Crates / metrics / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to metrics
Short answerThe closest alternatives to metrics on crates.io data are tracing (2.6M real downloads a day), tracing-subscriber (1.9M real downloads a day), opentelemetry (844K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is log, and 7 shipped a release in the last year. metrics itself gets 278,558 a day with 1,333 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs metrics | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tracing Foundational | 2,611,879 | 9.38x | 46,220 | 10mo | category Debugging, keyword "metrics" | side by side |
| tracing-subscriber Foundational | 1,919,774 | 6.89x | 20,192 | 7mo | category Debugging, keyword "metrics" | compare |
| opentelemetry Widely used | 843,720 | 3.03x | 1,838 | 15d | category Debugging, keyword "metrics" | compare |
| opentelemetry-proto Established | 616,473 | 2.21x | 166 | 15d | category Debugging, keyword "metrics" | compare |
| opentelemetry-otlp Widely used | 562,213 | 2.02x | 1,046 | 15d | category Debugging, keyword "metrics" | compare |
| prometheus Established | 338,351 | 1.21x | 953 | 19mo | keyword "metrics" | compare |
| log Foundational | 3,895,505 | 13.98x | 31,897 | 2mo | category Debugging | compare |
| tracing-core Established | 2,617,281 | 9.40x | 386 | 10mo | category Debugging | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with metrics; 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 metrics: 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 metrics, 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: Foundational and steady. 2,611,879 real downloads a day.tracingRust crate. Application-level tracing for Rust. Real use: 2.6M downloads a day on quiet days; 46,220 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time