Crates / serde_cbor / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to serde_cbor
Short answerThe closest alternatives to serde_cbor on crates.io data are valuable (934K real downloads a day), ciborium (775K real downloads a day), rkyv (513K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is valuable, and 6 shipped a release in the last year. serde_cbor itself gets 145,240 a day with 547 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs serde_cbor | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| valuable Pulled in | 933,894 | 6.43x | 73 | 21mo | category Encoding, keyword "no_std", keyword "serialization" | compare |
| ciborium Established | 775,492 | 5.34x | 902 | 2.7y | category Encoding, keyword "cbor", keyword "serde" | compare |
| rkyv Established | 513,452 | 3.54x | 797 | 3mo | category Encoding, keyword "no_std", keyword "serialization" | compare |
| rkyv_derive Pulled in | 513,370 | 3.53x | 8 | 3mo | category Encoding, keyword "no_std", keyword "serialization" | compare |
| bytecheck Pulled in | 477,366 | 3.29x | 83 | 3mo | category Encoding, keyword "no_std", keyword "serialization" | compare |
| bytecheck_derive Pulled in | 477,347 | 3.29x | 1 | 3mo | category Encoding, keyword "no_std", keyword "serialization" | compare |
| rmp-serde Widely used | 345,933 | 2.38x | 1,717 | 10mo | category Encoding, keyword "serde", keyword "serialization" | compare |
| ron Widely used | 265,639 | 1.83x | 1,028 | 4mo | category Encoding, keyword "serde", keyword "serialization" | 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_cbor; 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_cbor: 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_cbor, 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 losing ground. 933,894 real downloads a day.valuableRust crate. Object-safe value inspection, used to pass un-typed structured data across trait-object boundaries. Real use: 934K downloads a day on quiet days; 73 crates...Read it next →Also worth your time