PrivateBin
by PrivateBin · Zero-knowledge pastebin with browser-side encryption
BenchRank score
Screenshots of PrivateBin
Homepage
Overview
PrivateBin is an open source pastebin, forked from ZeroBin, for storing text, code samples and optional file uploads. Data is encrypted and decrypted in the browser using 256-bit AES in Galois Counter mode, so the server stores only ciphertext and the key travels in the URL fragment. Administrators self-host it and switch on options such as passwords, expiry times, discussions and syntax highlighting.
- Best for
- Server administrators who want to host a pastebin that cannot read the content it stores.
- Pricing
- No prices are shown; the page presents PrivateBin as open source software you install on your own server.
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Browser-side 256-bit AES-GCM; server holds only ciphertext
- Optional passwords, expiry times and burn-after-reading
- Markdown, syntax highlighting and optional file uploads
- Open source and self-hosted, with swappable templates
Trade-offs
- Decryption key sits in the URL, so anyone with the link can read the paste
- Users must trust the admin not to serve code that logs the key
- Needs HTTPS, and ideally HSTS, to be safe at all
- Access logs can still reveal who read a paste and when
How PrivateBin markets itself
A structured read of the promise, proof and page design on PrivateBin’s captured homepage.
Homepage capture
“PrivateBin is a minimalist, open source online pastebin where the server has zero knowledge of stored data.”
- Angle: Security / trust-led
- Hero: Typography only
Pricing
Published plans and prices from PrivateBin’s own pricing page.
How this score is made up
Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.
MCP support
Whether an agent can drive the product through the Model Context Protocol, and how much setup that takes.
Documentation
Publicly reachable docs — coverage, freshness, code samples and machine readability.
Agent friendliness
How readable the site is to an automated client: llms.txt, structured data, server-rendered content, crawler access.
Changelog
A public, dated record of what shipped and when — the clearest signal that a product is still alive.
Marketing site structure
Whether the site answers a buyer's questions: clear positioning, the pages that matter, and accessibility.
Page speed
How fast the site loads for real visitors: Chrome UX Report 75th-percentile LCP, INP and CLS, with a Lighthouse mobile run standing in where a site has too little traffic for field data.
Operational trust
Status page and incident history, security disclosure, compliance and data-processing documentation.
Measured, but not part of the score
Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.
Openness
Source availability, self-hosting, data export and open standards. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — paid SaaS is not worse for being paid SaaS.
Maintenance
Release cadence and repository activity. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — it is only measurable for open repositories.
This doesn’t look right — report a problem with PrivateBin’s score
Where this comes from
The PrivateBin pages BenchRank reads when it scores the product — its documentation, release notes, status and security pages, and its repository where there is one.
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Is this your product?
Claim PrivateBin to manage its profile. Claiming lets you suggest edits to the descriptive fields — it never changes scores or rankings.