Crates / Compare / digest vs tiny-keccak
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
digest vs tiny-keccak
Short answerBy steady daily use, digest is bigger: 3,862,411 real downloads a day against 680,461 for tiny-keccak (5.7x). 1,197 crates depend on digest and 457 on tiny-keccak. digest last shipped 6 months ago, tiny-keccak 6.6 years 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
tiny-keccak
EstablishedEstablished and quiet for years.
457 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
An implementation of Keccak derived functions.
digesttiny-keccak · 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 | digest | tiny-keccak |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 3,862,411 | 680,461 |
| Crates that depend on it | 1,197 | 457 |
| Last release | 0.11.3, 6 months ago | 2.0.2, 6.6 years ago |
| Trend vs the field | +5% | -10% |
| Release-window share | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Downloads in the window | 357,526,561 | 58,657,917 |
| All-time downloads | 1,248,611,568 | 265,348,876 |
| Versions published | 69 | 28 |
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | CC0-1.0 |
| MSRV | 1.85 | not set |
| First published | Oct 6, 2016 | Nov 27, 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 (digest, 1,197 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, tiny-keccak 6.6 years 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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