Marlon King came of the substitutes' bench to earn Nottingham Forest a point after sloppy defending had gifted Mark Rivers two first-half goals.
It was Forest's third successive draw but they should have claimed all three points as the visitors were under constant siege throughout the second half.
Both sides were looking for their first win of the season and it looked as though Crewe could spring a big shock when they took a 2-1 half-time lead.
The home side looked the more threatening in the first 20 minutes of the game and the lively Gareth Taylor saw his powerful header cleared off the line by Stephen Foster, after a corner from the in-demand Andy Reid.
The Eire international found himself with a great opportunity to open the scoring after he found his way on to the left flank, but his shot was superbly parried by Crewe keeper Ben Williams.
The away side stunned the City Ground faithful by taking the lead against the run of the play in the 20th minute.
Rivers cashed in on slack work in the heart of the home defence when two players failed to clear the ball and the Crewe striker gratefully accepted the chance to fire the ball low into net past a despairing Paul Gerrard.
Taylor finally made the pressure pay for the home side when he cracked in a left-foot effort from 15 yards out after 38 minutes, but once again slack marking in the home defence allowed Rivers space to turn and slide a shot wide of Gerrard.
With Crewe visibly tiring in the second half all the action was around their goalmouth, but Forest's only reward was a slick header from King which looped over Williams into the far corner of the net after 68 minutes.
The visitors defence stood firm in the face of constant pressure with Forest coming close to a winner when defender Alan Rogers fired inches wide.
Man of the Match Mark Rivers' sharp finishing was enough to earn his side a point, despite Forest's dominance of the second half.