ten places to paste text, and what they actually publish
every one of these tools does the job for some case. this page pulls the real numbers from each ones own docs or faq, not a guess, and says where it beats docbin outright.
0bin and ghostbin used to round out a list like this. neither is safe to link now: 0bins host pulled the server in 2023 after abuse reports and the domain ended up owned by scammers, and ghostbin.com shut down in 2019. this list swaps in 0x0.st and justpaste.it, both live and doing the same job.
at a glance
| tool | post without an account | markdown | encrypted |
|---|---|---|---|
| docbin | yes | yes | no |
| pastebin | yes | pro only | no |
| rentry | yes | yes | no |
| github gist | no | yes | no |
| hastebin | yes | no | no |
| privatebin | yes | yes | yes |
| 0x0.st | yes | no | no |
| dpaste | yes | no | no |
| paste.ee | yes | not published | a flag exists |
| termbin | yes | no | no |
| justpaste.it | yes | no | premium only |
those are the three questions with a clean answer everywhere. size and retention are further down, per tool, because seven of the ten dont publish a size limit at all. that is worth knowing before you trust one with something big.
the ten
docbin: 5 mb free and 25 mb pro, no expiry, 375 syntax languages, 20 files in one link, and an open feed at /api/docs/public. $4/mo for pro.
pastebin
best for a throwaway paste from a guest with no key and no login screen
- max size
- 512 kb free, 10 mb pro
- retention
- you set an expiry; with none set, it stays up (pro is exempt from any inactivity purge)
- api
- a developer key on every request
source: faq · full comparison
rentry
best for a page a few people co-edit off one shared code, nobody signs up
- max size
- not published
- retention
- not published
- api
- no key to post; scripted raw access needs a code issued by rentry admins
source: what · full comparison
github gist
best for code that already belongs in a repo-shaped history - forks, diffs, threaded comments
- max size
- not published (the api truncates each file at 1 mb; past 10 mb you clone instead of reading raw)
- retention
- permanent
- api
- 60 reads/hr with no token; creating a gist always needs one
source: gists api · full comparison
hastebin
best for a quick throwaway snippet with zero setup, not even an edit form to configure
- max size
- not published
- retention
- 7 days
- api
- a free public api, no key for basic use
source: about
privatebin
best for content the server should never be able to read, at all - real zero-knowledge encryption
- max size
- not published - set by whoever runs the instance
- retention
- admin-configured expiry; deletes on view or during a purge cycle
- api
- exists, no key, but a bare curl cant post to it - the encryption has to happen client-side first
source: faq · full comparison
0x0.st
best for piping a file straight out of a terminal and getting a link back in one line
- max size
- 512 mib
- retention
- 30 to 365 days - bigger files expire sooner
- api
- one curl command, no key: curl -F'file=@x' https://0x0.st
source: 0x0.st
dpaste
best for syntax-highlighted code with a hard expiry date and no forced signup
- max size
- not published
- retention
- 1 day to 1 year, set at creation - no permanent option
- api
- documented at /api/v2/; a token is optional, only needed to own a paste
source: api docs
paste.ee
best for a paste that never expires, set once with expiration: never
- max size
- not published
- retention
- 1 day to never, defaults to 1 month
- api
- always needs a key (x-auth-token), even for an anonymous paste
source: api docs
termbin
best for one line with no curl flags: cat file | nc termbin.com 9999
- max size
- not published
- retention
- 1 week
- api
- none - its a netcat socket, not http
source: termbin.com
justpaste.it
best for pasting straight out of a word processor and keeping the formatting, images included
- max size
- not published
- retention
- not published
- api
- none published
source: help
so which one
pick by what the paste needs to survive, not by habit. a snippet nobody reopens goes anywhere on this list. a doc that gets read tomorrow, edited next week, or shared as a rendered page is what docbin is built for.
npx docbin push ./file.md