Rust web framework comparison

A comparison of some web frameworks written in Rust.

This overview only contains frameworks that work on stable Rust.

Table of Contents

• Rust web framework comparison
  • Table of Contents
  • Frontend frameworks (WASM)
    • Outdated frontend frameworks
  • Server frameworks
    • High-Level Server Frameworks
    • Low-Level Frameworks
    • Outdated server frameworks
  • Client frameworks
    • Outdated client frameworks
  • Supplemental libraries
    • Templating
    • Websocket Libraries
  • Resources
    • Blog posts
      • 2018
      • Until 2017
    • Demos
    • Real-world web projects using Rust
    • [JS & asm.js & WASM](#js--asmjs--wasm)
      • Examples
      • Benchmark

Frontend frameworks (WASM)

Since WASM support is available in most browsers we can use Rust to build web applications :)

Name	Repo	Docs	License	Version	Stars	Contributors	Activity	Virtual DOM	SSR
yew								yes	no
Seed								yes	no
sauron								yes	yes
mogwai								no	yes
dominator								no	no
Sycamore								no	yes
Dioxus								yes	yes
MoonZoon								no
Silkenweb								no	yes
percy								yes	yes
frender								yes	no

Outdated frontend frameworks

Name	Repo	Docs	License	Version	Stars	Contributors	Activity	Virtual DOM	SSR
dodrio
draco
dumle
mika
ruukh
smithy
squark
stdweb
willow

Server frameworks

High-Level Server Frameworks

This overview only contains frameworks that support async execution.

Name	rocket	warp	actix-web	gotham	Thruster	tide	salvo	trillium	axum	Poem
License
Version
Github Stars
Contributors
Activity
Base framework	hyper	hyper	tokio	hyper	tokio (or hyper)	async-std	hyper		hyper	hyper
HTTPS support	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes		yes	yes		yes
HTTP/2 support	yes	yes	yes	no	yes		yes	no		yes

• actix-web (homepage / repository / documentation / examples)
• axum ( / repository / documentation / examples )
• gotham (homepage / repository / documentation / examples)
• rocket (homepage / repository / documentation)
• Thruster ( - / repository / documentation / examples)
• Tide ( - / repository / documentation / examples)
• warp ( - / repository / documentation / examples)
• salvo ( - / repository / documentation / examples)
• trillium (homepage / repository / documentation / user guide)
• Poem ( - / repository / documentation / examples)

Low-Level Frameworks

Name	Repo	Docs	License	Version	Stars	Contributors	Activity	Async	HTTPS	HTTP/2	Client
hyper								yes	yes	yes	yes
tiny-http								no	yes	no	no
actix-http								yes	yes	yes	yes

Outdated server frameworks

• civet
• conduit
• cargonaouts
• hydrogen
• iron
• kinglet
• nickel
• rouille
• rustless
• rustful
• shio
• sappers
• solicit
• tower-web
• tk-http

Client frameworks

To build web clients with Rust, you can choose between these libraries:

• reqwest (- / repository / documentation)
• awc (- / repository / api docs)
• hyper (homepage / repository / documentation)
• jsonrpc (- / repository / documentation)

Outdated client frameworks

• ease

Supplemental libraries

Templating

Name	Repo	Docs	License	Version	Stars	Contributors	Activity
sailfish
tera
mustache
liquid
handlebars
horrorshow
maud
askama
stpl
ructe
typed-html

Websocket Libraries

Name	websocket	ws-rs	twist	tungstenite	actix-web
License
Version
Github Stars
Contributors
Activity
Server	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Client	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Base framework	- / tokio	mio	tokio	- / tokio	tokio
Async	no / yes	yes	yes	no / yes	yes

• websocket (homepage / repository / documentation)
• ws-rs (homepage / repository / documentation)
• tungstenite ( - / repository / documentation)
• tokio-tungstenite ( - / repository / documentation)
• actix-web (homepage / repository / documentation)

