Crates / Compare / libc vs winapi
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
libc vs winapi
Short answerBy steady daily use, libc is bigger: 4,964,021 real downloads a day against 1,251,224 for winapi (4.0x). 17,338 crates depend on libc and 1,603 on winapi. libc last shipped 8 days ago, winapi 6.3 years ago.
libc
FoundationalFoundational and steady.
17,338 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.
Raw FFI bindings to platform libraries like libc.
winapi
Widely usedWidely used and quiet for years.
1,603 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
Raw FFI bindings for all of Windows API.
libcwinapi · 100% = that crate's normal quiet day, so a spike to 300% is triple its usual traffic
How they relate
- Often used together: 4 tracked crates depend on both (crossterm, atty, dirs-sys-next, fs2). They are not always either/or.
Every number, side by side
| Same window, same method | libc | winapi |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 4,964,021 | 1,251,224 |
| Crates that depend on it | 17,338 | 1,603 |
| Last release | 0.2.191, 8 days ago | 0.3.9, 6.3 years ago |
| Trend vs the field | -8% | -3% |
| Release-window share | 4.6% | 0.0% |
| Downloads in the window | 433,879,834 | 109,886,111 |
| All-time downloads | 1,835,678,620 | 544,529,697 |
| Versions published | 209 | 51 |
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | MIT/Apache-2.0 |
| MSRV | 1.65 | not set |
| First published | Jan 15, 2015 | Nov 29, 2014 |
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 (libc, 17,338 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: libc 8 days ago, winapi 6.3 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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