For an open source tool for sharing snippets, the first results are privatebin/privatebin (PrivateBin is a self-hosted, zero-knowledge pastebin that provides all the requested features, including syntax highlighting, markdown rendering, password protection, and configurable expiration policies), conorhastings/react-syntax-highlighter (This is a React component library for rendering syntax-highlighted code within an existing application, rather than a standalone self-hosted pastebin service that provides storage, sharing, and URL generation) and highlightjs/highlight.js (This is a syntax highlighting library used to format code, but it lacks the storage, sharing, and pastebin functionality required to serve as a self-hosted pastebin application). isagalaev/highlight.js and jamiebuilds/spectacle-code-slide round out the shortlist. Compare the match explanations and check the project documentation against your requirements.
We curate open-source GitHub repositories matching “open source alternatives to pastebin”. Results are ranked by relevance to your query — pick filters below to narrow, or refine with AI.
PrivateBin is a self-hosted, zero-knowledge text hosting service and secret sharing tool. It utilizes browser-based AES 256-bit encryption to ensure that data is encrypted on the client side before transmission, meaning the hosting server cannot read or recover the original content. The project distinguishes itself by using URL fragments to distribute decryption keys, preventing the secret key from ever being sent to the server. It supports the distribution of both encrypted text and files, which are compressed and encrypted locally prior to storage. The platform includes capabilities for an
PrivateBin is a self-hosted, zero-knowledge pastebin that provides all the requested features, including syntax highlighting, markdown rendering, password protection, and configurable expiration policies.
react-syntax-highlighter is a component for rendering source code with syntax highlighting in React applications. It acts as a wrapper for the PrismJS and Highlight.js engines to provide formatted code display and language-specific colors. The project provides a customizable code block renderer that supports custom DOM injection, line numbering, and inline styling. It allows users to replace default HTML tags with custom React components to control how code is injected into the document object model. The library covers code presentation management through visual themes and line numbering. It
This is a React component library for rendering syntax-highlighted code within an existing application, rather than a standalone self-hosted pastebin service that provides storage, sharing, and URL generation.
Highlight.js is a syntax highlighting library that automatically detects and applies color-coded styling to source code blocks within web pages. It functions as a language-agnostic formatting engine, utilizing a modular processor that applies consistent visual themes to diverse programming languages based on their specific grammatical rules. By decoupling the core parsing logic from language-specific definitions, the library provides a unified execution environment that operates without requiring internal knowledge of the target language. The project is distinguished by its modular architectu
This is a syntax highlighting library used to format code, but it lacks the storage, sharing, and pastebin functionality required to serve as a self-hosted pastebin application.
highlight.js is a JavaScript syntax highlighter and client-side code formatter that transforms plain text source code into highlighted HTML for web display. It provides syntax highlighting across a wide variety of programming languages. The library includes an automatic language detector that identifies the programming language of a code block to apply the correct highlighting rules without manual tagging. It is designed for web worker compatibility, allowing the highlighting process to run in background threads to prevent the browser interface from freezing during the processing of large vol
This is a syntax highlighting library that you would use as a building block to render code, rather than a self-hosted pastebin application that provides storage, sharing, and management features.
This project is a React presentation component designed to create animated code sliders and step-by-step walkthroughs. It functions as a code presentation tool that allows users to highlight syntax and transition between different versions of a codebase during technical demonstrations. The tool enables the creation of animated code walkthroughs by rendering snapshots of code that transition through incremental changes. These sequences are navigated via keyboard inputs, allowing a presenter to advance through code steps to explain logic changes in a live demo. The system provides capabilities
This is a React component for creating animated code presentations and walkthroughs, which is a different category than a self-hosted pastebin for storing and sharing text snippets.
render-markdown.nvim is a Neovim plugin that transforms raw markdown syntax into a visually formatted layout directly inside the editor. It acts as a component visualizer and syntax highlighter, replacing standard markdown elements with custom symbols, icons, and formatted blocks to improve document readability. The plugin provides a toggle between rendered visual layouts and raw text views, allowing users to switch based on their current needs. It also applies markdown styling to injected content sections found within non-markdown file types. The system covers the visualization of various d
This is a Neovim plugin for rendering markdown within a text editor, not a self-hosted web application for storing and sharing code snippets.
