Frequently Asked Questions

What is a pastebin?

A pastebin is a web app for storing and sharing plain text or source code. You paste your content, get a short unique URL, and share that link — the recipient sees the text (with syntax highlighting for code) without needing the original file or app.

Is PasteBox free?

Yes. Creating, viewing, copying, downloading and embedding public pastes on PasteBox is free, and no account is needed for quick pastes.

Do I need an account?

No — you can create a paste as a guest. A free account unlocks longer and never-expiring pastes, private pastes, custom URLs, favorites, comments and a dashboard of your pastes.

How long do pastes last?

You choose: from 5 minutes up to 1 year, or "Never" for a permanent paste. Guests can pick shorter lifetimes; longer and never-expiring options require a free account. Expired pastes are removed automatically.

What is the difference between a password and encryption?

A password gates access — the paste is stored on the server and anyone with the password can open it. Client-side encryption goes further: the content is encrypted in your browser and the decryption key lives only in the share link (the URL fragment), so the server never sees the plaintext. If you lose an encrypted paste's link, the content cannot be recovered.

What is burn-after-read?

A burn-after-read paste is permanently destroyed immediately after it is viewed once. It is ideal for one-time secrets. Only the first viewer sees the content; everyone after gets a "gone" page.

What do public, unlisted and private mean?

Public pastes appear in listings and are indexable. Unlisted pastes are reachable only by their link and are not listed. Private pastes are visible only to you when logged in.

Can I choose a custom URL for my paste?

Logged-in users can pick a custom (vanity) slug when the site owner enables the feature, giving you a memorable link instead of a random one.

Does it support Markdown?

Yes. Pastes can be rendered as formatted Markdown documents, and code pastes get automatic syntax highlighting for 100+ languages.

Can I embed a paste on my site?

Yes. Every paste offers an embed snippet (light or dark theme) that shows the highlighted code in an iframe, plus a raw-content link.

How do I delete a paste?

Logged-in users can delete their own pastes from "My Pastes". You can also set an expiration or use burn-after-read so a paste removes itself.

Is there an API?

Yes — PasteBox has a REST API for creating and reading pastes programmatically. Read-only endpoints (fetching a paste and its raw content) need no token.