Crates / hickory-proto / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to hickory-proto
Short answerThe closest alternatives to hickory-proto on crates.io data are idna_adapter (2.4M real downloads a day), gethostname (421K real downloads a day), resolv-conf (322K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is socket2, and 7 shipped a release in the last year. hickory-proto itself gets 343,221 a day with 153 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs hickory-proto | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| idna_adapter Pulled in | 2,429,162 | 7.08x | 41 | 6mo | keyword "dns" | compare |
| gethostname Established | 420,580 | 1.23x | 311 | 12mo | keyword "dns" | compare |
| resolv-conf Pulled in | 322,165 | 0.94x | 22 | 11mo | keyword "dns" | compare |
| socket2 Widely used | 4,034,112 | 11.75x | 1,539 | 3mo | category Network programming | compare |
| bytes Foundational | 3,424,140 | 9.98x | 17,656 | 4mo | category Network programming | compare |
| rustix Widely used | 3,390,892 | 9.88x | 1,684 | 38d | category Network programming | compare |
| tokio Foundational | 3,098,313 | 9.03x | 78,796 | 3d | category Network programming | compare |
| hyper Widely used | 2,783,528 | 8.11x | 5,861 | 18d | category Network programming | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with hickory-proto; 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 hickory-proto: 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 hickory-proto, 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: Few direct dependents and steady. 2,429,162 real downloads a day.idna_adapterRust crate. Back end adapter for idna. Real use: 2.4M downloads a day on quiet days; 41 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time