Crates / Compare / kube vs async-nats
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 27, 2026
kube vs async-nats
Short answerBy steady daily use, kube is bigger: 262,829 real downloads a day against 67,650 for async-nats (3.9x). 898 crates depend on kube and 356 on async-nats. kube last shipped 3 months ago, async-nats 1 day ago.
kube
EstablishedEstablished and steady.
898 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
Kubernetes client and async controller runtime
async-nats
EstablishedEstablished and steady.
356 crates depend on it; downloads jump on release days (1.5x the baseline).
A async Rust NATS client
kubeasync-nats · 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 | kube | async-nats |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 262,829 | 67,650 |
| Crates that depend on it | 898 | 356 |
| Last release | 4.2.0, 3 months ago | 0.51.0, 1 day ago |
| Trend vs the field | +0% | -4% |
| Release-window share | 0.0% | 1.6% |
| Downloads in the window | 23,282,863 | 6,086,277 |
| All-time downloads | 85,514,832 | 50,370,972 |
| Versions published | 133 | 72 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| MSRV | 1.89.0 | 1.89.0 |
| First published | Apr 29, 2019 | Jun 17, 2020 |
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 (kube, 898 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: kube 3 months ago, async-nats 1 day 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 30, 2026 to Oct 26, 2026). Raw crates.io counts include CI and bots and run high (why); the method is from our 90-day study.
Up next
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Art: Nicholas Roerich, Nag Lake (1925). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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