Crates / puffin / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 27, 2026
Alternatives to puffin
Short answerThe closest alternatives to puffin on crates.io data are glam (614K real downloads a day), prometheus-client (141K real downloads a day), egui (81.7K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is tracing-core, and 7 shipped a release in the last year. puffin itself gets 16,490 a day with 88 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs puffin | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| glam Widely used | 614,080 | 37.24x | 1,525 | 18d | keyword "gamedev" | compare |
| prometheus-client Established | 140,668 | 8.53x | 185 | 56d | keyword "instrumentation" | compare |
| egui Widely used | 81,700 | 4.95x | 1,358 | 12d | keyword "gamedev" | compare |
| eframe Widely used | 66,809 | 4.05x | 1,167 | 12d | keyword "gamedev" | compare |
| pyroscope Pulled in | 27,814 | 1.69x | 17 | 5d | keyword "profiler" | compare |
| bevy Widely used | 19,735 | 1.20x | 2,157 | 19d | keyword "gamedev" | compare |
| pyroscope_pprofrs Pulled in | 19,483 | 1.18x | 8 | 18mo | keyword "profiler" | compare |
| tracing-core Established | 2,617,281 | 158.72x | 386 | 10mo | category Profiling | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with puffin; 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 puffin: 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 puffin, 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: Widely used and steady. 614,080 real downloads a day.glamRust crate. A simple and fast 3D math library for games and graphics. Real use: 614K downloads a day on quiet days; 1,525 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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