What is MicroBin used for?

MicroBin is a tiny self-hosted paste bin, file-sharing and URL shortening web app written in Rust, shipped as a single executable with optional encryption. It is a good fit for sending large files to others, sharing code snippets between machines and running a private URL shortener.

Is MicroBin open source?

Yes. MicroBin is open source under the BSD-3-Clause licence. Its source code is on GitHub at szabodanika/microbin and is written mainly in Rust.

Yes. MicroBin is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host MicroBin?

Yes. MicroBin can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.

What is MicroBin an alternative to?

MicroBin is an open-source alternative to WeTransfer, Bitly, Smash and Filemail. Other open-source alternatives to WeTransfer include Zipline, Gokapi and Plik.

Is MicroBin actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to MicroBin was on 8 September 2026, and the latest release is v2.1.0, published on 10 January 2026. The project has 4.6k stars on GitHub.

MicroBin: open-source alternative to WeTransfer, Bitly

About MicroBin

MicroBin is a small, self-contained and self-hosted paste bin web application written in Rust. It is quick to set up and needs only a few megabytes of memory and disk storage, and it ships as a single executable file.

An upload can be a pasted text, one or more attached files, or a URL redirection. Uploads can be private or public, editable or read-only, and set to expire automatically or never. Other features include server-side and client-side end-to-end encryption, QR code support, raw text serving, animal names as upload identifiers, automatic dark mode, and SQLite or JSON storage.

People use it to send long texts or large files, share sensitive documents, shorten URLs and serve configuration files or images through its raw endpoint. It can be installed through a Docker setup script or from Cargo, and is licensed under BSD-3-Clause. The project website offers screenshots, documentation and a roadmap.

Key features

Paste bin for text and code
File uploads with multiple attachments
URL shortening and redirection
Server-side and client-side E2E encryption
Expiring and non-expiring uploads
QR code support
SQLite and JSON database support
Single self-contained executable

Good fit for

→Sending large files to others
→Sharing code snippets between machines
→Running a private URL shortener

Built with: Rust
Tags: pastebin; file-sharing; url-shortener; self-hosted; rust; encryption; docker; qr-code

MicroBin: questions and answers

What is MicroBin used for?: MicroBin is a tiny self-hosted paste bin, file-sharing and URL shortening web app written in Rust, shipped as a single executable with optional encryption. It is a good fit for sending large files to others, sharing code snippets between machines and running a private URL shortener.
Is MicroBin open source?: Yes. MicroBin is open source under the BSD-3-Clause licence. Its source code is on GitHub at szabodanika/microbin and is written mainly in Rust.
Is MicroBin free?: Yes. MicroBin is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host MicroBin?: Yes. MicroBin can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure; there is no official hosted version.
What is MicroBin an alternative to?: MicroBin is an open-source alternative to WeTransfer, Bitly, Smash and Filemail. Other open-source alternatives to WeTransfer include Zipline, Gokapi and Plik.
Is MicroBin actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to MicroBin was on 8 September 2026, and the latest release is v2.1.0, published on 10 January 2026. The project has 4.6k stars on GitHub.