Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to toml
Short answerThe closest alternatives to toml on crates.io data are leb128fmt (630K real downloads a day), lexical-core (351K real downloads a day), lexical-write-float (311K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is base64, and 3 shipped a release in the last year. toml itself gets 2,960,881 a day with 20,777 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs toml | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| leb128fmt Pulled in | 629,549 | 0.21x | 4 | 3.1y | category Encoding, category Parser implementations, keyword "encoding", keyword "no_std" | compare |
| lexical-core Pulled in | 351,327 | 0.12x | 72 | 13mo | category Encoding, category Parsing tools, keyword "encoding", keyword "no_std" | compare |
| lexical-write-float Pulled in | 310,656 | 0.10x | 3 | 13mo | category Encoding, keyword "encoding", keyword "no_std" | compare |
| lexical-write-integer Pulled in | 310,437 | 0.10x | 3 | 13mo | category Encoding, keyword "encoding", keyword "no_std" | compare |
| csv-core Pulled in | 687,418 | 0.23x | 32 | 12mo | category Encoding, category Parser implementations, keyword "no_std" | compare |
| quick-xml Widely used | 1,525,182 | 0.52x | 2,687 | 2mo | category Encoding, category Parser implementations | compare |
| base64 Foundational | 4,638,981 | 1.57x | 19,537 | 3mo | category Encoding, keyword "no_std" | compare |
| serde Foundational | 4,327,945 | 1.46x | 133,588 | 3mo | category Encoding, keyword "no_std" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with toml; 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 toml: 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 toml, 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. 629,549 real downloads a day.leb128fmtRust crate. A library to encode and decode LEB128 compressed integers. Real use: 630K downloads a day on quiet days; 4 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time