Crates / Compare / opentelemetry vs tracing-appender
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
opentelemetry vs tracing-appender
Short answerBy steady daily use, opentelemetry is bigger: 843,720 real downloads a day against 457,805 for tracing-appender (1.8x). 1,838 crates depend on opentelemetry and 1,377 on tracing-appender. opentelemetry last shipped 15 days ago, tracing-appender 6 months ago.
opentelemetry
Widely usedWidely used and steady.
1,838 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.
OpenTelemetry API for Rust
tracing-appender
Widely usedWidely used and steady.
1,377 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
Provides utilities for file appenders and making non-blocking writers.
opentelemetrytracing-appender · 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 | opentelemetry | tracing-appender |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 843,720 | 457,805 |
| Crates that depend on it | 1,838 | 1,377 |
| Last release | 0.33.1, 15 days ago | 0.2.5, 6 months ago |
| Trend vs the field | +7% | +1% |
| Release-window share | 4.3% | 0.0% |
| Downloads in the window | 75,792,285 | 41,035,288 |
| All-time downloads | 303,089,891 | 134,836,237 |
| Versions published | 44 | 9 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| MSRV | 1.75.0 | 1.63.0 |
| First published | Nov 8, 2019 | May 5, 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 (opentelemetry, 1,838 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: opentelemetry 15 days ago, tracing-appender 6 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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