Crates / Compare / axum vs hyper
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
axum vs hyper
Short answerBy steady daily use, hyper is bigger: 2,783,528 real downloads a day against 1,587,646 for axum (1.8x). 9,968 crates depend on axum and 5,861 on hyper. axum last shipped 6 months ago, hyper 18 days ago.
axum
Widely usedWidely used and steady.
9,968 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
HTTP routing and request handling library that focuses on ergonomics and modularity
hyper
Widely usedWidely used and steady.
5,861 crates depend on it; small bumps on release days (1.18x the baseline).
A protective and efficient HTTP library for all.
axumhyper · 100% = that crate's normal quiet day, so a spike to 300% is triple its usual traffic
How they relate
- axum is built on hyper: its latest version lists hyper as a dependency, so every axum build also downloads hyper. Part of hyper's count is axum's.
Every number, side by side
| Same window, same method | axum | hyper |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 1,587,646 | 2,783,528 |
| Crates that depend on it | 9,968 | 5,861 |
| Last release | 0.8.9, 6 months ago | 1.12.0, 18 days ago |
| Trend vs the field | -2% | -4% |
| Release-window share | 0.0% | 4.8% |
| Downloads in the window | 141,334,621 | 249,067,739 |
| All-time downloads | 540,976,000 | 1,042,353,402 |
| Versions published | 94 | 253 |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| MSRV | 1.80 | 1.63 |
| First published | Jul 22, 2021 | Nov 22, 2014 |
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 (axum, 9,968 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: axum 6 months ago, hyper 18 days 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 23, 2026). Raw crates.io counts include CI and bots and run high (why); the method is from our 90-day study. People search for this pair: Google suggests "axum vs hyper".