tempfile vs tempdir

Short answerBy steady daily use, tempfile is bigger: 2,442,469 real downloads a day against 46,615 for tempdir (52.4x). 38,054 crates depend on tempfile and 819 on tempdir. tempfile last shipped 7 months ago, tempdir 8.6 years ago.

tempfile

Foundational

Foundational and steady.

38,054 crates depend on it; no release in the last 90 days, so its count is all steady use.

A library for managing temporary files and directories.

tempdir

Established

Established and gaining.

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

A library for managing a temporary directory and deleting all contents when it's dropped.

tempfiletempdir · 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	tempfile	tempdir
Real downloads a day	2,442,469	46,615
Crates that depend on it	38,054	819
Last release	3.27.0, 7 months ago	0.3.7, 8.6 years ago
Trend vs the field	+0%	+10%
Release-window share	0.0%	0.0%
Downloads in the window	221,938,413	4,399,376
All-time downloads	919,827,889	45,665,490
Versions published	66	11
License	MIT OR Apache-2.0	MIT/Apache-2.0
MSRV	1.63	not set
First published	Apr 14, 2015	Feb 22, 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 (tempfile, 38,054 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
Check the release dates against your own pace: tempfile 7 months ago, tempdir 8.6 years ago.

Also in this space

rustixWidely usedSafe Rust bindings to POSIX/Unix/Linux/Winsock-like syscalls3,390,892 a day, 1,684 dependents same-fileEstablishedA simple crate for determining whether two file paths point to the same file1,902,047 a day, 290 dependents walkdirWidely usedRecursively walk a directory1,935,670 a day, 7,101 dependents globWidely usedSupport for matching file paths against Unix shell style patterns1,726,589 a day, 4,101 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 "rust tempfile vs tempdir".