PrivacyNotes
Zero-knowledge notes, tasks, files, passwords and journal secured by a single 12-word recovery phrase, with no email or password required. The crypto core and database schema are published for audit. No subscription model.
Reviewed by Marco Wollank
Replace today: Pastebin GitHub Gist
Encrypted Pastebins: Share Text & Code Privately in 2026
Private alternatives to Pastebin, GitHub Gist, vetted against our public criteria.
Showing 3 of 3
PrivateBin
A minimalist open-source pastebin where the server has zero knowledge of pasted data. Content is encrypted and decrypted entirely in the browser using 256-bit AES-GCM before anything touches the server, with the decryption key stored only in the URL fragment.
paaster
An end-to-end encrypted pastebin that encrypts content in the browser using XChaCha20-Poly1305 and Argon2id before upload. The decryption key stays in the URL fragment and never reaches the server, with no opt-out: every paste is always encrypted.
No matches for those filters.
A pastebin is the quickest way to share a snippet of code or a block of log output, and people post far more sensitive things into them than they realize. The mainstream ones can read everything you paste. The tools here encrypt the content in your browser first and keep the key out of the server’s reach, so the operator only ever stores an unreadable blob. Every option is open source and self-hostable for full control.
Why a normal pastebin is a privacy risk
With a standard pastebin the operator can read and index anything you post, then hand it over on request, and what people paste is often more sensitive than they think: access keys and internal logs, the kind of thing that should never sit in plain text on someone else’s server. There is no setting that fixes this, because the service is built to store your text in readable form. Client-side encryption takes the operator out of the trust equation by encrypting the paste in your browser before upload, so a tool like PrivateBin holds only an unreadable blob and the key never reaches the server.
How we pick
Every pastebin here is measured against our public listing criteria. For this narrow category the bar is high: end-to-end encryption performed in the browser with the key kept in the link, backed by open-source code so the encryption can be verified and the ability to self-host. We weigh jurisdiction as one factor rather than a hard gate, and we list only a pastebin we would paste our own logs into. All of the picks can run on infrastructure you control.
What to look for in an encrypted pastebin
The one feature that matters is end-to-end encryption done in the browser, with the key held in the link’s fragment and never sent to the server. After that, look for open-source code you can self-host so the claim is auditable, plus hygiene features like expiring pastes and optional password protection for a second layer. A tool like paaster makes encryption the only mode rather than a toggle, which removes the chance of forgetting it. The shared point is that the operator only ever holds a blob it cannot read.
How to switch
Use a zero-knowledge pastebin for anything you would not post publicly, then set a short expiry and share the full link through a private channel rather than a public one. For a team or a company, self-host an instance so the data stays on infrastructure you control. If a paste is really notes you want to keep rather than throw away, an encrypted notebook is the better home for it, and a tool like PrivacyNotes bridges the two with share-and-burn notes. For locking up whole files rather than text, secure file encryption is the next category over.
Frequently asked
- What does zero-knowledge mean for a pastebin?
- It means the server never sees your content in readable form. Your browser encrypts the paste and keeps the decryption key in the link, which is never sent to the server, so the operator cannot read it.
- Can I self-host an encrypted pastebin?
- Yes. Every option here is open source and self-hostable, so you can run your own instance and keep every paste on infrastructure you control. For a team or a company, that is usually the most reliable setup.
- How does the decryption key stay out of the server's reach?
- It lives in the part of the link after the hash, known as the URL fragment, and browsers never send that fragment to the server. So the operator receives a request for the paste but never the key that unlocks it. That single detail is what lets a pastebin be honestly called zero-knowledge.
- Is an encrypted paste safe to post in a public channel?
- The encrypted blob itself is unreadable without the key, but the key is in the link, so anyone who gets the full link can read the paste. Treat the link like the secret it is and share it through a private channel. Adding a short expiry or burn-after-reading limits the damage if a link leaks later.
- Do expiring pastes really get deleted?
- An expiry or burn-after-reading option tells the server to remove the encrypted blob after a set time or a single view, which is good hygiene for anything sensitive. The honest caveat is that you are trusting the operator to enforce it, which is one more reason self-hosting is the strongest setup. Even before expiry, the operator only ever holds an unreadable blob.
- Why not just use a private GitHub Gist?
- A secret Gist is unlisted, but it is not encrypted, so GitHub can still read it and index it, then hand it over, and anyone who finds the URL sees plain text. An encrypted pastebin removes the operator from the trust equation entirely, because it only ever stores a blob it cannot open. For a snippet you would not want read, that difference matters.