Crates / Compare / digest vs hkdf
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
digest vs hkdf
Short answerBy steady daily use, digest is bigger: 3,862,411 real downloads a day against 1,036,052 for hkdf (3.7x). 1,197 crates depend on digest and 1,202 on hkdf. digest last shipped 6 months ago, hkdf 7 months ago.
digest
Widely usedWidely used and steady.
1,197 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
Traits for cryptographic hash functions and message authentication codes
hkdf
Widely usedWidely used and gaining.
1,202 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
HMAC-based Extract-and-Expand Key Derivation Function (HKDF)
digesthkdf · 100% = that crate's normal quiet day, so a spike to 300% is triple its usual traffic
How they relate
- Often used together: 1 tracked crate depend on both (elliptic-curve). They are not always either/or.
Every number, side by side
| Same window, same method | digest | hkdf |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 3,862,411 | 1,036,052 |
| Crates that depend on it | 1,197 | 1,202 |
| Last release | 0.11.3, 6 months ago | 0.13.0, 7 months ago |
| Trend vs the field | +5% | +16% |
| Release-window share | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Downloads in the window | 357,526,561 | 98,447,691 |
| All-time downloads | 1,248,611,568 | 312,335,142 |
| Versions published | 69 | 34 |
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | MIT OR Apache-2.0 |
| MSRV | 1.85 | 1.85 |
| First published | Oct 6, 2016 | Jan 3, 2015 |
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 (hkdf, 1,202 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: digest 6 months ago, hkdf 7 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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