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Pastebin is the name everyone knows — it's been around since 2002 and practically invented the idea of sharing text with a link. But a lot has changed in two decades, and many of the things people now expect are reserved for Pastebin PRO. Here's how its free plan compares with Thpaste, where every feature is free.
How we compared
Pastebin details come from its own "GO PRO" page (pastebin.com/pro), checked on 14 October 2026. Services change — if something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
The quick verdict
| Pastebin (free) | Thpaste | |
|---|---|---|
| Price of the features below | Most need PRO | Free |
| Ads on the site | Yes (PRO removes them) | None on website pastes |
| Captcha when you paste | Yes (PRO removes it) | ✗ |
| Markdown pastes | PRO only | ✓ |
| Rich text editor (fonts, colours, link buttons) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Max paste size | 500 KB | 512 KB |
| Unlisted pastes you can keep | 10 | No cap |
| Private / password-protected pastes | 10 private | ✓ password on any paste |
| Burn after reading | ✓ | ✓ |
| New pastes per day | 20 | 30 on the website, 500 via batch or API |
| Inactive pastes may be deleted | Yes (PRO protects them) | No — pastes stay until they expire or you delete them |
| Analytics: visitors, sources, countries | ✗ | ✓ |
| Translation for readers | ✗ | ✓ 133 languages |
| Link previews and dead-link checks | ✗ | ✓ |
| Public profiles, followers and a feed | ~ | ✓ |
| Developer API | ✓ | ✓ |
(~ = partly: Pastebin has public user pages. ✗ means the feature isn't offered on Pastebin's free plan according to its public pages.)
Where Thpaste pulls ahead
Everything is on the free plan
On Pastebin, the most-asked-for upgrades — no ads, no captcha, Markdown, more unlisted and private pastes, more pastes per day, protection from inactivity deletion — are PRO features. At the time of writing, Pastebin's own page says PRO accounts are "currently sold out". On Thpaste there's no paid tier between you and any of the features in this post.
Writing that looks good
Thpaste has four formats with an editor for each: a rich text toolbar (fonts, sizes, colours, highlights, link buttons), Markdown with a toolbar, live preview and extras like callout boxes and a table of contents, a code editor with line numbers and tab indenting, and plain text.
Room to grow
Thpaste also has no cap on how many unlisted pastes you keep, and pastes aren't removed for being quiet — they stay until they expire or you delete them.
Know who's reading
Every free Thpaste account gets analytics: views and unique visitors, the sites that sent them, their countries and devices, over 24 hours to all time. Pastebin shows a view count per paste.
Readers get more
- Translation of text and Markdown pastes into 133 languages, right on the page.
- Link previews for every link, with a warning when a link looks dead.
- No ads or pop-ups on pastes made with the composer.
Where Pastebin still wins
Fair is fair:
- Bigger pastes on PRO — up to 10 MB, versus Thpaste's 512 KB.
- File uploads and autosaved drafts for PRO members.
- Keyword alerts that email you when text appears in public pastes.
- A huge public archive and two decades of name recognition.
If you need 10 MB pastes or keyword alerts, Pastebin PRO (when it's on sale) is the tool. For almost everything else, Thpaste gives you more — free.
Switching is easy
- 1Create a free Thpaste account
Optional, but it gives you editing, analytics and custom links.
- 2Paste your content
Pick plain text or code to keep it exactly as it was, or Markdown to make it look better.
- 3Share the new link
Add a custom link like thpaste.com/s/your-name for the ones you share often.
