Crates / tokio-rustls / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to tokio-rustls
Short answerThe closest alternatives to tokio-rustls on crates.io data are tower (2.3M real downloads a day), h2 (2.3M real downloads a day), rustls-pki-types (2.2M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is tower, and 6 shipped a release in the last year. tokio-rustls itself gets 2,299,591 a day with 2,458 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs tokio-rustls | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tower Widely used | 2,342,590 | 1.02x | 5,816 | 9mo | category Asynchronous, category Network programming | side by side |
| h2 Established | 2,290,495 | 1.00x | 296 | 18d | category Asynchronous, category Network programming | compare |
| rustls-pki-types Established | 2,178,757 | 0.95x | 910 | 3mo | category Cryptography, category Network programming | compare |
| tower-http Widely used | 2,044,149 | 0.89x | 3,782 | 54d | category Asynchronous, category Network programming | compare |
| tower-service Established | 1,972,046 | 0.86x | 833 | 2.2y | category Asynchronous, category Network programming | compare |
| tower-layer Established | 1,850,070 | 0.80x | 342 | 2.2y | category Asynchronous, category Network programming | compare |
| rustls-native-certs Established | 1,774,553 | 0.77x | 761 | 11d | category Cryptography, category Network programming | side by side |
| axum Widely used | 1,587,646 | 0.69x | 9,968 | 6mo | category Asynchronous, category Network programming | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with tokio-rustls; 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 tokio-rustls: 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 tokio-rustls, 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. 2,342,590 real downloads a day.towerRust crate. Tower is a library of modular and reusable components for building robust clients and servers. Real use: 2.3M downloads a day on quiet days; 5,816 crates...Read it next →Also worth your time