Crates / unicode-width / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to unicode-width
Short answerThe closest alternatives to unicode-width on crates.io data are utf8_iter (2.1M real downloads a day), encoding_rs (1.4M real downloads a day), write16 (353K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is aho-corasick, and 5 shipped a release in the last year. unicode-width itself gets 2,194,046 a day with 3,230 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs unicode-width | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| utf8_iter Pulled in | 2,136,300 | 0.97x | 12 | 2.9y | category Internationalization (i18n), category Text processing, keyword "unicode" | compare |
| encoding_rs Widely used | 1,414,714 | 0.64x | 1,424 | 30d | category Internationalization (i18n), category Text processing, keyword "unicode" | compare |
| write16 Pulled in | 352,874 | 0.16x | 6 | 4.3y | category Internationalization (i18n), category Text processing, keyword "unicode" | compare |
| utf16_iter Pulled in | 349,411 | 0.16x | 3 | 2.9y | category Internationalization (i18n), category Text processing, keyword "unicode" | compare |
| aho-corasick Established | 3,331,047 | 1.52x | 655 | 3mo | category Text processing, keyword "text" | compare |
| icu_collections Pulled in | 2,507,923 | 1.14x | 25 | 2d | category Internationalization (i18n), keyword "unicode" | compare |
| icu_properties_data Pulled in | 2,505,718 | 1.14x | 8 | 2d | category Internationalization (i18n), keyword "unicode" | compare |
| icu_properties Established | 2,501,772 | 1.14x | 118 | 2d | category Internationalization (i18n), keyword "unicode" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with unicode-width; 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 unicode-width: 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 unicode-width, 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 quiet for years. 2,136,300 real downloads a day.utf8_iterRust crate. Iterator by char over potentially-invalid UTF-8 in &[u8]. Real use: 2.1M downloads a day on quiet days; 12 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time