Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to http
Short answerThe closest alternatives to http on crates.io data are httparse (2.2M real downloads a day), cookie_store (318K real downloads a day), idna (2.6M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is idna, and 3 shipped a release in the last year. http itself gets 3,277,345 a day with 8,511 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs http | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| httparse Established | 2,183,298 | 0.67x | 609 | 20mo | category Web programming, keyword "http" | side by side |
| cookie_store Established | 318,087 | 0.10x | 132 | 8mo | category Web programming, keyword "http" | compare |
| idna Established | 2,577,546 | 0.79x | 246 | 14mo | keyword "http" | compare |
| httpdate Established | 1,757,620 | 0.54x | 659 | 3.2y | keyword "http" | compare |
| ureq Widely used | 840,482 | 0.26x | 4,472 | 3d | keyword "http" | compare |
| hyper-tls Established | 741,124 | 0.23x | 476 | 2.9y | keyword "http" | compare |
| language-tags Pulled in | 151,991 | 0.05x | 80 | 5.4y | keyword "http" | compare |
| url Foundational | 2,520,673 | 0.77x | 16,906 | 10mo | category Web 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 http; 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 http: 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 http, 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. 2,183,298 real downloads a day.httparseRust crate. A tiny, safe, speedy, zero-copy HTTP/1.x parser. Real use: 2.2M downloads a day on quiet days; 609 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time