time vs httpdate

Short answerBy steady daily use, time is bigger: 2,434,189 real downloads a day against 1,757,620 for httpdate (1.4x). 6,747 crates depend on time and 659 on httpdate. time last shipped 3 months ago, httpdate 3.2 years ago.

time

Widely used

Widely used and steady.

6,747 crates depend on it; downloads don't spike on releases.

Date and time library. Fully interoperable with the standard library. Mostly compatible with #![no_std].

httpdate

Established

Established and quiet for years.

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

HTTP date parsing and formatting

timehttpdate · 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	time	httpdate
Real downloads a day	2,434,189	1,757,620
Crates that depend on it	6,747	659
Last release	0.3.55, 3 months ago	1.0.3, 3.2 years ago
Trend vs the field	-4%	+0%
Release-window share	1.3%	0.0%
Downloads in the window	215,804,157	159,704,146
All-time downloads	1,003,554,500	671,238,255
Versions published	135	11
License	MIT OR Apache-2.0	MIT OR Apache-2.0
MSRV	1.88.0	1.56
First published	Nov 13, 2014	Oct 15, 2016

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 (time, 6,747 dependents): more eyes, more answered questions, and you may already have it in your tree.
Check the release dates against your own pace: time 3 months ago, httpdate 3.2 years ago.

Also in this space

jiffWidely usedA date-time library that encourages you to jump into the pit of success. This library is heavily inspired by...981,794 a day, 1,531 dependents chronoFoundationalDate and time library for Rust2,369,156 a day, 38,126 dependents parse-zoneinfoPulled inParse zoneinfo files from the IANA database125,301 a day, 8 dependents humantimeWidely usedA parser and formatter for std::time::{Duration, SystemTime}838,529 a day, 1,364 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.

Up next

Another comparison: Same method, same window. Foundational and steady vs widely used and steady.chrono vs timeRead it next →

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