Crates / ed25519 / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to ed25519
Short answerThe closest alternatives to ed25519 on crates.io data are ecdsa (833K real downloads a day), ring (2.1M real downloads a day), curve25519-dalek (875K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is ring, and 7 shipped a release in the last year. ed25519 itself gets 760,807 a day with 78 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs ed25519 | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ecdsa Established | 833,119 | 1.10x | 261 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "ecc" | compare |
| ring Widely used | 2,112,308 | 2.78x | 1,837 | 19mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "ecc" | compare |
| curve25519-dalek Established | 874,887 | 1.15x | 640 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "curve25519" | compare |
| elliptic-curve Established | 855,110 | 1.12x | 244 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "ecc" | compare |
| p256 Widely used | 724,299 | 0.95x | 1,172 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "ecc" | compare |
| primeorder Pulled in | 634,217 | 0.83x | 20 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "ecc" | compare |
| p384 Established | 391,839 | 0.52x | 378 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "ecc" | compare |
| k256 Established | 245,278 | 0.32x | 806 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "ecc" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with ed25519; read its description before you swap.
- More dependents means more answered questions and a smaller chance it disappears.
- Check the last release against how fast you need fixes. For ed25519: is it still maintained?
Rules
Alternatives = tracked crates (top 1000 by downloads) that share a specific crates.io category (2 points each) or keyword (3 points each) with ed25519, most similar first; its own parts (same name prefix) and crates it depends on or that depend on it are left out, because those are companions, not substitutes. Real downloads = quiet-day median, crates.io data Oct 24, 2026. Built when we find 3 or more.
Up next
The closest alternative: Established and steady. 833,119 real downloads a day.ecdsaRust crate. Pure Rust implementation of the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) as specified in FIPS 186-4 (Digital Signature Standard), implemented...Read it next →Also worth your time