Pastebin and TxtVanish side by side
| Pastebin | TxtVanish | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Publishing and archiving pastes | Handing text to someone privately |
| Visibility | Public, unlisted or private | Never listed; pages aren’t indexed |
| Expiry | Burn after read, 10 minutes to 1 year, or never | 1 to 100 views, 1 hour to 30 days, a date, or never |
| Password | Yes | Yes |
| Syntax highlighting | 200+ languages | 23 common languages, auto-detect |
| Edit or delete later | With an account | With the private sender link, no account |
| File attachments | No | One file up to 10 MB, kept 7 days |
| Open on another device | Via the link | Short code or QR code |
| Protection from link previews | Not stated | “Show message” step on self-destructing pastes |
When Pastebin is the better choice
- You want people to find your paste. Public pastes are searchable and easy to link from anywhere. TxtVanish deliberately keeps pastes out of search engines.
- You need an unusual language. Pastebin highlights more than 200; TxtVanish covers the 23 most common ones.
- You want a long-term archive with an account, folders and a history of everything you’ve posted.
When TxtVanish fits better
Private handovers
A config file for a new teammate, a stack trace for a contractor, a snippet for a friend. It goes to the people you send it to and nowhere else, and it can vanish after one read or at a time you choose.
Editing without an account
Create an editable note and you get a private sender link that works as your key: change the text, see when it was opened, or delete it. There’s no account to create and no password to remember.
Self-destructing pastes that survive chat apps
Paste a burn-after-reading link into Slack or WhatsApp on many sites and the chat app’s preview can open it first. TxtVanish shows a “Show message” step, so previews never use up the read.
More than text
Attach the full log file alongside the relevant excerpt, or send the paste to your own phone with a six-character code instead of a link.
Moving a paste over
- Choose the Code tab and pick the language, or leave it on Auto-detect.
- Pick an expiry. 1 day is a sensible default for a snippet you’re handing over.
- For secrets inside the code, switch on Password and share it separately.
Pastebin options as shown on pastebin.com’s paste form, checked September 2026. See sharing code snippets for more on code mode, or the full comparison.