Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 27, 2026
Alternatives to burn
Short answerThe closest alternatives to burn on crates.io data are tch (28.2K real downloads a day), candle-core (39.3K real downloads a day), candle-nn (31.9K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is nalgebra, and 8 shipped a release in the last year. burn itself gets 6,262 a day with 363 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs burn | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tch Established | 28,195 | 4.50x | 132 | 2mo | category Science, keyword "deep-learning", keyword "machine-learning" | compare |
| candle-core Established | 39,321 | 6.28x | 674 | 4mo | category Science, keyword "machine-learning", keyword "tensor" | compare |
| candle-nn Established | 31,937 | 5.10x | 528 | 4mo | category Science, keyword "machine-learning", keyword "tensor" | side by side |
| ort Established | 98,059 | 15.66x | 676 | 8d | category Science, keyword "machine-learning" | compare |
| lance Pulled in | 22,286 | 3.56x | 36 | 20d | category Science, keyword "machine-learning" | compare |
| mistralrs Pulled in | 1,216 | 0.19x | 27 | 7mo | category Science, keyword "machine-learning" | compare |
| nalgebra Widely used | 206,314 | 32.95x | 2,134 | 5mo | category No standard library, category Science | compare |
| safetensors Established | 137,837 | 22.01x | 533 | 5mo | keyword "pytorch" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with burn; 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 burn: 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 burn, 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 27, 2026. Built when we find 3 or more.
Up next
The closest alternative: Established and gaining. 28,195 real downloads a day.tchRust crate. Rust wrappers for the PyTorch C++ api (libtorch). Real use: 28.2K downloads a day on quiet days; 132 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time
Art: Nicholas Roerich, Nag Lake (1925). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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