A PrivateBin Alternative
PrivateBin is the closest thing to a peer this site has. It encrypts in the browser with AES-256-GCM, the server stores only ciphertext, and it needs no account — the same design, arrived at for the same reasons. If you are comparing the two on encryption alone, they are equivalent, and PrivateBin has the longer track record.
They diverge on everything either one chose to build around that core. PrivateBin went further into privacy features. This went further into rendering.
Side by side
| Feature | MarkdownBin | PrivateBin |
|---|---|---|
| Client-side encryptionAES-256-GCM in the browser on both; neither server sees plaintext | Yes | Yes |
| Share without an account | Yes | Yes |
| Mermaid diagrams | Yes | No |
| Maths renderingLaTeX via KaTeX, inline and display | Yes | No |
| Syntax highlightingShiki with 300+ languages here; Prettify.js on PrivateBin | Yes | Partial |
| Nothing to host or configurePrivateBin is self-hosted, though privatebin.net is public | Yes | Partial |
| Burn after reading | No | Yes |
| Expiring pastes | No | Yes |
| Comments and discussion | No | Yes |
| File attachmentsDisabled by default on PrivateBin, but available | No | Yes |
| Run your own instance | No | Yes |
Compiled July 2026 from PrivateBin's own documentation. PrivateBin is configurable per instance, so a given host may have enabled or disabled any of this.
What a rendered document buys you
PrivateBin has a markdown mode and highlights code with Prettify.js. It does not render Mermaid diagrams or LaTeX, so an architecture sketch stays a fenced code block and an equation stays a row of backslashes.
Both render here, and code is highlighted by Shiki — the highlighter VS Code uses — across more than three hundred languages. That matters most in exactly the case encryption is for: a runbook, an incident writeup, a handover document. Those have structure, and structure is what a renderer is for.
Where the key lives
The two tools make a different default choice, and it is worth understanding before picking one.
PrivateBin puts the encryption key in the URL fragment. Anyone with the link can read the paste, and a password is an optional extra layer on top. That is convenient: one link is the whole secret.
Here a password is the default. The key is derived from it with PBKDF2 at 310,000 iterations, and the link on its own decrypts nothing — you can send it over one channel and say the password over another. A self-decrypting link is available if you want PrivateBin's behaviour, but you have to ask for it.
Neither is more secure in the abstract. One optimises for handing over a single link; the other for the link and the secret travelling separately.
When PrivateBin is the better choice
If the paste should destroy itself after one read, or expire on a timer, use PrivateBin. It has both and this has neither — a paste here persists until it is removed.
The same goes for attaching a file, collecting replies on a paste, or running the whole thing on infrastructure you control. PrivateBin is open source and self-hostable; this is a hosted service you have to take on trust for availability, even though you do not have to trust it with your plaintext.
The honest summary: PrivateBin is the more complete privacy tool. This is the better renderer with the same encryption underneath. If your content is a secret that should not outlive its reading, use PrivateBin. If it is a document that happens to be confidential, use this.
Try it
Paste markdown, pick a password, share the link. The content is encrypted before it leaves your browser and the server never sees it.