Pastebin
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Fine as a free scratchpad for non-sensitive code snippets and quick text dumps.
New check
Comparison
Pastebin vs PrivateBin
Pastebin lands on Depends, and PrivateBin lands on Worth it.
PrivateBin
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Buy if you're technical and need free, zero-knowledge sharing of snippets and secrets on infrastructure you control.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Worth it |
| Best for | Developers sharing code snippets | Sysadmins sharing passwords and secrets |
| Who it's not for | Anyone pasting passwords, keys, or secrets | Non-technical teams without server admin skills |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.² | Zero-knowledge design is sound, but 2025-2026 brought several XSS-class CVEs . patch promptly if self-hosting. |
| Support quality | No evidence in sources reviewed | Guess: volunteer project, no support SLA |
| Public sentiment | Users treat it as the default quick-share tool for code and text, while security threads question whether anything sensitive belongs on it.10 | Self-hosters frequently recommend PrivateBin, though some users are confused by the public instance. |
| Biggest gotcha | 'Private' pastes are unlisted, not encrypted . assume anything you paste can become public.⁸ | You apply security patches yourself; several landed late 2025. |
Pick Pastebin when
- Developers sharing code snippets
- Quick anonymous text dumps
- Threat-intel researchers monitoring dumps
When Pastebin is not a fit
- 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
Pick PrivateBin when
- Sysadmins sharing passwords and secrets
- Self-hosters wanting zero-knowledge pastes
- Dev teams pasting code or logs privately
- Privacy-conscious individuals
When PrivateBin is not a fit
- Non-technical teams without server admin skills
- Compliance-driven enterprises needing audit trails
- Anyone sharing large files or long documents
- Buyers wanting vendor support or an SLA
Sources
- Pastebin.com - #1 paste tool since 2002pastebin.comofficial
- Pastebin.com - Product security pagepastebin.comofficial
- Pastebin.com - Developers APIpastebin.comofficial
- Pastebin Surpasses 10 Million Active Pastestechcrunch.comnews
news
- Retailer Orvis.com Leaked Hundreds of Internal Passwords on Pastebinkrebsonsecurity.comsecurity
- njRAT Spreading Through Active Pastebin Command and Controlunit42.paloaltonetworks.comsecurity
- Are private pastes on pastebin.com vulnerable?security.stackexchange.comsecurity
- What is Pastebin? (Fortinet)fortinet.comsecurity
- Alternatives to pastebin (Reddit)reddit.comreview
- Is pastebin.com safe? (Reddit)reddit.comreview
review
- Why Pastebin Is a Go-To Tool for Programmersdeposit-bonus.hashnode.devreview
security
- PrivateBin GitHub repositorygithub.comofficial
- PrivateBin project siteprivatebin.infoofficial