Crates / indexmap / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to indexmap
Short answerThe closest alternatives to indexmap on crates.io data are smallvec (3.9M real downloads a day), either (3M real downloads a day), slab (3M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is smallvec, and 5 shipped a release in the last year. indexmap itself gets 4,883,122 a day with 6,422 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs indexmap | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| smallvec Widely used | 3,868,589 | 0.79x | 4,345 | 1d | category Data structures, keyword "no_std" | side by side |
| either Widely used | 3,049,603 | 0.62x | 1,488 | 18d | category Data structures, category No standard library, keyword "no_std" | compare |
| slab Established | 3,013,568 | 0.62x | 619 | 9mo | category Data structures, category No standard library, keyword "no_std" | compare |
| tinyvec Established | 2,308,962 | 0.47x | 270 | 41d | category Data structures, category No standard library, keyword "no_std" | compare |
| ahash Widely used | 1,968,676 | 0.40x | 2,097 | 18mo | category Data structures, category No standard library, keyword "hashmap" | compare |
| arrayvec Widely used | 1,733,744 | 0.36x | 1,215 | 4mo | category Data structures, category No standard library, keyword "no_std" | compare |
| fixedbitset Established | 1,507,079 | 0.31x | 199 | 2.5y | category Data structures, keyword "no_std" | compare |
| half Widely used | 1,416,928 | 0.29x | 1,633 | 12mo | category Data structures, category No standard library, keyword "no_std" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with indexmap; 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 indexmap: 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 indexmap, 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. 3,868,589 real downloads a day.smallvecRust crate. 'Small vector' optimization: store up to a small number of items on the stack. Real use: 3.9M downloads a day on quiet days; 4,345 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time