Crates / rfc6979 / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to rfc6979
Short answerThe closest alternatives to rfc6979 on crates.io data are signature (1.4M real downloads a day), ed25519-dalek (781K real downloads a day), ed25519 (761K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is digest, and 8 shipped a release in the last year. rfc6979 itself gets 825,273 a day with 15 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs rfc6979 | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| signature Established | 1,419,605 | 1.72x | 417 | 6mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "ecdsa", keyword "signature" | compare |
| ed25519-dalek Widely used | 780,826 | 0.95x | 3,403 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "signature" | compare |
| ed25519 Pulled in | 760,807 | 0.92x | 78 | 6mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "signature" | compare |
| secp256k1 Established | 279,378 | 0.34x | 632 | 56d | keyword "ecdsa" | compare |
| digest Widely used | 3,862,411 | 4.68x | 1,197 | 6mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library | compare |
| block-buffer Pulled in | 3,815,018 | 4.62x | 23 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library | compare |
| crypto-common Pulled in | 3,766,260 | 4.56x | 85 | 5mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library | compare |
| sha2 Foundational | 3,510,276 | 4.25x | 22,608 | 12d | category Cryptography, category No standard library | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with rfc6979; 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 rfc6979: 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 rfc6979, 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. 1,419,605 real downloads a day.signatureRust crate. Traits for cryptographic signature algorithms (e.g. ECDSA, Ed25519). Real use: 1.4M downloads a day on quiet days; 417 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time