Crates / Compare / clap vs indicatif
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
clap vs indicatif
Short answerBy steady daily use, clap is bigger: 3,139,218 real downloads a day against 647,827 for indicatif (4.8x). 49,450 crates depend on clap and 5,526 on indicatif. clap last shipped 40 days ago, indicatif 4 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
indicatif
Widely usedWidely used and losing ground.
5,526 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
A progress bar and cli reporting library for Rust
clapindicatif · 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 | indicatif |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 3,139,218 | 647,827 |
| Crates that depend on it | 49,450 | 5,526 |
| Last release | 4.6.7, 40 days ago | 0.18.6, 4 months ago |
| Trend vs the field | -12% | -16% |
| Release-window share | 6.4% | 0.0% |
| Downloads in the window | 265,758,746 | 53,748,055 |
| All-time downloads | 1,259,831,964 | 242,206,928 |
| Versions published | 462 | 56 |
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| MSRV | 1.85 | 1.85 |
| First published | Mar 1, 2015 | Apr 26, 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, indicatif 4 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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