Crates / base16ct / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to base16ct
Short answerThe closest alternatives to base16ct on crates.io data are der (1.5M real downloads a day), base64ct (1.3M real downloads a day), pkcs8 (1.2M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is digest, and 8 shipped a release in the last year. base16ct itself gets 922,439 a day with 174 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs base16ct | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| der Established | 1,514,408 | 1.64x | 378 | 49d | category Cryptography, category Encoding, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| base64ct Established | 1,305,115 | 1.41x | 439 | 9mo | category Cryptography, category Encoding, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| pkcs8 Established | 1,245,962 | 1.35x | 361 | 6mo | category Cryptography, category Encoding, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| pem-rfc7468 Pulled in | 1,099,295 | 1.19x | 73 | 12mo | category Cryptography, category Encoding, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| pkcs1 Pulled in | 704,103 | 0.76x | 65 | 19d | category Cryptography, category Encoding, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| spki Established | 1,302,398 | 1.41x | 198 | 19d | category Cryptography, category Encoding, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| const-oid Established | 2,079,241 | 2.25x | 160 | 10mo | category Cryptography, category Encoding | compare |
| digest Widely used | 3,862,411 | 4.19x | 1,197 | 6mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with base16ct; 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 base16ct: 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 base16ct, 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: Established and steady. 1,514,408 real downloads a day.derRust crate. Pure Rust embedded-friendly implementation of the Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER) for Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) as described in ITU X.690 with...Read it next →Also worth your time