Crates / libz-sys / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to libz-sys
Short answerThe closest alternatives to libz-sys on crates.io data are miniz_oxide (2.5M real downloads a day), adler2 (2M real downloads a day), adler (187K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is linux-raw-sys, and 4 shipped a release in the last year. libz-sys itself gets 455,887 a day with 144 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs libz-sys | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| miniz_oxide Established | 2,510,979 | 5.51x | 443 | 7mo | category Compression, keyword "zlib" | compare |
| adler2 Pulled in | 1,994,630 | 4.38x | 18 | 17mo | keyword "zlib" | compare |
| adler Pulled in | 186,534 | 0.41x | 17 | 5.7y | keyword "zlib" | compare |
| linux-raw-sys Pulled in | 3,305,436 | 7.25x | 39 | 10mo | category External FFI bindings | compare |
| winapi Widely used | 1,251,224 | 2.74x | 1,603 | 6.3y | category External FFI bindings | compare |
| winapi-util Pulled in | 1,250,242 | 2.74x | 67 | 14mo | category External FFI bindings | compare |
| zstd-safe Pulled in | 1,111,608 | 2.44x | 55 | 8d | category Compression | compare |
| zstd Widely used | 1,083,388 | 2.38x | 2,614 | 8d | category Compression | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with libz-sys; 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 libz-sys: 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 libz-sys, 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 gaining. 2,510,979 real downloads a day.miniz_oxideRust crate. DEFLATE compression and decompression library rewritten in Rust based on miniz. Real use: 2.5M downloads a day on quiet days; 443 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time