Crates / parquet / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 27, 2026
Alternatives to parquet
Short answerThe closest alternatives to parquet on crates.io data are arrow-cast (300K real downloads a day), arrow-ord (268K real downloads a day), arrow-arith (262K real downloads a day). Of the 7 we list, the most used is arrow-cast, and 7 shipped a release in the last year. parquet itself gets 239,896 a day with 898 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs parquet | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| arrow-cast Pulled in | 299,519 | 1.25x | 94 | 9d | keyword "arrow" | compare |
| arrow-ord Pulled in | 268,001 | 1.12x | 45 | 9d | keyword "arrow" | compare |
| arrow-arith Pulled in | 261,968 | 1.09x | 33 | 9d | keyword "arrow" | compare |
| arrow-string Pulled in | 259,655 | 1.08x | 9 | 9d | keyword "arrow" | compare |
| arrow Widely used | 255,228 | 1.06x | 1,308 | 9d | keyword "arrow" | side by side |
| arrow-row Pulled in | 253,262 | 1.06x | 23 | 9d | keyword "arrow" | compare |
| polars Established | 32,528 | 0.14x | 629 | 3mo | keyword "arrow" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with parquet; 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 parquet: 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 parquet, 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: Few direct dependents and steady. 299,519 real downloads a day.arrow-castRust crate. Cast kernel and utilities for Apache Arrow. Real use: 300K downloads a day on quiet days; 94 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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