Crates / Compare / serde vs bincode
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
serde vs bincode
Short answerBy steady daily use, serde is bigger: 4,327,945 real downloads a day against 828,247 for bincode (5.2x). 133,588 crates depend on serde and 5,913 on bincode. serde last shipped 3 months ago, bincode 10 months ago.
serde
FoundationalFoundational and steady.
133,588 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
A generic serialization/deserialization framework
bincode
Widely usedWidely used and steady.
5,913 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
A binary serialization / deserialization strategy for transforming structs into bytes and vice versa!
serdebincode · 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 | serde | bincode |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 4,327,945 | 828,247 |
| Crates that depend on it | 133,588 | 5,913 |
| Last release | 1.0.229, 3 months ago | 3.0.0, 10 months ago |
| Trend vs the field | -5% | -3% |
| Release-window share | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Downloads in the window | 381,040,518 | 72,973,683 |
| All-time downloads | 1,580,389,068 | 353,809,575 |
| Versions published | 316 | 73 |
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| MSRV | 1.56 | 1.85.0 |
| First published | Dec 5, 2014 | Nov 20, 2014 |
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 (serde, 133,588 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: serde 3 months ago, bincode 10 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. People search for this pair: Google suggests "serde vs bincode".