Resources

Blog posts

2018

• Lessons learned on writing web applications completely in Rust
• Introducing Ruukh Framework
• Baby’s First Rust+WebAssembly module: Say hi to JSConf EU!
• Mix Rust Code (WebAssembly) with Vue Component
• Wicked Fast Web Servers in Rust
• Migrating to Actix Web from Rocket for Stability
• Creating a Rusty Rocket fuelled with Diesel

Until 2017

• Dose Response ported to WebAssembly!
• Rust and the case for WebAssembly in 2018
• wasm32-unknown-unknown landed & enabled
• How to Deploy a Rocket Application to Heroku
• Rust to WebAssembly, Made Easy
• Rust for the web
• Rocket on Fedora
• Announcing Gotham - A flexible web framework for stable Rust that does not sacrifice safety, security or speed.
• Announcing cargonauts - A Rust async web framework
• Writing a GitHub webhook with Rust! Part 1: Rocket
• Hello, Botket! (Rocket)
• Launching a URL Shortener in Rust using Rocket
• Rocket + sodiumoxide = ♥
• The Path to Rust on the Web
• Rendering Vector Map Tiles (Rust + asm.js demo)
• Compiling to the web with Rust and emscripten
• Basic 2FA in Rocket
• Building high performance REST APIs with Rust and Rocket
• Rocket Rocks! Using FromFormValue Traits to protect your website
• Building an Asynchronous Hyper Server
• JWT & Access Roles in Rocket
• Writing a basic JSON response web server in Rust using Iron
• Diesel Powered Rocket
• Using Stainless with Rocket
• Integration testing a service written in Rust and Iron
• Actually using Iron: A grumpy introduction to web development in Rust
• Using Rust for Webdev as a Hobby Programmer
• My adventures in Rust webdev
• Rust’s Iron Framework: First impressions
• Rust for Node.js developers
  • Part 3 - Crates, Modules and the web
  • Part 2 - Can I borrow that?
  • Part 1 - Introduction to Rust
• A Rust-powered public web page in 5 minutes
• Rust and Rest
• Shipping forgettable microservices with Rust
• Writing a simple REST app in Rust
• Getting started with Rust
• Let's Build a Web Server in Rust
• Creating a basic webservice in Rust
• Iron on uWSGI
• Deploying a Rust App to Google App Engine
• async hyper
• Trying Rust for web services
• Are we web yet?
• Reimplementing ashurbanipal.web in Rust
• A web app with Nickel: From first line to Heroku deployment
• What features Iron does not have compared to a web server like nginx?
• Build an API in Rust with JWT Authentication using Nickel.rs
• Selective Middleware for Iron
• Rust for the Web - RESTful API in Rust, impressions
• Rust for Node developers

Demos

• rust-auth-demo - Rocket on Kubernetes with bells and whistles
• exoskeleton - Iron
• Example webapp using React + Webpack - Iron
• rustwebapp - Iron and Postgres (r2d2)
• webrust - Iron and Postgres (r2d2)
• httptest - Iron
• nickel-todo-backend - Nickel and Postgres (r2d2)
• rust-playground - Iron
• rust-web-example - Iron + Diesel (r2d2) + Serde
• websocket chat - Actix: Browser Websocket + tcp chat
• diesel - Actix + Diesel
• json - Actix + serde_json or json_rust

Real-world web projects using Rust

• Lemmy - Actix + Diesel
• paste.rs - Rocket
• realworld-rust-rocket - Rocket + Diesel, medium.com clone example
• Portier - Iron and Redis
• yaus - Iron and SQLite
• racerd - Iron
• rust-passivetotal - Hyper
• mars - Hyper
• openfairdb - Rocket and SQLite (diesel + r2d2)
• ruma - Iron and Posgres (diesel + r2d2)
• html2pdf - Iron
• Hagrid (keys.openpgp.org) - Rocket

JS & asm.js & WASM

• hellorust.com - a website with news, resources and demos

Examples

• rust-webapp-template - Template project for Rust web app using stdweb
• rust-todomvc - an example application build with webplatform
• wasm-experiments - experiments with wasm32-unknown-unknown

Benchmark

• TechEmpower Web Framework Benchmarks
• web-frameworks - Measuring response times (routing times) for each framework (middleware). Each framework has to have two features; routing and parsing path parameters.