Crates / handlebars / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to handlebars
Short answerThe closest alternatives to handlebars on crates.io data are axum-core (1.6M real downloads a day), encoding_rs (1.4M real downloads a day), bytestring (166K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is idna, and 6 shipped a release in the last year. handlebars itself gets 181,762 a day with 829 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs handlebars | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| axum-core Established | 1,571,431 | 8.65x | 191 | 10mo | category Web programming, keyword "web" | compare |
| encoding_rs Widely used | 1,414,714 | 7.78x | 1,424 | 30d | category Web programming, keyword "web" | compare |
| bytestring Established | 166,386 | 0.92x | 101 | 6mo | category Web programming, keyword "web" | compare |
| idna Established | 2,577,546 | 14.18x | 246 | 14mo | keyword "web" | compare |
| axum Widely used | 1,587,646 | 8.73x | 9,968 | 6mo | keyword "web" | compare |
| web-time Widely used | 1,133,377 | 6.24x | 1,163 | 2.6y | keyword "web" | compare |
| tungstenite Established | 1,131,863 | 6.23x | 710 | 3mo | keyword "web" | compare |
| tokio-tungstenite Widely used | 1,029,416 | 5.66x | 3,629 | 3mo | keyword "web" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with handlebars; 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 handlebars: 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 handlebars, 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. 1,571,431 real downloads a day.axum-coreRust crate. Core types and traits for axum. Real use: 1.6M downloads a day on quiet days; 191 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time