Crates / Compare / rand vs fastrand
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
rand vs fastrand
Short answerBy steady daily use, rand is bigger: 5,938,557 real downloads a day against 2,895,139 for fastrand (2.1x). 33,204 crates depend on rand and 1,809 on fastrand. rand last shipped 34 days ago, fastrand 3 months ago.
rand
FoundationalFoundational and steady.
33,204 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.
Random number generators and other randomness functionality.
fastrand
Widely usedWidely used and steady.
1,809 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
A simple and fast random number generator
randfastrand · 100% = that crate's normal quiet day, so a spike to 300% is triple its usual traffic
How they relate
- Often used together: 1 tracked crate depend on both (aws-config). They are not always either/or.
Every number, side by side
| Same window, same method | rand | fastrand |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 5,938,557 | 2,895,139 |
| Crates that depend on it | 33,204 | 1,809 |
| Last release | 0.10.3, 34 days ago | 2.5.0, 3 months ago |
| Trend vs the field | +1% | -5% |
| Release-window share | 4.2% | 0.0% |
| Downloads in the window | 549,477,934 | 259,605,952 |
| All-time downloads | 1,985,238,102 | 1,033,994,597 |
| Versions published | 94 | 30 |
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 OR MIT |
| MSRV | 1.85 | 1.63 |
| First published | Feb 3, 2015 | May 27, 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 (rand, 33,204 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: rand 34 days ago, fastrand 3 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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