Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to nom
Short answerThe closest alternatives to nom on crates.io data are winnow (3.6M real downloads a day), combine (901K real downloads a day), html5ever (506K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is winnow, and 7 shipped a release in the last year. nom itself gets 2,156,544 a day with 2,600 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs nom | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| winnow Established | 3,579,683 | 1.66x | 448 | 3mo | category Parsing tools, keyword "bit", keyword "parser" | side by side |
| combine Established | 900,865 | 0.42x | 121 | 9d | category Parsing tools, keyword "parser", keyword "parsing" | compare |
| html5ever Established | 506,290 | 0.23x | 380 | 40d | keyword "parser", keyword "parsing" | compare |
| xml-rs Established | 302,873 | 0.14x | 370 | 3mo | keyword "parser", keyword "parsing" | compare |
| quick-xml Widely used | 1,525,182 | 0.71x | 2,687 | 2mo | category Parsing tools, keyword "parser" | compare |
| minimal-lexical Pulled in | 1,454,881 | 0.67x | 2 | 5.1y | category Parsing tools, keyword "parsing" | compare |
| pest Widely used | 916,791 | 0.43x | 1,270 | 8d | category Parsing tools, keyword "parser" | compare |
| pest_derive Widely used | 830,429 | 0.39x | 1,178 | 8d | category Parsing tools, keyword "parser" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with nom; 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 nom: 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 nom, 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 steady. 3,579,683 real downloads a day.winnowRust crate. A byte-oriented, zero-copy, parser combinators library. Real use: 3.6M downloads a day on quiet days; 448 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time