PasswordPusher is a self-hosted secret sharing service and file sharing platform used to create encrypted, self-destructing links for sensitive text and files. It functions as a white-label security gateway, allowing organizations to manage the distribution of secrets on their own internal infrastructure. The system supports corporate white-labeling through custom domain mapping and branding customization to align the interface with a professional identity. It provides a RESTful API and command-line interface for the automated distribution of secrets within external scripts and workflows. Th
This is a secure secret-sharing and distribution tool designed for sensitive credentials rather than a general-purpose pastebin for code or text snippets.
zsh-syntax-highlighting is a Zsh shell extension and plugin that provides real-time syntax highlighting and visual feedback. It functions as an interactive command-line visual aid and regular expression text colorizer that distinguishes between commands, string literals, and shell constructs during input. The project allows for extensive customization through user-defined highlight rules, custom regular expression patterns, and predicate logic. It includes specific capabilities for path-based filtering and the assignment of custom colors to text segments. The system provides real-time comman
This is a shell plugin for real-time syntax highlighting in the terminal, not a web-based application for storing and sharing text snippets.
This project is a Python terminal user interface library and toolkit designed for building interactive command-line applications. It provides a terminal input manager and a widget toolkit for rendering dashboards, menus, and editors within a terminal emulator. The library enables the creation of full-screen terminal interfaces and interactive shells. It distinguishes itself with advanced input handling, including lexer-based syntax highlighting for visual feedback on code structure and support for industry-standard keyboard navigation modes such as Emacs and Vi. The capability surface covers
This is a library for building terminal user interfaces rather than a deployable pastebin application, though it could be used as a building block to create the text-editing interface for one.
The minimal amount of CSS to replicate the GitHub Markdown style
This is a CSS library for styling Markdown content rather than a functional pastebin application that provides storage, sharing, or API capabilities.
Streamdown is a streaming markdown renderer for React that transforms incoming markdown text into sanitized HTML in real time, handling incomplete blocks as they arrive. It parses GitHub-Flavored Markdown syntax including tables, task lists, and footnotes, and renders LaTeX math expressions using KaTeX, Mermaid diagrams as interactive SVGs, and code blocks with Shiki-based syntax highlighting supporting over 200 languages with dual light and dark themes. The renderer includes an XSS-safe HTML sanitizer that strips dangerous tags and validates URLs to prevent injection attacks. What distinguis
This is a React component library for streaming markdown rendering rather than a self-hosted pastebin application, meaning it provides the rendering logic but lacks the storage, sharing, and URL-generation capabilities required for the category.
This project is a Markdown static site generator and documentation server that converts files and folder structures into responsive websites. It functions as a Confluence documentation publisher, enabling the direct upload and synchronization of processed Markdown content to enterprise knowledge base servers. The system distinguishes itself through its technical rendering capabilities, transforming Mermaid syntax into visual diagrams and TeX expressions into mathematical formulas. It supports multilingual documentation by creating localized versions of a site with dedicated navigation structu
This is a documentation generator and static site server rather than a pastebin application, meaning it lacks the ephemeral storage, password protection, and burn-on-read features required for sharing code snippets.
| Repository | Stars | Language | License | Last push |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| privatebin/privatebin | 8.4K | PHP | NOASSERTION | |
| conorhastings/react-syntax-highlighter | 4.7K | JavaScript | MIT | |
| 24.8K |
| JavaScript |
| bsd-3-clause |
| isagalaev/highlight.js | 24.9K | JavaScript | BSD-3-Clause |
| jamiebuilds/spectacle-code-slide | 4.1K | JavaScript | MIT |
| meanderingprogrammer/render-markdown.nvim | 4.1K | Lua | mit |
| pglombardo/passwordpusher | 2.9K | Ruby | apache-2.0 |
| zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting | 22.7K | Shell | BSD-3-Clause |
| prompt-toolkit/python-prompt-toolkit | 10.5K | Python | BSD-3-Clause |
| sindresorhus/github-markdown-css | 8.9K | CSS | MIT |