Crates / pathdiff / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to pathdiff
Short answerThe closest alternatives to pathdiff on crates.io data are matchit (1.6M real downloads a day), dirs (1M real downloads a day), etcetera (463K real downloads a day). Of the 6 we list, the most used is matchit, and 5 shipped a release in the last year. pathdiff itself gets 492,592 a day with 661 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs pathdiff | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| matchit Established | 1,597,322 | 3.24x | 207 | 7mo | keyword "path" | compare |
| dirs Foundational | 1,029,176 | 2.09x | 11,001 | 49d | keyword "path" | compare |
| etcetera Established | 463,193 | 0.94x | 224 | 12mo | keyword "path" | compare |
| relative-path Established | 342,966 | 0.70x | 140 | 3d | keyword "path" | compare |
| dirs-next Established | 230,358 | 0.47x | 462 | 6.0y | keyword "path" | compare |
| os_str_bytes Pulled in | 211,293 | 0.43x | 47 | 3mo | keyword "path" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with pathdiff; 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 pathdiff: 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 pathdiff, 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. 1,597,322 real downloads a day.matchitRust crate. A high performance, zero-copy URL router. Real use: 1.6M downloads a day on quiet days; 207 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time