Crates / Compare / rmp-serde vs serde_qs
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
rmp-serde vs serde_qs
Short answerBy steady daily use, rmp-serde is bigger: 345,933 real downloads a day against 174,070 for serde_qs (2.0x). 1,717 crates depend on rmp-serde and 317 on serde_qs. rmp-serde last shipped 10 months ago, serde_qs 3 months ago.
rmp-serde
Widely usedWidely used and steady.
1,717 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
Serde support for MessagePack
serde_qs
EstablishedEstablished and steady.
317 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.
Querystrings for Serde
rmp-serdeserde_qs · 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 | rmp-serde | serde_qs |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 345,933 | 174,070 |
| Crates that depend on it | 1,717 | 317 |
| Last release | 1.3.1, 10 months ago | 1.1.3, 3 months ago |
| Trend vs the field | -4% | -4% |
| Release-window share | 0.0% | 1.6% |
| Downloads in the window | 29,462,141 | 14,981,019 |
| All-time downloads | 144,279,307 | 98,786,236 |
| Versions published | 43 | 51 |
| License | MIT | MIT/Apache-2.0 |
| MSRV | 1.85 | 1.85 |
| First published | Aug 24, 2015 | Mar 12, 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 (rmp-serde, 1,717 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: rmp-serde 10 months ago, serde_qs 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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