Crates / Compare / socket2 vs bytes
Rust crates side by side · data Oct 24, 2026
socket2 vs bytes
Short answerBy steady daily use, socket2 is bigger: 4,034,112 real downloads a day against 3,424,140 for bytes (1.2x). 1,539 crates depend on socket2 and 17,656 on bytes. socket2 last shipped 3 months ago, bytes 4 months ago.
socket2
Widely usedWidely used and losing ground.
1,539 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
Utilities for handling networking sockets with a maximal amount of configuration possible intended.
bytes
FoundationalFoundational and steady.
17,656 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.
Types and traits for working with bytes
socket2bytes · 100% = that crate's normal quiet day, so a spike to 300% is triple its usual traffic
How they relate
- Often used together: 6 tracked crates depend on both (tokio, hyper-util, quinn, tonic, aws-smithy-http-client, redis). They are not always either/or.
Every number, side by side
| Same window, same method | socket2 | bytes |
|---|---|---|
| Real downloads a day | 4,034,112 | 3,424,140 |
| Crates that depend on it | 1,539 | 17,656 |
| Last release | 0.6.5, 3 months ago | 1.12.1, 4 months ago |
| Trend vs the field | -10% | -7% |
| Release-window share | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Downloads in the window | 344,904,774 | 295,931,258 |
| All-time downloads | 1,380,355,504 | 1,181,194,210 |
| Versions published | 59 | 59 |
| License | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| MSRV | 1.70 | 1.57 |
| First published | Jun 7, 2017 | Jan 30, 2015 |
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 (bytes, 17,656 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
- Check the release dates against your own pace: socket2 3 months ago, bytes 4 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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