Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to hyper
Short answerThe closest alternatives to hyper on crates.io data are headers (343K real downloads a day), headers-core (341K real downloads a day), tower-http (2M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is tower-http, and 6 shipped a release in the last year. hyper itself gets 2,783,528 a day with 5,861 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs hyper | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| headers Established | 343,059 | 0.12x | 273 | 30d | keyword "http", keyword "hyper" | compare |
| headers-core Pulled in | 341,293 | 0.12x | 12 | 2.9y | keyword "http", keyword "hyper" | compare |
| tower-http Widely used | 2,044,149 | 0.73x | 3,782 | 54d | category Network programming, keyword "http" | compare |
| axum-core Established | 1,571,431 | 0.56x | 191 | 10mo | category Network programming, keyword "http" | compare |
| ureq Widely used | 840,482 | 0.30x | 4,472 | 3d | category HTTP client, keyword "http" | compare |
| cookie_store Established | 318,087 | 0.11x | 132 | 8mo | category HTTP client, keyword "http" | compare |
| http-range-header Pulled in | 289,915 | 0.10x | 19 | 23mo | category Network programming, keyword "http" | compare |
| reqwest-middleware Established | 249,146 | 0.09x | 556 | 5mo | category HTTP client, keyword "http" | side by side |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with hyper; 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 hyper: 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 hyper, 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. 343,059 real downloads a day.headersRust crate. typed HTTP headers. Real use: 343K downloads a day on quiet days; 273 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time