Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to sha3
Short answerThe closest alternatives to sha3 on crates.io data are sha2 (3.5M real downloads a day), sha1 (2M real downloads a day), md-5 (1.3M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is sha2, and 6 shipped a release in the last year. sha3 itself gets 573,618 a day with 1,767 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs sha3 | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sha2 Foundational | 3,510,276 | 6.12x | 22,608 | 12d | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "digest", keyword "hash" | side by side |
| sha1 Widely used | 2,004,209 | 3.49x | 2,496 | 3mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "digest", keyword "hash" | compare |
| md-5 Widely used | 1,344,840 | 2.34x | 1,435 | 7mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "digest", keyword "hash" | compare |
| tiny-keccak Established | 680,461 | 1.19x | 457 | 6.6y | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "hash", keyword "keccak" | compare |
| blake2 Established | 502,276 | 0.88x | 839 | 59d | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "digest", keyword "hash" | compare |
| md5 Widely used | 483,598 | 0.84x | 1,213 | 4mo | category Cryptography, keyword "digest", keyword "hash" | compare |
| sha-1 Established | 196,391 | 0.34x | 313 | 3.9y | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "digest", keyword "hash" | compare |
| hmac Widely used | 2,124,794 | 3.70x | 4,359 | 7mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "digest" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with sha3; 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 sha3: 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 sha3, 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: Foundational and steady. 3,510,276 real downloads a day.sha2Rust crate. Pure Rust implementation of the SHA-2 hash function family including SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512. Real use: 3.5M downloads a day on quiet days...Read it next →Also worth your time