Crates / pastey / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to pastey
Short answerThe closest alternatives to pastey on crates.io data are paste (1.3M real downloads a day), syn (8.4M real downloads a day), quote (5M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is syn, and 7 shipped a release in the last year. pastey itself gets 636,011 a day with 331 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs pastey | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| paste Widely used | 1,338,247 | 2.10x | 3,246 | 2.5y | category Development tools, category No dynamic allocation, keyword "macros" | side by side |
| syn Foundational | 8,378,886 | 13.17x | 18,848 | 12d | keyword "macros" | compare |
| quote Foundational | 5,007,445 | 7.87x | 18,227 | 3mo | keyword "macros" | compare |
| proc-macro2 Foundational | 4,890,919 | 7.69x | 16,351 | 3mo | keyword "macros" | compare |
| pin-project-lite Widely used | 3,270,978 | 5.14x | 1,708 | 8mo | category No dynamic allocation, category No standard library, keyword "macros" | compare |
| zerovec-derive Pulled in | 2,561,390 | 4.03x | 6 | 2d | category No standard library, keyword "macros" | compare |
| synstructure Established | 2,554,307 | 4.02x | 146 | 3mo | keyword "macros" | compare |
| yoke-derive Pulled in | 2,432,865 | 3.83x | 14 | 24d | category No standard library, keyword "macros" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with pastey; 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 pastey: 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 pastey, 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: Widely used and quiet for years. 1,338,247 real downloads a day.pasteRust crate. Macros for all your token pasting needs. Real use: 1.3M downloads a day on quiet days; 3,246 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time