Crates / pest_meta / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to pest_meta
Short answerThe closest alternatives to pest_meta on crates.io data are winnow (3.6M real downloads a day), nom (2.2M real downloads a day), quick-xml (1.5M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is winnow, and 5 shipped a release in the last year. pest_meta itself gets 828,228 a day with 31 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs pest_meta | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| winnow Established | 3,579,683 | 4.32x | 448 | 3mo | category Parsing tools, keyword "parser" | compare |
| nom Widely used | 2,156,544 | 2.60x | 2,600 | 21mo | category Parsing tools, keyword "parser" | compare |
| quick-xml Widely used | 1,525,182 | 1.84x | 2,687 | 2mo | category Parsing tools, keyword "parser" | compare |
| combine Established | 900,865 | 1.09x | 121 | 9d | category Parsing tools, keyword "parser" | compare |
| rusticata-macros Pulled in | 502,300 | 0.61x | 13 | 19mo | category Parsing tools, keyword "parser" | compare |
| logos Established | 291,211 | 0.35x | 573 | 9mo | category Parsing tools, keyword "parser" | compare |
| logos-derive Pulled in | 291,196 | 0.35x | 6 | 9mo | category Parsing tools, keyword "parser" | compare |
| semver-parser Pulled in | 276,382 | 0.33x | 12 | 23mo | 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 pest_meta; 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 pest_meta: 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 pest_meta, 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