The aptly named Pastebin.com was the first text storage website of its kind. It is used to easily store and share snippets with other people online. But if you don’t like it, there are plenty of alternatives to Pastebin on the web.
Let’s take a look at the best Pastebin alternatives that you can use to store text. We are going to take a look at their best features and why they are worth using compared to the well-known service.
SEE ALSO: 7 Best TeraCopy Alternatives For Windows 2019
What is a Pastebin?
In case you were wondering why anyone would be interested in sites like Pastebin, let’s take a quick look at what Pastebin is for.
Pastebins appeared in the late 1990s and early 2000s to easily share blocks of code with proper formatting and without disrupting the flow of discussions. The Internet Relay Chat (IRC) chat rooms of the time were much more rudimentary than modern chat apps like Slack or WhatsApp.
Most single line messages, as you can see in the screenshot below:
Posting a 50 line long block of code in such a discussion would obviously disrupt the flow for everyone else. So, pastebin sites were created to let you paste a giant block of code with proper syntax highlighting and formatting. When you’re ready to share, you can post a link in your chat. Since the URL only took one line, this was a great solution.
Nowadays, people still use websites like Pastebin to share code if their instant messaging app doesn’t support proper formatting. You can also use it to share a large number of debugging results when requesting online help. Other common uses of Pastebin include lists of dark web links and hackers who disclose broken information, such as passwords.
Pastebin.com is a good site, but it blocks some functionality behind a Pro subscription and is not known for its privacy. Here are some Pastebin alternatives that are worth checking out.
Formerly known as Tinypaste, this pastebin site makes sharing much easier. Enter a title for your paste, then you have a few options to format the text. You can use bold, italic, underline and strikethrough texts, as well as enabling code highlighting. In addition, ControlC supports adding videos, as well as changing the color and size of text.
Unlike Pastebin, you won’t see recent public pasta on the side of the site. By default all dough is hidden from search engines and you can set a password to protect your dough if you want. You can create an account to better track what you have submitted, but it is not necessary.
When you open a ControlC link, you must close an ads page before viewing the collage. From there, you can toggle the line numbers of the collage or even create a new version based on the original.
Overall ControlC is a handy site to paste. It doesn’t have a ton of fancy features, but works great when you just need to share a quick text.
If you’re in a rush, watch Hastebin. It’s a Pastebin alternative for code where the entire site interface is an editable text field, which makes it attractive. Enter or paste the text you want to share, and then tap Ctrl + S or click sure the icon Record in the upper right corner.
This will instantly save your text and change the URL in the address bar to a link to share. It also detects the language you used and highlights the syntax automatically.
In addition, in the bar in the upper right corner is a button New , which you can press to immediately start a new dough. When viewing a collage, the button Duplicate and Edit allows you to make edits while starting from the original content. And you can press Just Text to display the plain text on a separate page, which is ideal for getting a blank copy.
All pasta on this site stays in place 30 days after it was last seen. While search engines won’t find your pasta, you also shouldn’t expect privacy from what you share here. As a bonus, the site does not contain any ads, CAPTCHAs or registrations.
Those who find the above options too code-oriented should prefer Just Paste Me. Although you can use it to share code, it does offer a rich text editing area, which is great for entering notes, writing and editing. ‘instructions or similar blocks of normal text.
Here you will find all the typical text options, such as bullets, headers, hyperlinks, and images. A button Overview allows you to check the appearance of your page before sharing it.
Do not miss the section Additional options below. There you can set a page title, choose a custom URL, or have the site email you a link to your page in order to keep it safe.
Once you’ve completed a CAPTCHA and clicked Publish , you’ll see a link to your page that you can share anywhere. You can even edit the page after you publish it if your session hasn’t expired and you haven’t closed the browser.
Just Paste Me doesn’t require registration, and the on-page ad is discreet. Try it the next time you need a Pastebin alternative for regular text.
You can assume that all collage sites are the same, but they are not, as we have seen. PrivateBin stands out as a place of pasta creation, focused on privacy. Use the drop-down list Format up to choose Plain text , Source code or Markdown . Then you can enter your text in the editor.
PrivateBin includes a tab Overview to let you see what your outing will look like before sharing. Click on the button To send to get a shareable URL for your collage. The service also includes an option of QR code if you prefer to share it. No matter what you choose, you don’t have to worry about advertising.
At the top, you’ll see several options to control how you share. By default, the Expires is set to one week, but you can change it to take just five minutes. If you check the option Burn after reading , the message will self-destruct once the link is opened once.
You can also select Open discussion to allow people to leave comments on the collage. Finally, be sure to define a word of past to protect sensitive pasta.
The site indicates that the PrivateBin server has no knowledge of the pasted data. It is therefore the best choice when you want to share a potentially sensitive item.
READ ALSO: 10 Best Microsoft PowerPoint Alternatives You Can Use
Pastebin alternatives for better sharing
We’ve looked at several sites, like Pastebin, to help you find the one that best meets your needs. Pastebin isn’t fundamentally wrong, but a different option might suit your needs better than the site most people use for this job.
