Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to ring
Short answerThe closest alternatives to ring on crates.io data are subtle (2.2M real downloads a day), pem-rfc7468 (1.1M real downloads a day), curve25519-dalek (875K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is subtle, and 7 shipped a release in the last year. ring itself gets 2,112,308 a day with 1,837 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs ring | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| subtle Widely used | 2,159,165 | 1.02x | 2,362 | 2.3y | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "cryptography" | side by side |
| pem-rfc7468 Pulled in | 1,099,295 | 0.52x | 73 | 12mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "rsa" | compare |
| curve25519-dalek Established | 874,887 | 0.41x | 640 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "cryptography" | side by side |
| elliptic-curve Established | 855,110 | 0.40x | 244 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "ecc" | compare |
| ecdsa Established | 833,119 | 0.39x | 261 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "ecc" | compare |
| ed25519-dalek Widely used | 780,826 | 0.37x | 3,403 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "cryptography", keyword "ecc" | side by side |
| ed25519 Pulled in | 760,807 | 0.36x | 78 | 6mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "ecc" | compare |
| p256 Widely used | 724,299 | 0.34x | 1,172 | 4mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "ecc" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with ring; 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 ring: 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 ring, 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: Widely used and quiet for years. 2,159,165 real downloads a day.subtleRust crate. Pure-Rust traits and utilities for constant-time cryptographic implementations. Real use: 2.2M downloads a day on quiet days; 2,362 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time