◈ pastebin alternatives
Pastebin alternative: the best options compared
An honest look at six pastebin alternatives — what each one actually does differently, not just a list of names. NullPaste is free, anonymous, requires no account, and never stores your IP address.
Six pastebin alternatives, compared
NullPaste
Our pickNo account, browser-side end-to-end encryption, burn-after-read, custom expiry, and a delete code for every paste. Actively maintained.
Try NullPaste →VoidPaste
A developer-focused option for sharing logs, stack traces, and configs — client-side AES-256-GCM encryption, burn-after-reading, and a REST API with a Go CLI for scripting. No account required for basic pastes.
Visit VoidPaste →Pastebin.com
The original. Free tier exists but pushes accounts and shows ads; no end-to-end encryption or burn-after-read. See the full comparison below.
Hastebin
Lightweight and fast for quick text dumps, no account needed — but has a long history of uptime problems, and no encryption, burn-after-read, or password protection.
Hastebin vs NullPaste →PrivateBin
Open-source with genuine client-side (zero-knowledge) encryption and burn-after-reading built in. The catch: it's self-hosted software, not a single service — you're trusting whichever public instance you pick, or running your own.
Rentry.co
Built around Markdown, good for formatted notes and documentation. Not built for code — no syntax highlighting for programming languages — and no end-to-end encryption.
GitHub Gist
Real git history, forking, and discoverability if you already live in GitHub. Requires a GitHub account, so it isn't anonymous — every gist is tied to your identity.
Ghostbin
Shut down permanently in September 2021. Still shows up in search results and old links, but the service no longer exists.
What happened to Ghostbin →What happened to Pastebin? Why people switch from pastebin.com
Pastebin.com is still online — it hasn't shut down the way Ghostbin did in 2021. What changed is how it feels to use, and that's what sends people looking for an alternative:
- Pastebin.com requires an account for many features
- Heavy advertising on paste pages
- No burn-after-read or end-to-end encryption
- Anonymous pastes are publicly listed and indexed by search engines
- No way to delete a paste without an account
NullPaste fixes all of these. Paste pages are marked noindex, no account is ever needed, and every paste comes with a delete code so you stay in control.
NullPaste vs pastebin.com
| Feature | NullPaste | Pastebin.com |
|---|---|---|
| Free to use | ✓ | ✓ |
| No account required | ✓ | ✗ |
| No ads | ✓ | ✗ |
| No IP address stored | ✓ | ✗ |
| Burn-after-read | ✓ | ✗ |
| End-to-end encryption | ✓ | ✗ |
| Password protection | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom expiry | ✓ | ✓ |
| Syntax highlighting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Delete code (no account) | ✓ | ✗ |
| No tracking / analytics | ✓ | ✗ |
| Paste pages not indexed by Google | ✓ | ✗ |
What you get with NullPaste
- No account ever — not even for deleting a paste. A one-time delete code is provided at creation.
- Anonymous by design — no IP stored, no analytics, no session tracking.
- Expiry options — 10 min · 1 h · 1 day · 1 week · never.
- Burn-after-read — paste deletes itself after the first view.
- End-to-end encryption — content encrypted in the browser; the server never sees the key.
- Password protection — restrict who can open a paste.
Frequently asked questions
- What happened to Pastebin?
- Pastebin.com hasn't shut down — unlike Ghostbin, which closed permanently in 2021. What changed is the experience: more advertising, more pressure to create an account, restrictions on anonymous paste creation, and public pastes that search engines can index. That's why many people look for a pastebin alternative with no account, no ads, and private-by-default links.
- What is the best pastebin alternative?
- It depends what you need. For anonymous, privacy-first sharing with no account, NullPaste is built specifically for that — end-to-end encryption, burn-after-read, and a delete code on every paste. For code you want tied to a GitHub project, GitHub Gist's git history is genuinely useful. For self-hosting your own instance, PrivateBin is a solid open-source option.
- Why look for a pastebin alternative?
- Pastebin.com has increasingly pushed users toward accounts, added advertising, and introduced restrictions on anonymous paste creation. Many users look for a cleaner, faster, and more private alternative.
- Is NullPaste a good pastebin replacement?
- Yes. NullPaste supports all the core features — syntax highlighting, expiry, and paste links — plus adds burn-after-read, end-to-end encryption, and password protection. No account is ever required.
- Which pastebin alternative has real encryption?
- NullPaste and PrivateBin both offer genuine client-side (zero-knowledge) encryption, where the server only ever stores ciphertext and the decryption key never leaves your browser. Pastebin.com, Hastebin, and Rentry.co do not offer this — anything you paste there is stored as plain text the service can read.
- Does NullPaste store my IP address?
- No. Raw IP addresses are never written to logs or the database. Rate limiting uses a one-way HMAC-SHA256 hash instead — the original address cannot be recovered from it.
- Is NullPaste free forever?
- Yes. NullPaste is a free pastebin with no plans, no limits on paste count, and no premium tier. All features are available at no cost.
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