Crates / anyhow / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to anyhow
Short answerThe closest alternatives to anyhow on crates.io data are thiserror (5M real downloads a day), quick-error (1.1M real downloads a day), snafu (263K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is thiserror, and 4 shipped a release in the last year. anyhow itself gets 2,875,638 a day with 52,113 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs anyhow | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| thiserror Foundational | 5,048,791 | 1.76x | 75,923 | 31d | category No standard library, category Rust patterns, keyword "error", keyword "error-handling" | side by side |
| quick-error Established | 1,130,044 | 0.39x | 293 | 5.5y | category Rust patterns, keyword "error" | compare |
| snafu Established | 263,488 | 0.09x | 998 | 3mo | category No standard library, category Rust patterns, keyword "error" | compare |
| proc-macro-error Established | 513,716 | 0.18x | 603 | 6.2y | keyword "error" | compare |
| proc-macro-error2 Established | 492,199 | 0.17x | 103 | 2.1y | keyword "error" | compare |
| indenter Pulled in | 305,993 | 0.11x | 58 | 15mo | keyword "error" | compare |
| itertools Widely used | 4,545,996 | 1.58x | 8,656 | 4mo | category No standard library, category Rust patterns | compare |
| once_cell Widely used | 3,785,180 | 1.32x | 8,656 | 7mo | category Rust patterns | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with anyhow; read its description before you swap.
- More dependents means more answered questions and a smaller chance it disappears.
- Check the last release against how fast you need fixes. For anyhow: is it still maintained?
Rules
Alternatives = tracked crates (top 1000 by downloads) that share a specific crates.io category (2 points each) or keyword (3 points each) with anyhow, most similar first; its own parts (same name prefix) and crates it depends on or that depend on it are left out, because those are companions, not substitutes. Real downloads = quiet-day median, crates.io data Oct 24, 2026. Built when we find 3 or more.
Up next
The closest alternative: Foundational and steady. 5,048,791 real downloads a day.thiserrorRust crate. derive(Error). Real use: 5M downloads a day on quiet days; 75,923 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time