Survey: Which Rust Frameworks Are Used in Production in 2024

Survey: Which Rust Frameworks Are Used in Production in 2024

The Rust ecosystem continues to evolve rapidly, and the question of choosing a web framework for real projects remains one of the hottest topics. The pythonlib.ru team analyzed the results of a recent survey conducted in the largest Rust communities (Discord, Reddit, Rust Users Forum). More than 1,500 developers using Rust in commercial development took part in the survey. We have compiled the key figures and trends to help you make an informed choice.

Survey Methodology

Respondents were asked to select one or more frameworks they currently use in production. Only projects generating revenue or serving real users were considered. Personal pet projects and educational assignments were not included.

Top 5 Rust Frameworks for Production

• Axum (43%) — the undisputed leader. Developed by the Tokio team, it stands out for its modularity and excellent integration with the async ecosystem. Developers note easy migration from other frameworks and high performance "out of the box."
• Actix Web (31%) — second in popularity. Despite its turbulent past (forks, maintainer changes), Actix remains a reliable choice for high-load APIs. Respondents praise it for its speed and ecosystem maturity.
• Rocket (12%) — niche but beloved for its ergonomic syntax and macros. It is most often used in startups and internal tools where development speed matters more than absolute performance.
• Warp (8%) — a framework focused on filters and composition. Popular among developers who value a declarative approach. However, it is used less frequently in large projects due to debugging complexity.
• Salvo (4%) — a new but rapidly growing framework. It attracted attention for its built-in support for WebSocket and SSE. It is currently used mainly in startups related to real-time applications.

Trends and Observations

The main takeaway from the survey is that the Rust ecosystem is consolidating around Tokio. Frameworks built on Tokio (Axum, Warp, Salvo) already account for more than 55% of the market. Developers are increasingly choosing not the "fastest" tool, but the "best supported" one.

Another notable trend is the declining share of Rocket. Despite the release of Rocket 0.5, many respondents indicated they switched to Axum due to better compatibility with async libraries.

What Should a Beginner Choose?

If you are just starting to learn Rust for web development, we recommend starting with Axum. It has the most active documentation, a large number of examples, and a smooth learning curve. For high-load microservices, Actix Web is still a good choice, and for prototypes, Rocket.

The full survey results (raw data, distribution by Rust versions, project types) are available in our Telegram channel. Stay tuned for updates on pythonlib.ru — we continue to follow the world of Rust and Python.