Crates / Compare / bindgen vs pyo3
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
bindgen vs pyo3
Short answerBy steady daily use, bindgen is bigger: 1,018,499 real downloads a day against 817,609 for pyo3 (1.2x). 3,072 crates depend on bindgen and 2,315 on pyo3. bindgen last shipped 46 days ago, pyo3 10 days ago.
bindgen
Widely usedWidely used and steady.
3,072 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.
Automatically generates Rust FFI bindings to C and C++ libraries.
pyo3
Widely usedWidely used and losing ground.
2,315 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.
Bindings to Python interpreter
bindgenpyo3 · 100% = that crate's normal quiet day, so a spike to 300% is triple its usual traffic
Every number, side by side
| Same window, same method | bindgen | pyo3 |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 1,018,499 | 817,609 |
| Crates that depend on it | 3,072 | 2,315 |
| Last release | 0.73.2, 46 days ago | 0.30.1, 10 days ago |
| Trend vs the field | -2% | -18% |
| Release-window share | 3.8% | 9.5% |
| Downloads in the window | 91,040,174 | 68,015,210 |
| All-time downloads | 433,444,943 | 283,602,908 |
| Versions published | 129 | 117 |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT OR Apache-2.0 |
| MSRV | 1.71.0 | 1.85 |
| First published | Nov 21, 2014 | Jul 23, 2017 |
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 (bindgen, 3,072 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: bindgen 46 days ago, pyo3 10 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.
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