The best replacement for dowels is biscuits.

The best alternatives to dowels are rated as following:
★★★★★  biscuits
★★  screws
★★  pocket screws
★  straws
★  tenons
  dowells
  biscuit joints
  biscuit joiner

Your alternative for dowels is not listed? Suggest!
Speaking about dowels, one probably shouldn't forget about finials.

Other search terms related to dowels and their ratings are:
★★★★★ finials
You have in mind a companion for dowels and it is not yet here? Propose!



Google Trends

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of dowels in all years. Click on graph for more.
dowels
biscuits
screws