Crates / semver / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to semver
Short answerThe closest alternatives to semver on crates.io data are cfg-expr (348K real downloads a day), hashbrown (8.9M real downloads a day), indexmap (4.9M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is hashbrown, and 8 shipped a release in the last year. semver itself gets 2,771,038 a day with 4,141 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs semver | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cfg-expr Pulled in | 348,087 | 0.13x | 22 | 23d | keyword "cargo" | compare |
| hashbrown Widely used | 8,927,960 | 3.22x | 2,468 | 6mo | category Data structures, category No standard library | compare |
| indexmap Widely used | 4,883,122 | 1.76x | 6,422 | 49d | category Data structures, category No standard library | compare |
| smallvec Widely used | 3,868,589 | 1.40x | 4,345 | 1d | category Data structures | compare |
| bytes Foundational | 3,424,140 | 1.24x | 17,656 | 4mo | category Data structures | compare |
| either Widely used | 3,049,603 | 1.10x | 1,488 | 18d | category Data structures, category No standard library | compare |
| slab Established | 3,013,568 | 1.09x | 619 | 9mo | category Data structures, category No standard library | compare |
| equivalent Pulled in | 2,919,252 | 1.05x | 44 | 11d | category Data structures, 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 semver; 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 semver: 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 semver, 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 steady. 348,087 real downloads a day.cfg-exprRust crate. A parser and evaluator for Rust `cfg()` expressions. Real use: 348K downloads a day on quiet days; 22 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time