysis

Based on ~30 public sources: Reddit threads, security vendor write-ups, breach reporting, official pages, and review sites. Many review snippets were truncated; no numeric review rating could be verified.

Free, dead-simple text sharing since 2002 — but treat every paste as public. Secrets need PrivateBin-class encryption.

Methodology

Based on ~30 public sources: Reddit threads, security vendor write-ups, breach reporting, official pages, and review sites. Many review snippets were truncated; no numeric review rating could be verified.

Sources

  1. Pastebin.com - #1 paste tool since 2002pastebin.com
    official
  2. Pastebin.com - Product security pagepastebin.com
    official
  3. Pastebin.com - Developers APIpastebin.com
    official
  4. Pastebin Surpasses 10 Million Active Pastestechcrunch.com
    news
  5. Pastebin Is Great For Sharing Private Information (Forbes)forbes.com
    news
  6. Retailer Orvis.com Leaked Hundreds of Internal Passwords on Pastebinkrebsonsecurity.com
    security
  7. njRAT Spreading Through Active Pastebin Command and Controlunit42.paloaltonetworks.com
    security
  8. Are private pastes on pastebin.com vulnerable?security.stackexchange.com
    security
  9. What is Pastebin? (Fortinet)fortinet.com
    security
  10. Alternatives to pastebin (Reddit)reddit.com
    review
  11. Is pastebin.com safe? (Reddit)reddit.com
    review
  12. Read Customer Service Reviews of pastebin.com (Trustpilot)trustpilot.com
    review
  13. Why Pastebin Is a Go-To Tool for Programmersdeposit-bonus.hashnode.dev
    review
  14. Secure Text Sharing Alternatives to Pastebin (Tailscale)tailscale.com
    security

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