Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 29, 2026
Alternatives to ockam
Short answerThe closest alternatives to ockam on crates.io data are subtle (2.2M real downloads a day), ring (2.1M real downloads a day), curve25519-dalek (875K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is tokio-rustls, and 6 shipped a release in the last year. ockam itself gets 2 a day with 3 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs ockam | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| subtle Widely used | 2,159,165 | 1079582.50x | 2,362 | 2.3y | category Cryptography, keyword "crypto", keyword "cryptography" | compare |
| ring Widely used | 2,112,308 | 1056154.00x | 1,837 | 19mo | category Cryptography, keyword "crypto", keyword "cryptography" | compare |
| curve25519-dalek Established | 874,887 | 437443.50x | 640 | 4mo | category Cryptography, keyword "crypto", keyword "cryptography" | compare |
| aead Established | 824,924 | 412462.00x | 210 | 4mo | category Cryptography, keyword "crypto", keyword "encryption" | compare |
| rsa Widely used | 717,631 | 358815.50x | 1,182 | 18d | category Cryptography, keyword "crypto", keyword "encryption" | compare |
| pbkdf2 Established | 707,668 | 353834.00x | 765 | 6mo | category Authentication, category Cryptography, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| aptos-sdk Pulled in | 19 | 9.50x | 3 | 18d | category Asynchronous, category Cryptography, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| tokio-rustls Widely used | 2,299,591 | 1149795.50x | 2,458 | 26d | category Asynchronous, category Cryptography | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with ockam; 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 ockam: 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 ockam, 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 29, 2026. Built when we find 3 or more.
Up next
The closest alternative: Widely used and quiet for years. 2,159,165 real downloads a day.subtleRust crate. Pure-Rust traits and utilities for constant-time cryptographic implementations. Real use: 2.2M downloads a day on quiet days; 2,362 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time
Art: Nicholas Roerich, Nag Lake (1925). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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