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Cabal vs Cargo

Cabal

haskell.org

Cargo

doc.rust-lang.org

Side by side

FigureCabalCargo
Price fromFreeFree
Free planYesYes
Free trial——
Open source——
WindowsYesYes
macOSYesYes
LinuxYesYes
Plans published11
Spec score · Package Managers8.6 (#18)8.8 (#6)
Dependency resolutionYesYes
Free planYesYes
InstallationThe Cabal download page recommends obtaining Cabal through ghcup and provides links to manually downloaded binaries for many architectures.The documented rustup installer installs Cargo alongside the stable Rust release.
Lockfile supportYesYes
Offline installationYesYes
Package formats.cabal files; .tar.gz source distributions; RPM; Debian packages; Windows installersRust crates; crates.io packages; alternate registry packages; Git dependencies; local path dependencies
PurposeCabal is a system for building and packaging Haskell libraries and programs.Cargo is the Rust package manager.
SupportThe official site directs users to the FAQ and troubleshooting pages, bug reports, and the cabal-devel mailing list.Cargo asks users to report bugs through its GitHub issue tracker.
Supported platformsLinux; macOS; FreeBSD; WindowsWindows; macOS; Linux; other Unix-like systems
Workspace supportYesYes

Plans

Cabal

  • CabalFree

Cabal pricing →

Cargo

  • CargoFree

Cargo pricing →

In their own words

Cabal

Cabal has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.

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Cargo

Cargo is the free package manager and build tool for Rust, used through a command-line interface. It downloads dependencies, builds packages, and supports repeatable builds with lockfiles. Developers can compile, check, document, test, run, package, install, and publish Rust projects. The `cargo new` command creates a package, defaulting to a binary; adding `--lib` creates a library. Cargo uses crates.io by default and also handles alternate registries, Git dependencies, and local paths. Workspaces allow multiple packages to share a lockfile and output directory. Package features can enable conditional compilation and optional dependencies. In offline mode, Cargo avoids network access and attempts to use cached data. It supports authentication options for registries and new subcommands without modifying Cargo itself. Rustup installs Cargo with the stable Rust release, and installation instructions cover Windows, macOS, Linux, and other Unix-like systems. Cargo is open source under the MIT and Apache License, Version 2.0. Some documented capabilities remain unstable and require a nightly toolchain and `-Z` flags.

Visit doc.rust-lang.org