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Crates / Compare / bincode vs rkyv

Rust crates · head to head · data Oct 24, 2026

bincode vs rkyv

Short answerBy steady daily use, bincode runs at 828,247 downloads on a quiet day against 513,452 for rkyv (1.6x), and 5,913 crates depend on bincode against 797. Pick bincode if reading data already written in bincode format (pin a 1.x or 2.x version; 3.0.0 does not compile by design). Pick rkyv if Rust-to-Rust data where speed matters: the bincode README itself calls rkyv "honestly the best option" for many of its old use cases.

Bottom line: Move new work to rkyv or postcard; bincode is unmaintained.

828Kbincode quiet-day downloads/day
513Krkyv quiet-day downloads/day
5,913crates depend on bincode
797crates depend on rkyv

Side by side

bincoderkyv
Quiet-day baseline (downloads/day)828,247513,452
Downloads in the window72,973,68342,003,040
Share within 2 days of a release0%2%
Baseline trend (first 30 vs last 30 days)+32%+18%
Reverse dependencies5,913797
All-time downloads354M176M
Releases in the window01
Latest version3.0.00.8.18
Latest releaseDec 16, 2025Aug 5, 2026
MSRV (latest)1.85.01.81
LicenseMITMIT
First publishedNov 20, 2014Nov 11, 2020

bincode: daily downloads

1M2026-07-27: 733,6152026-07-28: 806,1852026-07-29: 800,9072026-07-30: 778,9792026-07-31: 733,8452026-08-01: 485,4882026-08-02: 451,7612026-08-03: 744,0852026-08-04: 811,3552026-08-05: 819,0522026-08-06: 686,9892026-08-07: 778,1772026-08-08: 444,5682026-08-09: 442,3342026-08-10: 742,2212026-08-11: 784,2972026-08-12: 783,1882026-08-13: 825,0692026-08-14: 767,3412026-08-15: 490,0302026-08-16: 510,0672026-08-17: 761,8012026-08-18: 840,0262026-08-19: 798,3932026-08-20: 885,2282026-08-21: 832,0372026-08-22: 535,3872026-08-23: 527,3322026-08-24: 828,2472026-08-25: 873,5502026-08-26: 866,3502026-08-27: 893,5082026-08-28: 887,1232026-08-29: 512,1692026-08-30: 468,0412026-08-31: 790,4762026-09-01: 928,2742026-09-02: 976,2842026-09-03: 939,3732026-09-04: 862,9452026-09-05: 597,1492026-09-06: 530,0962026-09-07: 728,2092026-09-08: 885,3212026-09-09: 927,2872026-09-10: 927,2292026-09-11: 817,5052026-09-12: 505,6642026-09-13: 457,1622026-09-14: 880,6102026-09-15: 1,051,0892026-09-16: 941,4892026-09-17: 992,3522026-09-18: 894,7562026-09-19: 545,3612026-09-20: 541,8052026-09-21: 856,2102026-09-22: 951,2482026-09-23: 973,9372026-09-24: 981,7222026-09-25: 886,9542026-09-26: 550,4092026-09-27: 575,3392026-09-28: 1,013,6452026-09-29: 1,040,8582026-09-30: 1,037,0322026-10-01: 1,021,2572026-10-02: 972,6302026-10-03: 624,4222026-10-04: 620,6842026-10-05: 964,6662026-10-06: 1,063,1012026-10-07: 1,098,7322026-10-08: 1,093,5332026-10-09: 1,041,1352026-10-10: 671,9792026-10-11: 639,2842026-10-12: 961,7742026-10-13: 1,113,1762026-10-14: 1,165,4892026-10-15: 1,095,3902026-10-16: 1,016,8612026-10-17: 617,0912026-10-18: 598,4712026-10-19: 1,083,2272026-10-20: 1,168,3302026-10-21: 1,268,1792026-10-22: 1,330,7742026-10-23: 1,226,963Jul 27Aug 1Sep 1Oct 1

rkyv: daily downloads

2K4K6K2026-07-27: 462,7822026-07-28: 487,6192026-07-29: 475,9182026-07-30: 474,5312026-07-31: 457,5532026-08-01: 272,1772026-08-02: 253,8012026-08-03: 473,1692026-08-04: 507,8172026-08-05: 518,095 (release window)2026-08-06: 429,387 (release window)2026-08-07: 493,6102026-08-08: 262,6712026-08-09: 248,2402026-08-10: 462,1012026-08-11: 503,3422026-08-12: 515,3422026-08-13: 525,5992026-08-14: 496,7702026-08-15: 290,2442026-08-16: 283,6952026-08-17: 481,7592026-08-18: 513,4522026-08-19: 497,7442026-08-20: 542,5712026-08-21: 526,1632026-08-22: 309,8752026-08-23: 313,1442026-08-24: 537,7292026-08-25: 554,5332026-08-26: 520,8532026-08-27: 529,3262026-08-28: 526,9452026-08-29: 302,0532026-08-30: 257,7702026-08-31: 474,2392026-09-01: 578,2552026-09-02: 576,6152026-09-03: 539,8822026-09-04: 519,7572026-09-05: 341,8772026-09-06: 295,5412026-09-07: 422,1102026-09-08: 532,5422026-09-09: 564,7382026-09-10: 544,7792026-09-11: 497,8102026-09-12: 307,2732026-09-13: 252,2702026-09-14: 512,0202026-09-15: 584,1332026-09-16: 552,3982026-09-17: 605,9872026-09-18: 526,6402026-09-19: 286,9432026-09-20: 270,3582026-09-21: 506,1642026-09-22: 543,4362026-09-23: 577,0252026-09-24: 566,2512026-09-25: 528,6792026-09-26: 285,1042026-09-27: 344,0762026-09-28: 555,6622026-09-29: 577,8592026-09-30: 583,1502026-10-01: 597,4752026-10-02: 574,0932026-10-03: 306,1292026-10-04: 271,8452026-10-05: 517,5392026-10-06: 624,9912026-10-07: 617,2352026-10-08: 634,9442026-10-09: 597,1272026-10-10: 376,1782026-10-11: 347,3382026-10-12: 488,0072026-10-13: 599,9392026-10-14: 632,8782026-10-15: 566,5552026-10-16: 518,3652026-10-17: 284,6022026-10-18: 271,6892026-10-19: 550,9872026-10-20: 583,6902026-10-21: 628,3302026-10-22: 651,7352026-10-23: 599,416Jul 27Aug 1Sep 1Oct 1

release windowquiet dayquiet-day median

Which to pick

  • bincode if reading data already written in bincode format (pin a 1.x or 2.x version; 3.0.0 does not compile by design).
  • rkyv if Rust-to-Rust data where speed matters: the bincode README itself calls rkyv "honestly the best option" for many of its old use cases.

Downloads are not quality. The quiet-day baseline is our steadiest public number for real use (release-day spikes from mirrors and CI removed), and reverse dependencies count maintainers who chose the crate. How we compute it.

Each crate in detail

  • bincode: A binary serialization / deserialization strategy for transforming structs into bytes and vice versa!
  • rkyv: Zero-copy deserialization framework for Rust

Other comparisons

Sources

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