Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to hmac
Short answerThe closest alternatives to hmac on crates.io data are sha1 (2M real downloads a day), universal-hash (811K real downloads a day), poly1305 (388K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is crypto-common, and 5 shipped a release in the last year. hmac itself gets 2,124,794 a day with 4,359 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs hmac | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sha1 Widely used | 2,004,209 | 0.94x | 2,496 | 3mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "digest" | side by side |
| universal-hash Pulled in | 811,380 | 0.38x | 11 | 8mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "mac" | compare |
| poly1305 Pulled in | 387,508 | 0.18x | 51 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "mac" | compare |
| sha-1 Established | 196,391 | 0.09x | 313 | 3.9y | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "digest" | compare |
| crypto-mac Pulled in | 167,788 | 0.08x | 27 | 5.3y | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "mac" | compare |
| crypto-common Pulled in | 3,766,260 | 1.77x | 85 | 5mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| sha2 Foundational | 3,510,276 | 1.65x | 22,608 | 12d | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "digest" | compare |
| ppv-lite86 Pulled in | 2,441,634 | 1.15x | 6 | 20mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with hmac; 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 hmac: 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 hmac, 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: Widely used and steady. 2,004,209 real downloads a day.sha1Rust crate. SHA-1 hash function. Real use: 2M downloads a day on quiet days; 2,496 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time