PrivateBin is a minimalist, open-source online pastebin that ensures zero server knowledge of pasted data through client-side 256-bit AES encryption in the browser.

---

🚀 Overview

PrivateBin is a self-hosted, minimalist pastebin forked from ZeroBin (by Sébastien Sauvage), refactored for better extensibility and additional privacy-focused features. It allows users to share text, code, files, and discussions securely without the server ever accessing plaintext content.

The core problem it solves is the insecurity of traditional pastebins like Pastebin.com, where servers store unencrypted data vulnerable to admins, breaches, or legal requests. PrivateBin uses client-side encryption, making data unreadable to the server (zero-knowledge), providing plausible deniability, and supporting self-destruction of pastes.

It's built for server administrators offering public or private instances, developers sharing code, teams exchanging sensitive info, and anyone needing ephemeral, secure notes. It was developed to enhance ZeroBin's privacy model with more features while keeping the server lightweight and ignorant.

---

✨ Key Features

• Zero-knowledge encryption: Data encrypted/decrypted in-browser with 256-bit AES-GCM; key embedded in URL
• Optional password protection for extra security
• Discussions: Anonymous comments or with nicknames/IP-based identicons/vizhashes
• Expiration options: Never, timed (minutes to months), burn-after-reading
• Markdown formatting with live HTML preview
• Syntax highlighting for code via Prettify.js (4 themes)
• File uploads (images/media/PDF previews; configurable size limits, disabled by default)
• Customizable templates (Bootstrap5 default w/ dark mode, Bootstrap, Darkstrap)
• QR code generation for paste URLs
• Optional: Translation system, language selector, upcoming extensions

---

🛠 Tech Stack

• Frontend: JavaScript, Bootstrap 5/CSS, Prettify.js (syntax), DOMPurify (XSS)
• Backend: PHP (48%), Composer deps, Symfony Polyfill (PHP 8+ compat)
• Database: Configurable storage (files, SQL, Redis/Memcached implied via docs)
• Auth: None (passwords client-side)
• Hosting: Self-hosted web server (Apache/Nginx), requires HTTPS + HSTS

---

👥 Who Is This For?

This project is useful for:

• Developers who want to ___share code and snippets securely without server access
• Teams looking for __zero-knowledge paste and file sharing
• Indie makers building __self-hosted privacy tools or ephemeral collaboration

---

📸 Screenshots / Demo

• Live demo: https://privatebin.net/
• GitHub: https://github.com/PrivateBin/PrivateBin

---

🔥 Project Status

• 🟢 Actively building

Last updated: 2026-03-24

---

❓ FAQ

Is this project free?

Yes / Open Source (Free to self-host, no costs; Zlib license allows commercial use.)

---

Is the source code available?

Yes — https://github.com/PrivateBin/PrivateBin

---

Can I contribute?

Report bugs/features via GitHub Issues, submit PRs per Development guide and Code of Conduct. Translations, templates welcome. See wiki.

---

📬 Contact & Links

• Website: https://privatebin.info
• GitHub: https://github.com/PrivateBin/PrivateBin
• Twitter/X:
• Email: Via GitHub issues/SECURITY.md

---

Built with ❤️ and kept warm on WarmIndex.