smallvec vs tinyvec

Short answerBy steady daily use, smallvec is bigger: 3,868,589 real downloads a day against 2,308,962 for tinyvec (1.7x). 4,345 crates depend on smallvec and 270 on tinyvec. smallvec last shipped 1 day ago, tinyvec 41 days ago.

smallvec

Widely used

Widely used and steady.

4,345 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.

'Small vector' optimization: store up to a small number of items on the stack

tinyvec

Established

Established and steady.

270 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.

`tinyvec` provides 100% safe vec-like data structures.

smallvectinyvec · 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	smallvec	tinyvec
Real downloads a day	3,868,589	2,308,962
Crates that depend on it	4,345	270
Last release	1.16.4, 1 day ago	1.13.3, 41 days ago
Trend vs the field	+0%	+5%
Release-window share	18.8%	5.2%
Downloads in the window	339,700,171	211,274,512
All-time downloads	1,348,060,732	827,089,085
Versions published	86	43
License	MIT OR Apache-2.0	Zlib OR Apache-2.0 OR MIT
MSRV	not set	not set
First published	Apr 6, 2015	Jan 7, 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 (smallvec, 4,345 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
Check the release dates against your own pace: smallvec 1 day ago, tinyvec 41 days ago.

Also in this space

arrayvecWidely usedA vector with fixed capacity, backed by an array (it can be stored on the stack too). Implements fixed...1,733,744 a day, 1,215 dependents hashbrownWidely usedA Rust port of Google's SwissTable hash map8,927,960 a day, 2,468 dependents indexmapWidely usedA hash table with consistent order and fast iteration4,883,122 a day, 6,422 dependents eitherWidely usedThe enum `Either` with variants `Left` and `Right` is a general purpose sum type with two cases3,049,603 a day, 1,488 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. People search for this pair: Google suggests "smallvec vs tinyvec".