The aptly named Pastebin.com was the first text storage website of its kind. It is used to easily store and share code snippets or text with other people online. But if you don’t like it, you will find many alternatives to Pastebin on the web.
Let’s look at the best Pastebin alternatives that you can use to store text and code. We’ll take a look at its best features and why it’s worth using them over the well-known service.
What is a pastebin?
In case you’re wondering why anyone would be interested in finding sites like Pastebin in the first place, let’s take a quick look at what Pastebin is for.
Pastebins emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a way to easily share properly formatted blocks of code without interrupting the flow of chats. IRC (Internet Relay Chat) chat rooms of the time were much more rudimentary than modern chat apps like Slack or WhatsApp.
More prominent one-line messages, as you can see in the following screenshot:
Posting a 50 line long block of code in such a chat would obviously interrupt the flow for everyone else. So pastebin sites sprang up to let you paste a giant block of code with proper formatting and syntax highlighting. When you were ready to share, you could post a link in your chat. Since the URL was only one line long, it was a great solution.
Today, people still use websites like Pastebin to share code if their instant messaging app doesn’t support the proper format. You can also use it to share a large amount of debug output when asking for help online. Other common uses for Pastebin include lists of dark web links and hackers leaking breached information such as passwords.
pastebin.com It’s a good site, but it locks some features behind a Pro subscription and isn’t known for its privacy. Here are some Pastebin alternatives worth looking into.
Formerly known as Tinypaste, this pastebin site makes sharing very simple and is good for no-code uses. Enter a title for your paste, then you’ll have a few options for formatting the text. You can use bold, italic, underlined, and strikethrough text, as well as enable code highlighting. Also, ControlC supports adding YouTube videos, as well as changing the color and size of the text.
Unlike Pastebin, you won’t see recent public pastes along the side of the site. All pastes are hidden from search engines by default, and you can set a password to protect your paste if you wish. While you can create an account to better track what you’ve submitted, it’s not necessary.
When you open a ControlC binding, you can toggle the line numbers of the paste, or even create a new version based on the original. In general, ControlC is a sensible pastebin site. It doesn’t have a ton of fancy features, but it works well when you just need to share a quick text.
If you want to stick some code into a pretty interface, take a look at Spectre. It is a Pastebin alternative for code where the entire interface of the site is an editable text field, making it visually appealing. Enter or paste the text you want to share, then use the dropdown box in the top right corner to choose your language. There are many options available, with the most common ones near the top.
Using the Options , you can tell the service to remember the last language used and expiration options for convenience. You can also create an account to keep track of your pasta, if you wish.
The Expiration The icon allows you to choose how long the paste stays. Apart from Foreveryou can choose from as little as ten minutes to a maximum of two days. And if you want to encrypt the paste, click on the Close with key icon to add a password.
After giving your paste a name at the top, press Ctrl+S or hit the Save in the upper right corner to save it. Send the resulting URL to others to share the paste with them. Using the new options at the top right, you can view the raw code, download it as a file, or give someone else access to edit it. There’s a Edit button too, in case you change your mind.
The service has no ads, CAPTCHA or registration. It is a simple and visually appealing pastebin site.
Rentry doesn’t focus on code at all, instead it mainly serves as a container for written text. While you can still use it to share code, it’s primarily a Markdown text editor that offers pastebin functionality. If you’re unfamiliar, check out our guide to getting started with Markdown to learn how it works.
The setup is clean and allows you to focus on typing. Use the Text field to write and Advance to see how it looks before sharing. The How The tab offers a quick refresh in Markdown, if needed.
When you share a document with Rentry, it will include a edit code. You’ll need this code to make changes to the paste in the future, so be sure to save it somewhere safe (such as a password manager). before hitting To go to post the paste, you can add a custom edit code to make it easier to remember, as well as set a custom url.
After saving the paste, anyone can visit the URL to view it. This will include the date and time it was published, as well as how many views it has. Wear To export to download your document as the Crude text, a PDFor a png picture.
As we have seen, not all paste sites are created equal. ZeroBin stands out as a privacy-focused place to create pasta. Use the Format dropdown at the top to choose Plain text, Source codeeither Reduction. You can then enter your text in the editor.
At the top, you’ll see several options to control how you share. Select the expires field at a time of your choosing; you can change this to as little as 5 minutes or never expire.
If you check the burn after reading option, the message will self-destruct after the link is opened once. Alternatively, you can select open discussion to allow people to leave comments about pasta. Be sure to set a Clue to protect sensitive pastes.
ZeroBin includes a Advance tab so you can see what your result will look like before you share it. Click on the Send when you’re done to get a shareable URL for your paste. There are ads at the top and bottom of the page, but they shouldn’t interfere with the experience too much.
The site claims that the server has no knowledge of the pasted data, making it the best option when you want to share something potentially sensitive. Of course, there are better ways to share passwords and other private data securely online.
Alternatives to Pastebin for better sharing
We’ve searched a number of sites like Pastebin to help you find the best one for your needs. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Pastebin, but a different option may suit your needs better than the site most people use for this job.
Unfortunately, many of the other Pastebin alternatives aren’t worth using. They are almost copies of one of the options discussed above, or they are loaded with malicious ads that ruin the experience. Stick to one of these for the best results.