Crates / subtle / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to subtle
Short answerThe closest alternatives to subtle on crates.io data are ring (2.1M real downloads a day), cmov (852K real downloads a day), aws-lc-rs (1.2M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is digest, and 6 shipped a release in the last year. subtle itself gets 2,159,165 a day with 2,362 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs subtle | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ring Widely used | 2,112,308 | 0.98x | 1,837 | 19mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto", keyword "cryptography" | side by side |
| cmov Pulled in | 852,311 | 0.39x | 3 | 5mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "constant-time", keyword "crypto" | compare |
| aws-lc-rs Established | 1,156,444 | 0.54x | 474 | 12d | keyword "crypto", keyword "cryptography" | side by side |
| digest Widely used | 3,862,411 | 1.79x | 1,197 | 6mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| crypto-common Pulled in | 3,766,260 | 1.74x | 85 | 5mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| ppv-lite86 Pulled in | 2,441,634 | 1.13x | 6 | 20mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| hmac Widely used | 2,124,794 | 0.98x | 4,359 | 7mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
| sha1 Widely used | 2,004,209 | 0.93x | 2,496 | 3mo | category Cryptography, category No standard library, keyword "crypto" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with subtle; 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 subtle: 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 subtle, 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. 2,112,308 real downloads a day.ringRust crate. An experiment. Real use: 2.1M downloads a day on quiet days; 1,837 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time