Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to tokio
Short answerThe closest alternatives to tokio on crates.io data are futures (2.4M real downloads a day), atomic-waker (1.9M real downloads a day), futures-lite (763K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is futures, and 5 shipped a release in the last year. tokio itself gets 3,098,313 a day with 78,796 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs tokio | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| futures Foundational | 2,405,900 | 0.78x | 26,505 | 2mo | category Asynchronous, keyword "async", keyword "futures" | side by side |
| atomic-waker Established | 1,911,010 | 0.62x | 116 | 3.1y | category Asynchronous, keyword "async", keyword "futures" | compare |
| futures-lite Widely used | 763,457 | 0.25x | 1,109 | 15mo | category Asynchronous, keyword "async", keyword "futures" | compare |
| tonic-build Widely used | 683,184 | 0.22x | 1,000 | 6mo | category Asynchronous, category Network programming, keyword "async" | side by side |
| async-std Widely used | 138,341 | 0.04x | 1,903 | 14mo | category Asynchronous, category Network programming, keyword "async" | side by side |
| want Pulled in | 1,873,650 | 0.60x | 19 | 19d | keyword "async", keyword "futures" | compare |
| async-trait Foundational | 2,011,334 | 0.65x | 26,080 | 3mo | category Asynchronous, keyword "async" | compare |
| tungstenite Established | 1,131,863 | 0.37x | 710 | 3mo | category Network programming, keyword "io" | 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; 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: 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, 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. 2,405,900 real downloads a day.futuresRust crate. An implementation of futures and streams featuring zero allocations, composability, and iterator-like interfaces. Real use: 2.4M downloads a day on quiet...Read it next →Also worth your time