Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 27, 2026
Alternatives to lance
Short answerThe closest alternatives to lance on crates.io data are ort (98.1K real downloads a day), candle-core (39.3K real downloads a day), candle-nn (31.9K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is num-bigint, and 7 shipped a release in the last year. lance itself gets 22,286 a day with 36 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs lance | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ort Established | 98,059 | 4.40x | 676 | 8d | category Science, keyword "machine-learning" | compare |
| candle-core Established | 39,321 | 1.76x | 674 | 4mo | category Science, keyword "machine-learning" | compare |
| candle-nn Established | 31,937 | 1.43x | 528 | 4mo | category Science, keyword "machine-learning" | compare |
| tch Established | 28,195 | 1.27x | 132 | 2mo | category Science, keyword "machine-learning" | compare |
| burn Established | 6,262 | 0.28x | 363 | 7d | category Science, keyword "machine-learning" | compare |
| mistralrs Pulled in | 1,216 | 0.05x | 27 | 7mo | category Science, keyword "machine-learning" | compare |
| num-bigint Widely used | 1,899,489 | 85.23x | 2,449 | 4mo | category Data structures, category Science | compare |
| num-complex Widely used | 1,201,013 | 53.89x | 1,140 | 21mo | category Data structures, category Science | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with lance; 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 lance: 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 lance, 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 27, 2026. Built when we find 3 or more.
Up next
The closest alternative: Established and gaining. 98,059 real downloads a day.ortRust crate. A safe Rust wrapper for ONNX Runtime 1.31 - Optimize and accelerate machine learning inference & training. Real use: 98.1K downloads a day on quiet days; 676...Read it next →Also worth your time
Art: Nicholas Roerich, Nag Lake (1925). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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