Crates / schemars / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to schemars
Short answerThe closest alternatives to schemars on crates.io data are serde_core (3.8M real downloads a day), serde_spanned (2.3M real downloads a day), serde_urlencoded (1.7M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is serde_core, and 5 shipped a release in the last year. schemars itself gets 2,383,996 a day with 6,659 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs schemars | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| serde_core Established | 3,794,333 | 1.59x | 229 | 3mo | category Encoding, category No standard library, keyword "serde" | compare |
| serde_spanned Pulled in | 2,255,941 | 0.95x | 16 | 16d | category Encoding, keyword "serde" | compare |
| serde_urlencoded Widely used | 1,715,895 | 0.72x | 1,342 | 4.8y | category Encoding, keyword "serde" | compare |
| quick-xml Widely used | 1,525,182 | 0.64x | 2,687 | 2mo | category Encoding, keyword "serde" | compare |
| serde_yaml Widely used | 1,238,004 | 0.52x | 7,766 | 2.6y | category Encoding, keyword "serde" | compare |
| serde_with_macros Pulled in | 1,137,240 | 0.48x | 8 | 28d | category Encoding, keyword "serde" | compare |
| serde_path_to_error Established | 1,101,806 | 0.46x | 642 | 13mo | category Encoding, category No standard library, keyword "serde" | compare |
| serde_repr Widely used | 895,570 | 0.38x | 1,237 | 3mo | category Encoding, category No standard library, keyword "serde" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with schemars; 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 schemars: 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 schemars, 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. 3,794,333 real downloads a day.serde_coreRust crate. Serde traits only, with no support for derive -- use the `serde` crate instead. Real use: 3.8M downloads a day on quiet days; 229 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time