Crates / block2 / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to block2
Short answerThe closest alternatives to block2 on crates.io data are objc2-encode (486K real downloads a day), security-framework (1.2M real downloads a day), security-framework-sys (935K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is core-foundation, and 5 shipped a release in the last year. block2 itself gets 538,869 a day with 530 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs block2 | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| objc2-encode Pulled in | 486,010 | 0.90x | 1 | 21mo | category FFI, category macOS APIs, keyword "ios", keyword "macos" | compare |
| security-framework Established | 1,156,937 | 2.15x | 179 | 8mo | category API bindings, category macOS APIs, keyword "ios" | compare |
| security-framework-sys Pulled in | 934,775 | 1.73x | 50 | 8mo | category External FFI bindings, category macOS APIs, keyword "ios" | compare |
| system-configuration Pulled in | 538,935 | 1.00x | 45 | 2mo | category API bindings, category macOS APIs, keyword "macos" | compare |
| system-configuration-sys Pulled in | 525,102 | 0.97x | 8 | 2.7y | category External FFI bindings, category macOS APIs, keyword "macos" | compare |
| core-foundation Established | 1,508,076 | 2.80x | 523 | 17mo | category macOS APIs, keyword "macos" | compare |
| bindgen Widely used | 1,018,499 | 1.89x | 3,072 | 46d | category External FFI bindings, category FFI | compare |
| pyo3-build-config Established | 835,359 | 1.55x | 156 | 10d | category API bindings, category FFI | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with block2; 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 block2: 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 block2, 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: Few direct dependents and steady. 486,010 real downloads a day.objc2-encodeRust crate. Objective-C type-encoding representation and parsing. Real use: 486K downloads a day on quiet days; 1 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time