Crates / Compare / regex vs fancy-regex
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
regex vs fancy-regex
Short answerBy steady daily use, regex is bigger: 3,355,026 real downloads a day against 912,637 for fancy-regex (3.7x). 24,288 crates depend on regex and 617 on fancy-regex. regex last shipped 3 months ago, fancy-regex 41 days ago.
regex
FoundationalFoundational and steady.
24,288 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
An implementation of regular expressions for Rust. This implementation uses finite automata and guarantees linear time matching on all inputs.
fancy-regex
EstablishedEstablished and gaining.
617 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.
An implementation of regexes, supporting a relatively rich set of features, including backreferences and look-around. Aims to be compatible with Oniguruma syntax when the relevant flag is set.
regexfancy-regex · 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 (jsonschema). They are not always either/or.
Every number, side by side
| Same window, same method | regex | fancy-regex |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 3,355,026 | 912,637 |
| Crates that depend on it | 24,288 | 617 |
| Last release | 1.13.1, 3 months ago | 0.19.2, 41 days ago |
| Trend vs the field | -8% | +22% |
| Release-window share | 0.0% | 5.2% |
| Downloads in the window | 294,294,170 | 86,418,422 |
| All-time downloads | 1,296,585,215 | 271,877,671 |
| Versions published | 169 | 30 |
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| MSRV | 1.65 | 1.66 |
| First published | Dec 13, 2014 | Feb 5, 2017 |
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 (regex, 24,288 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: regex 3 months ago, fancy-regex 41 days 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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