Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 24, 2026
Alternatives to url
Short answerThe closest alternatives to url on crates.io data are httparse (2.2M real downloads a day), quick-xml (1.5M real downloads a day), urlencoding (826K real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is httparse, and 3 shipped a release in the last year. url itself gets 2,520,673 a day with 16,906 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs url | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| httparse Established | 2,183,298 | 0.87x | 609 | 20mo | category No standard library, category Parser implementations, keyword "parser" | side by side |
| quick-xml Widely used | 1,525,182 | 0.61x | 2,687 | 2mo | category Encoding, category Parser implementations, keyword "parser" | compare |
| urlencoding Widely used | 826,249 | 0.33x | 2,751 | 3.3y | category Encoding, category Web programming, keyword "url" | side by side |
| csv-core Pulled in | 687,418 | 0.27x | 32 | 12mo | category Encoding, category No standard library, keyword "parser" | compare |
| csv Widely used | 677,936 | 0.27x | 3,501 | 12mo | category Encoding, category Parser implementations, keyword "parser" | compare |
| html5ever Established | 506,290 | 0.20x | 380 | 40d | category Parser implementations, category Web programming, keyword "parser" | compare |
| fluent-uri Pulled in | 405,010 | 0.16x | 85 | 12mo | category Encoding, category Parser implementations, keyword "parser" | compare |
| http-range-header Pulled in | 289,915 | 0.12x | 19 | 23mo | category Parser implementations, category Web programming, keyword "parser" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with url; 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 url: 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 url, 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: Established and steady. 2,183,298 real downloads a day.httparseRust crate. A tiny, safe, speedy, zero-copy HTTP/1.x parser. Real use: 2.2M downloads a day on quiet days; 609 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time