Crates / instant / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to instant
Short answerThe closest alternatives to instant on crates.io data are web-time (1.1M real downloads a day), time (2.4M real downloads a day), chrono (2.4M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is time, and 5 shipped a release in the last year. instant itself gets 482,196 a day with 227 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs instant | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| web-time Widely used | 1,133,377 | 2.35x | 1,163 | 2.6y | keyword "time", keyword "wasm" | compare |
| time Widely used | 2,434,189 | 5.05x | 6,747 | 3mo | keyword "time" | compare |
| chrono Foundational | 2,369,156 | 4.91x | 38,126 | 5mo | keyword "time" | compare |
| time-core Pulled in | 2,195,248 | 4.55x | 9 | 4mo | keyword "time" | compare |
| wasi Pulled in | 2,177,567 | 4.52x | 58 | 13mo | keyword "wasm" | compare |
| time-macros Pulled in | 2,150,923 | 4.46x | 15 | 3mo | keyword "time" | compare |
| iana-time-zone Established | 2,009,518 | 4.17x | 109 | 9mo | keyword "time" | compare |
| httpdate Established | 1,757,620 | 3.65x | 659 | 3.2y | keyword "time" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with instant; 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 instant: 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 instant, 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 quiet for years. 1,133,377 real downloads a day.web-timeRust crate. Drop-in replacement for std::time for Wasm in browsers. Real use: 1.1M downloads a day on quiet days; 1,163 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time