Crates / worker / Alternatives
Rust crate alternatives · data Oct 27, 2026
Alternatives to worker
Short answerThe closest alternatives to worker on crates.io data are libc (5M real downloads a day), linux-raw-sys (3.3M real downloads a day), wasi (2.2M real downloads a day). Of the 8 we list, the most used is libc, and 5 shipped a release in the last year. worker itself gets 16,716 a day with 139 dependents.
Every alternative we found
| Alternative | Real downloads a day | vs worker | Dependents | Last release | Why it is listed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| libc Foundational | 4,964,021 | 296.96x | 17,338 | 8d | keyword "ffi" | compare |
| linux-raw-sys Pulled in | 3,305,436 | 197.74x | 39 | 10mo | keyword "ffi" | compare |
| wasi Pulled in | 2,177,567 | 130.27x | 58 | 13mo | keyword "wasm" | compare |
| winapi Widely used | 1,251,224 | 74.85x | 1,603 | 6.3y | keyword "ffi" | compare |
| web-time Widely used | 1,133,377 | 67.80x | 1,163 | 2.6y | keyword "wasm" | compare |
| wasip2 Pulled in | 1,129,868 | 67.59x | 16 | 32d | keyword "wasm" | compare |
| wasmparser Established | 1,023,280 | 61.22x | 431 | 11d | keyword "wasm" | compare |
| bindgen Widely used | 1,018,499 | 60.93x | 3,072 | 46d | keyword "ffi" | compare |
How to choose
- Same job, not the same API. Each line is listed because it shares a crates.io category or keyword with worker; 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 worker: 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 worker, 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 27, 2026. Built when we find 3 or more.
Up next
The closest alternative: Foundational and steady. 4,964,021 real downloads a day.libcRust crate. Raw FFI bindings to platform libraries like libc. Real use: 5M downloads a day on quiet days; 17,338 crates depend on it.Read it next →Also worth your time
Art: Nicholas Roerich, Nag Lake (1925). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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