Crates / itertools / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to itertools
Short answerThe closest alternatives to itertools on crates.io data are maplit (267K real downloads a day), peeking_take_while (123K real downloads a day), option-ext (809K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is utf8_iter, and 1 shipped a release in the last year. itertools itself gets 4,545,996 a day with 8,656 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs itertools | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| maplit Established | 266,928 | 0.06x | 819 | 7.2y | category Rust patterns, keyword "data-structure" | side by side |
| peeking_take_while Pulled in | 123,016 | 0.03x | 7 | 5.1y | category No standard library, category Rust patterns, keyword "iterator" | compare |
| option-ext Pulled in | 809,485 | 0.18x | 1 | 3.8y | category Algorithms, category Rust patterns | compare |
| utf8_iter Pulled in | 2,136,300 | 0.47x | 12 | 2.9y | keyword "iterator" | compare |
| walkdir Widely used | 1,935,670 | 0.43x | 7,101 | 2.6y | keyword "iterator" | side by side |
| arrayvec Widely used | 1,733,744 | 0.38x | 1,215 | 4mo | category No standard library, keyword "data-structure" | compare |
| petgraph Widely used | 1,525,364 | 0.34x | 1,570 | 13mo | keyword "data-structure" | compare |
| fixedbitset Established | 1,507,079 | 0.33x | 199 | 2.5y | keyword "data-structure" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with itertools; 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 itertools: 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 itertools, 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 quiet for years. 266,928 real downloads a day.maplitRust crate. Collection “literal” macros for HashMap, HashSet, BTreeMap, and BTreeSet. Real use: 267K downloads a day on quiet days; 819 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time