Crates / chacha20 / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to chacha20
Short answerThe closest alternatives to chacha20 on crates.io data are ctr (757K real downloads a day), salsa20 (299K real downloads a day), digest (3.9M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is digest, and 5 shipped a release in the last year. chacha20 itself gets 1,737,072 a day with 260 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs chacha20 | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ctr Established | 757,345 | 0.44x | 344 | 5mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "stream-cipher" | compare |
| salsa20 Pulled in | 299,073 | 0.17x | 66 | 7mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "stream-cipher" | compare |
| digest Widely used | 3,862,411 | 2.22x | 1,197 | 6mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| crypto-common Pulled in | 3,766,260 | 2.17x | 85 | 5mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| ppv-lite86 Pulled in | 2,441,634 | 1.41x | 6 | 20mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| subtle Widely used | 2,159,165 | 1.24x | 2,362 | 2.3y | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| hmac Widely used | 2,124,794 | 1.22x | 4,359 | 7mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| ring Widely used | 2,112,308 | 1.22x | 1,837 | 19mo | 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 chacha20; 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 chacha20: 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 chacha20, 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 gaining. 757,345 real downloads a day.ctrRust crate. CTR block modes of operation. Real use: 757K downloads a day on quiet days; 344 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time