PrivateBin vs Yopass: Which Should You Self-Host?

Quick Verdict

PrivateBin is a fully-featured encrypted pastebin with syntax highlighting, file attachments, and discussions. Yopass is a purpose-built one-time secret sharing tool that destroys the secret after it’s viewed once. Use PrivateBin for sharing code snippets, logs, and text that multiple people may need to access. Use Yopass for sharing passwords, API keys, and secrets that should self-destruct after one read.

Updated March 2026: Verified with latest Docker images and configurations.

Overview

PrivateBin is a minimalist, open-source online pastebin where the server has zero knowledge of pasted data. All encryption happens in the browser using AES-256-GCM. The server stores only encrypted data — even the admin can’t read pastes. It supports expiration, burn-after-reading, syntax highlighting, file attachments, and threaded discussions.

Yopass is focused on one thing: sharing a secret that can only be read once. You paste a secret, set an expiration, and get a link. The recipient opens the link, sees the secret, and it’s permanently destroyed. No discussions, no syntax highlighting — just secure one-time delivery.

Feature Comparison

Feature	PrivateBin	Yopass
Primary use case	Encrypted pastebin	One-time secret sharing
Encryption	AES-256-GCM (browser-side)	Client-side encryption (browser)
Burn after reading	Optional	Always (core feature)
Expiration options	5 min to never	1 hour to 1 week
Syntax highlighting	Yes (source code mode)	No
File attachments	Yes	No
Discussions	Yes (encrypted threads)	No
Password protection	Yes (additional password)	No (link is the key)
Custom instance ID	Yes	No
Markdown support	Yes	No
API	JSON API	REST API
Storage backends	Filesystem, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, S3, Google Cloud	Memcached, Redis
Docker image size	~30 MB	~15 MB
RAM usage	30-80 MB	20-50 MB
License	Zlib/LibPNG	Apache 2.0
Language	PHP	Go + React

Installation Complexity

Yopass is simpler — two containers (app + Memcached):

services:
  yopass:
    image: jhaals/yopass:11.18.0
    container_name: yopass
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "1337:1337"
    command: "--memcached=memcached:11211"
    depends_on:
      - memcached

  memcached:
    image: memcached:1.6-alpine
    container_name: yopass-memcached
    restart: unless-stopped

PrivateBin is also simple — single container with filesystem storage:

services:
  privatebin:
    image: privatebin/nginx-fpm-alpine:2.0.3
    container_name: privatebin
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - privatebin_data:/srv/data

Both deploy in under 2 minutes. Yopass uses Memcached (or Redis) for ephemeral storage — secrets are never written to disk.

Performance and Resource Usage

Metric	PrivateBin	Yopass
RAM idle	30-80 MB	20-50 MB
CPU	Minimal	Minimal
Disk usage	Grows with pastes	None (Memcached is memory-only)
Response time	<50 ms	<20 ms

Both are extremely lightweight. Yopass is slightly lighter because Go is more efficient than PHP, and Memcached storage means no disk I/O.

Community and Support

Metric	PrivateBin	Yopass
GitHub stars	6,000+	2,000+
Documentation	Good (wiki)	Basic (README)
Update frequency	Quarterly	Occasionally
Contributors	50+	20+

PrivateBin has a larger community and more active development.

Use Cases

Choose PrivateBin If…

• You need an encrypted pastebin for sharing code, logs, or config files
• Multiple people need to access the same shared content
• You want threaded discussions on shared content
• File attachments are important (share encrypted files)
• You need flexible expiration (from 5 minutes to permanent)

Choose Yopass If…

• You’re sharing passwords, API keys, or other one-time secrets
• The secret MUST self-destruct after being read once
• You want the simplest possible UX for secret sharing
• Disk-free storage matters (Memcached keeps nothing on disk)
• You want a Go-based solution with minimal attack surface

Final Verdict

These tools serve different needs despite both involving “sharing encrypted text.” PrivateBin is a general-purpose encrypted pastebin — use it as a Pastebin.com replacement with zero-knowledge encryption. Yopass is specifically for one-time secret delivery — use it for sharing passwords, tokens, and sensitive data that should be read once and destroyed. Many teams run both: PrivateBin for day-to-day sharing and Yopass for credential delivery.

Related

• How to Self-Host PrivateBin
• How to Self-Host Yopass
• Best Self-Hosted Secrets Management
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to 1Password Teams
• Self-Hosted Alternatives to AWS Secrets Manager
• How to Self-Host Vaultwarden