Crates / ark-serialize / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to ark-serialize
Short answerThe closest alternatives to ark-serialize on crates.io data are subtle (2.2M real downloads a day), ring (2.1M real downloads a day), curve25519-dalek (875K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is serde_json, and 6 shipped a release in the last year. ark-serialize itself gets 343,752 a day with 402 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs ark-serialize | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| subtle Widely used | 2,159,165 | 6.28x | 2,362 | 2.3y | category Cryptography, keyword "cryptography" | side by side |
| ring Widely used | 2,112,308 | 6.14x | 1,837 | 19mo | category Cryptography, keyword "cryptography" | compare |
| curve25519-dalek Established | 874,887 | 2.55x | 640 | 4mo | category Cryptography, keyword "cryptography" | compare |
| ed25519-dalek Widely used | 780,826 | 2.27x | 3,403 | 4mo | category Cryptography, keyword "cryptography" | compare |
| x25519-dalek Established | 270,172 | 0.79x | 883 | 4mo | category Cryptography, keyword "cryptography" | compare |
| serde_json Foundational | 4,294,696 | 12.49x | 113,141 | 13d | keyword "serialization" | compare |
| serde_derive Widely used | 4,161,400 | 12.11x | 6,497 | 3mo | keyword "serialization" | compare |
| serde_core Established | 3,794,333 | 11.04x | 229 | 3mo | keyword "serialization" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with ark-serialize; 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 ark-serialize: 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 ark-serialize, 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: Widely used and quiet for years. 2,159,165 real downloads a day.subtleRust crate. Pure-Rust traits and utilities for constant-time cryptographic implementations. Real use: 2.2M downloads a day on quiet days; 2,362 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time