Crates / Compare / http vs httparse
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
http vs httparse
Short answerBy steady daily use, http is bigger: 3,277,345 real downloads a day against 2,183,298 for httparse (1.5x). 8,511 crates depend on http and 609 on httparse. http last shipped 3 months ago, httparse 20 months ago.
http
Widely usedWidely used and steady.
8,511 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.
A set of types for representing HTTP requests and responses.
httparse
EstablishedEstablished and steady.
609 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
A tiny, safe, speedy, zero-copy HTTP/1.x parser.
httphttparse · 100% = that crate's normal quiet day, so a spike to 300% is triple its usual traffic
How they relate
- Often used together: 7 tracked crates depend on both (hyper, hyper-util, tungstenite, ureq-proto, aws-smithy-http-client, multer). They are not always either/or.
Every number, side by side
| Same window, same method | http | httparse |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 3,277,345 | 2,183,298 |
| Crates that depend on it | 8,511 | 609 |
| Last release | 1.5.0, 3 months ago | 1.10.1, 20 months ago |
| Trend vs the field | -2% | +1% |
| Release-window share | 2.1% | 0.0% |
| Downloads in the window | 290,135,033 | 202,017,386 |
| All-time downloads | 1,156,252,765 | 819,963,388 |
| Versions published | 45 | 46 |
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | MIT OR Apache-2.0 |
| MSRV | 1.57.0 | not set |
| First published | Nov 20, 2014 | Feb 20, 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 (http, 8,511 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: http 3 months ago, httparse 20 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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