Crates / Compare / arrow vs parquet
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 27, 2026
arrow vs parquet
Short answerBy steady daily use, arrow is bigger: 255,228 real downloads a day against 239,896 for parquet (1.1x). 1,308 crates depend on arrow and 898 on parquet. arrow last shipped 9 days ago, parquet 1 day ago.
arrow
Widely usedWidely used and gaining.
1,308 crates depend on it; downloads jump on release days (1.4x the baseline).
Rust implementation of Apache Arrow
parquet
EstablishedEstablished and steady.
898 crates depend on it; small bumps on release days (1.29x the baseline).
Apache Parquet implementation in Rust
arrowparquet · 100% = that crate's normal quiet day, so a spike to 300% is triple its usual traffic
How they relate
- Often used together: 1 tracked crate depend on both (datafusion). They are not always either/or.
Every number, side by side
| Same window, same method | arrow | parquet |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 255,228 | 239,896 |
| Crates that depend on it | 1,308 | 898 |
| Last release | 59.3.1, 9 days ago | 57.3.2, 1 day ago |
| Trend vs the field | +11% | -2% |
| Release-window share | 10.6% | 12.3% |
| Downloads in the window | 24,460,475 | 21,781,577 |
| All-time downloads | 91,349,002 | 87,890,142 |
| Versions published | 121 | 128 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| MSRV | 1.85 | 1.85 |
| First published | Mar 29, 2018 | Apr 1, 2018 |
Which to pick
- Downloads tell you what is common, not what fits. Each crate's own description above says what it is for; when the jobs differ, pick by the job.
- When both fit, prefer the one more crates depend on (arrow, 1,308 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: arrow 9 days ago, parquet 1 day ago.
Also in this space
Method
Real downloads = the median day with no release that day or the day before, from the crates.io API (Jul 27, 2026 to Oct 26, 2026). Raw crates.io counts include CI and bots and run high (why); the method is from our 90-day study.
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Art: Nicholas Roerich, Nag Lake (1925). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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