Crates / fastrand / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to fastrand
Short answerThe closest alternatives to fastrand on crates.io data are rand (5.9M real downloads a day), rand_core (5.9M real downloads a day), rand_chacha (4M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is rand, and 7 shipped a release in the last year. fastrand itself gets 2,895,139 a day with 1,809 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs fastrand | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| rand Foundational | 5,938,557 | 2.05x | 33,204 | 34d | category Algorithms, keyword "random" | side by side |
| rand_core Widely used | 5,860,713 | 2.02x | 2,597 | 52d | category Algorithms, keyword "random" | compare |
| rand_chacha Widely used | 4,016,327 | 1.39x | 1,903 | 9mo | category Algorithms, keyword "random" | compare |
| crc32fast Widely used | 2,229,287 | 0.77x | 1,440 | 4d | category Algorithms, keyword "fast" | compare |
| rand_pcg Established | 936,487 | 0.32x | 377 | 6mo | category Algorithms, keyword "random" | compare |
| rand_xorshift Established | 784,639 | 0.27x | 304 | 9mo | category Algorithms, keyword "random" | compare |
| oorandom Pulled in | 758,903 | 0.26x | 87 | 20mo | category Algorithms, keyword "random" | compare |
| rand_xoshiro Established | 451,627 | 0.16x | 329 | 5mo | category Algorithms, keyword "random" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with fastrand; 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 fastrand: 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 fastrand, 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: Foundational and steady. 5,938,557 real downloads a day.randRust crate. Random number generators and other randomness functionality. Real use: 5.9M downloads a day on quiet days; 33,204 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time