rustix vs fs_extra

Short answerBy steady daily use, rustix is bigger: 3,390,892 real downloads a day against 1,136,794 for fs_extra (3.0x). 1,684 crates depend on rustix and 744 on fs_extra. rustix last shipped 38 days ago, fs_extra 3.7 years ago.

rustix

Widely used

Widely used and steady.

1,684 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.

Safe Rust bindings to POSIX/Unix/Linux/Winsock-like syscalls

fs_extra

Established

Established and quiet for years.

744 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.

Expanding std::fs and std::io. Recursively copy folders with information about process and much more.

rustixfs_extra · 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	rustix	fs_extra
Real downloads a day	3,390,892	1,136,794
Crates that depend on it	1,684	744
Last release	1.1.5, 38 days ago	1.3.0, 3.7 years ago
Trend vs the field	+1%	+1%
Release-window share	2.4%	0.0%
Downloads in the window	314,948,187	103,711,405
All-time downloads	1,293,003,640	329,265,484
Versions published	170	9
License	Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception OR Apache-2.0 OR MIT	MIT
MSRV	1.65	not set
First published	Oct 29, 2021	Feb 8, 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 (rustix, 1,684 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
Check the release dates against your own pace: rustix 38 days ago, fs_extra 3.7 years ago.

Also in this space

socket2Widely usedUtilities for handling networking sockets with a maximal amount of configuration possible intended4,034,112 a day, 1,539 dependents ipnetEstablishedProvides types and useful methods for working with IPv4 and IPv6 network addresses, commonly called IP...2,000,731 a day, 780 dependents ipnetworkEstablishedA library to work with IP CIDRs in Rust268,630 a day, 284 dependents same-fileEstablishedA simple crate for determining whether two file paths point to the same file1,902,047 a day, 290 dependents

Compare 4 of them side by side →

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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