Crates / Compare / clap vs dialoguer
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
clap vs dialoguer
Short answerBy steady daily use, clap is bigger: 3,139,218 real downloads a day against 224,627 for dialoguer (14.0x). 49,450 crates depend on clap and 2,427 on dialoguer. clap last shipped 40 days ago, dialoguer 14 months ago.
clap
FoundationalFoundational and losing ground.
49,450 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.
A simple to use, efficient, and full-featured Command Line Argument Parser
dialoguer
Widely usedWidely used and losing ground.
2,427 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
A command line prompting library.
clapdialoguer · 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 | clap | dialoguer |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 3,139,218 | 224,627 |
| Crates that depend on it | 49,450 | 2,427 |
| Last release | 4.6.7, 40 days ago | 0.12.0, 14 months ago |
| Trend vs the field | -12% | -12% |
| Release-window share | 6.4% | 0.0% |
| Downloads in the window | 265,758,746 | 18,868,747 |
| All-time downloads | 1,259,831,964 | 90,953,951 |
| Versions published | 462 | 20 |
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| MSRV | 1.85 | 1.66 |
| First published | Mar 1, 2015 | May 11, 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 (clap, 49,450 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: clap 40 days ago, dialoguer 14 months 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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