Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to rend
Short answerThe closest alternatives to rend on crates.io data are endian-type (256K real downloads a day), base64 (4.6M real downloads a day), serde (4.3M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is base64, and 5 shipped a release in the last year. rend itself gets 507,412 a day with 11 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs rend | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| endian-type Pulled in | 255,797 | 0.50x | 2 | 3.6y | category Encoding, keyword "endian", keyword "no_std" | compare |
| base64 Foundational | 4,638,981 | 9.14x | 19,537 | 3mo | category Encoding, keyword "no_std" | compare |
| serde Foundational | 4,327,945 | 8.53x | 133,588 | 3mo | category Encoding, category No standard library, keyword "no_std" | compare |
| serde_core Established | 3,794,333 | 7.48x | 229 | 3mo | category Encoding, category No standard library, keyword "no_std" | compare |
| toml_datetime Pulled in | 3,215,444 | 6.34x | 29 | 16d | category Encoding, keyword "no_std" | compare |
| toml Foundational | 2,960,881 | 5.84x | 20,777 | 15d | category Encoding, keyword "no_std" | compare |
| byteorder Widely used | 2,056,746 | 4.05x | 4,780 | 3.0y | category Encoding, category No standard library, keyword "endian" | compare |
| hex Foundational | 1,974,541 | 3.89x | 14,719 | 5.6y | category Encoding, category No standard library, keyword "no_std" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with rend; 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 rend: 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 rend, 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: Few direct dependents and gaining. 255,797 real downloads a day.endian-typeRust crate. Type safe wrappers for types with a defined byte order. Real use: 256K downloads a day on quiet days; 2 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time