Decision Workspace
cpal vs alsa-sys vs alsa
Side-by-side comparison of Rust crates
68
cpal
growingv0.17.3
Low-level cross-platform audio I/O library in pure Rust.
65
alsa-sys
growingv0.4.0
FFI bindings for the ALSA project (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture)
65
alsa
growingv0.11.0
Thin but safe wrappers for ALSA (Linux sound API)
Core Metrics
| cpal | alsa-sys | alsa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health Score | 68 | 65 | 65 |
| Total Downloads | 11.6M | 11.2M | 12.6M |
| 30d Downloads | 928.7K | 803.3K | 868.7K |
| Dependents | 3.5K | 235 | 247 |
| Releases | 77 | 16 | 38 |
| Last Updated | 37d ago | 91d ago | 91d ago |
| Age | 11y 3m | 11y 3m | 10y 9m |
Health Breakdown
cpal
Maintenance
17
Quality
12
Community
16
Popularity
8
Documentation
15
alsa-sys
Maintenance
11
Quality
16
Community
17
Popularity
8
Documentation
13
alsa
Maintenance
14
Quality
12
Community
18
Popularity
8
Documentation
13
Technical Details
| cpal | alsa-sys | alsa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Version | 0.17.3 | 0.4.0 | 0.11.0 |
| Stable (≥1.0) | ✗ No | ✗ No | ✗ No |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT | Apache-2.0/MIT |
| Dependencies | 37 | 3 | 5 |
| Crate Size | 153KB | 36KB | 76KB |
| Features | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Yanked % | 1.3% | 0.0% | 10.5% |
| Edition | 2021 | 2021 | 2021 |
| MSRV | 1.78 | — | — |
| Owners | 2 (team) | 3 (team) | 2 (team) |
Links
Quick Verdict
- •cpal leads with a health score of 68/100, but none of the options score above 80.
- •alsa has the most downloads (12.6M), suggesting wider adoption.
- •cpal is depended on by 3.5K crates — strongest ecosystem trust.