Crates / serde-untagged / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to serde-untagged
Short answerThe closest alternatives to serde-untagged on crates.io data are schemars (2.4M real downloads a day), quick-xml (1.5M real downloads a day), schemars_derive (952K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is schemars, and 6 shipped a release in the last year. serde-untagged itself gets 307,093 a day with 35 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs serde-untagged | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| schemars Widely used | 2,383,996 | 7.76x | 6,659 | 12d | category Encoding, category No standard library, keyword "serde" | compare |
| quick-xml Widely used | 1,525,182 | 4.97x | 2,687 | 2mo | category Encoding, keyword "serde" | compare |
| schemars_derive Pulled in | 952,344 | 3.10x | 6 | 12d | category Encoding, category No standard library, keyword "serde" | compare |
| ciborium Established | 775,492 | 2.53x | 902 | 2.7y | category Encoding, category No standard library, keyword "serde" | compare |
| csv Widely used | 677,936 | 2.21x | 3,501 | 12mo | category Encoding, keyword "serde" | compare |
| zbus Established | 354,153 | 1.15x | 647 | 1d | category Encoding, keyword "serde" | compare |
| rmp-serde Widely used | 345,933 | 1.13x | 1,717 | 10mo | category Encoding, keyword "serde" | compare |
| ron Widely used | 265,639 | 0.87x | 1,028 | 4mo | category Encoding, 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 serde-untagged; 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 serde-untagged: 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 serde-untagged, 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 steady. 2,383,996 real downloads a day.schemarsRust crate. Generate JSON Schemas from Rust code. Real use: 2.4M downloads a day on quiet days; 6,659 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time