diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 8d5e6db945a..2d9412d3110 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -910,6 +910,16 @@ version = "1.1.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "7059fff8937831a9ae6f0fe4d658ffabf58f2ca96aa9dec1c889f936f705f216"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "crossbeam-channel"
+version = "0.5.8"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "a33c2bf77f2df06183c3aa30d1e96c0695a313d4f9c453cc3762a6db39f99200"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "crossbeam-utils",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "crossbeam-deque"
 version = "0.8.3"
@@ -3793,6 +3803,19 @@ dependencies = [
  "pkg-config",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "rusty_pool"
+version = "0.7.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "4ed36cdb20de66d89a17ea04b8883fc7a386f2cf877aaedca5005583ce4876ff"
+dependencies = [
+ "crossbeam-channel",
+ "futures",
+ "futures-channel",
+ "futures-executor",
+ "num_cpus",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "ryu"
 version = "1.0.15"
@@ -6240,8 +6263,8 @@ dependencies = [
  "pin-project",
  "pretty_assertions",
  "rand",
- "rayon",
  "reqwest",
+ "rusty_pool",
  "semver 1.0.20",
  "serde",
  "serde_cbor",
diff --git a/lib/wasix/Cargo.toml b/lib/wasix/Cargo.toml
index 189b55f9c11..e2156ac668c 100644
--- a/lib/wasix/Cargo.toml
+++ b/lib/wasix/Cargo.toml
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ repository.workspace = true
 rust-version.workspace = true
 
 [dependencies]
+rusty_pool = { version = "0.7.0", optional = true }
 cfg-if = "1.0"
 thiserror = "1"
 tracing = { version = "0.1.37" }
@@ -66,7 +67,6 @@ tower-http = { version = "0.4.0", features = ["trace", "util", "catch-panic", "c
 tower = { version = "0.4.13", features = ["make", "util"], optional = true }
 url = "2.3.1"
 petgraph = "0.6.3"
-rayon = { version = "1.7.0", optional = true }
 wasm-bindgen = { version = "0.2.87", optional = true }
 js-sys = { version = "0.3.64", optional = true }
 wasm-bindgen-futures = { version = "0.4.37", optional = true }
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ webc_runner_rt_emscripten = ["wasmer-emscripten"]
 sys = ["webc/mmap", "time", "virtual-mio/sys"]
 sys-default = ["sys", "logging", "host-fs", "sys-poll", "sys-thread", "host-vnet", "host-threads", "host-reqwest"]
 sys-poll = []
-sys-thread = ["tokio/rt", "tokio/time", "tokio/rt-multi-thread", "rayon"]
+sys-thread = ["tokio/rt", "tokio/time", "tokio/rt-multi-thread", "rusty_pool"]
 
 # Deprecated. Kept it for compatibility
 compiler = []
diff --git a/lib/wasix/src/runtime/task_manager/tokio.rs b/lib/wasix/src/runtime/task_manager/tokio.rs
index f7b0dc1d5d5..b9f2a4c098c 100644
--- a/lib/wasix/src/runtime/task_manager/tokio.rs
+++ b/lib/wasix/src/runtime/task_manager/tokio.rs
@@ -43,11 +43,34 @@ impl RuntimeOrHandle {
     }
 }
 
+#[derive(Clone)]
+pub struct ThreadPool {
+    inner: rusty_pool::ThreadPool,
+}
+
+impl std::ops::Deref for ThreadPool {
+    type Target = rusty_pool::ThreadPool;
+
+    fn deref(&self) -> &Self::Target {
+        &self.inner
+    }
+}
+
+impl std::fmt::Debug for ThreadPool {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
+        f.debug_struct("ThreadPool")
+            .field("name", &self.get_name())
+            .field("current_worker_count", &self.get_current_worker_count())
+            .field("idle_worker_count", &self.get_idle_worker_count())
+            .finish()
+    }
+}
+
 /// A task manager that uses tokio to spawn tasks.
 #[derive(Clone, Debug)]
 pub struct TokioTaskManager {
     rt: RuntimeOrHandle,
-    pool: Arc<rayon::ThreadPool>,
+    pool: Arc<ThreadPool>,
 }
 
 impl TokioTaskManager {
@@ -62,12 +85,13 @@ impl TokioTaskManager {
 
         Self {
             rt: rt.into(),
-            pool: Arc::new(
-                rayon::ThreadPoolBuilder::new()
-                    .num_threads(max_threads)
-                    .build()
-                    .unwrap(),
-            ),
+            pool: Arc::new(ThreadPool {
+                inner: rusty_pool::Builder::new()
+                    .name("TokioTaskManager Thread Pool".to_string())
+                    .core_size(max_threads)
+                    .max_size(max_threads)
+                    .build(),
+            }),
         }
     }
 
@@ -141,7 +165,7 @@ impl VirtualTaskManager for TokioTaskManager {
             self.rt.handle().spawn(async move {
                 let result = trigger.await;
                 // Build the task that will go on the callback
-                pool.spawn(move || {
+                pool.execute(move || {
                     // Invoke the callback
                     run(TaskWasmRunProperties {
                         ctx,
@@ -154,7 +178,7 @@ impl VirtualTaskManager for TokioTaskManager {
             tracing::trace!("spawning task_wasm in blocking thread");
 
             // Run the callback on a dedicated thread
-            self.pool.spawn(move || {
+            self.pool.execute(move || {
                 tracing::trace!("task_wasm started in blocking thread");
 
                 // Invoke the callback
@@ -173,7 +197,7 @@ impl VirtualTaskManager for TokioTaskManager {
         &self,
         task: Box<dyn FnOnce() + Send + 'static>,
     ) -> Result<(), WasiThreadError> {
-        self.pool.spawn(move || {
+        self.pool.execute(move || {
             task();
         });
         Ok(())