ANALYTICS
vellumplot tags its first release with a bet most R grammars don't make: the static figure and the widget are the same object.
Alternatives · analytics tools
collapse alternatives
The best collapse alternatives in analytics tools, ranked by Sparkpulse's velocity_score.
Updated Aug 15, 2026
Looking for the best alternatives to collapse? Sparkpulse tracks and ranks 12 alternatives in analytics tools by shipping velocity — how frequently each ships meaningful updates, verified from official changelogs. For reference, collapse shipped 0 meaningful updates in the last 30 days and carries a velocity score of 0.0 out of 10 in 2026. The alternatives below are ranked the same way, so you're comparing real release momentum, not marketing claims.
About collapse
collapse got a JSS paper and a 7x fmean speedup in the same release.
collapse provides fast grouped statistical computing and data transformation for R, built on a C backend with its own grouping, hashing and aggregation primitives. The 2.1.x line is a maintenance and optimization series: SIMD multiple-accumulator work delivering roughly 2x on fsum() and 7x on fmean() for systems without OpenMP, a custom internal unlist() with better attribute preservation, and a steady stream of correctness fixes in collap(), pivot() and roworderv().
Velocity 0.0 · Last update 59m ago
Top 12 alternatives to collapse
Ranked by recent ship velocity. Tap any card for the full editorial breakdown, or pivot to a head-to-head.
ANALYTICS
After two and a half years dormant, mizer shipped three major versions in seven weeks.
ANALYTICS
vellum's bugs are now found by using it, not testing it — the downstream grammar is doing the QA.
ANALYTICS
distributions3 changes hands to Achim Zeileis, and a moment calculation bug goes with it.
ANALYTICS
stringi has spent two years on build hardening since its Unicode 15.1 reset.
ANALYTICS
distributional taught + and - to work on any pair of distributions, closing the algebra it started with.
ANALYTICS
An outside audit against Stata found seven errors in ardlverse's panel estimator, including regressions with no intercept.
ANALYTICS
weird rebuilt itself on distributional objects, and now the anomaly tooling composes with everything else.
ANALYTICS
n2kanalysis has spent eight years wiring INLA models to an S3 bucket.
ANALYTICS
A Fortran-descended optimizer got thread-safe, then found two flags that never worked.
ANALYTICS
ggstatsplot reached 1.0 by adding tests, having outsourced its statistics years ago.
ANALYTICS
gtsummary is quietly rebuilding itself around analysis results data, one table verb at a time.
collapse vs alternatives — shipping velocity at a glance
Velocity score (0–10) and meaningful releases shipped in the last 30 days, from official changelogs. Higher = shipping faster.
| Product | Velocity | Sparks · 30d | Focus areas | Latest release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| collapse (baseline) | 0.0 | 0 | data-transformationperformancesimd | — |
| vellumplot | 6.3 | 1 | r-graphicsgrammar-of-graphicsaccessibility | First tagged release: one spec compiles to PNG, SVG, tagged PDF and a widget |
| mizer | 5.0 | 0 | size-spectrum-modellingmarine-ecologynumerical-methods | Diffusion enters the McKendrick-von Foerster equation, ending a two-year gap |
| vellum | 5.0 | 0 | r-graphicsrendering-enginelinting | — |
| distributions3 | 2.5 | 0 | r-packageprobability-distributionsstatistical-modelling | — |
| stringi | 2.5 | 0 | unicodeicubuild-portability | ICU 74.1 bundle lands; Solaris support dropped |
| distributional | 0.0 | 0 | r-packageprobability-distributionsdistribution-arithmetic | Distribution arithmetic: FFT convolution behind the + and - operators |
| ardlverse | 0.0 | 0 | econometricspanel-dataardl | — |
| weird | 0.0 | 0 | anomaly-detectionr-packagedistributional | — |
| n2kanalysis | 0.0 | 0 | biodiversity-monitoringinlabayesian-models | — |
| n1qn1c | 0.0 | 0 | numerical-optimizationquasi-newtonthread-safety | — |
| ggstatsplot | 0.0 | 0 | statistical-plotsggplot2contingency-tables | — |
| gtsummary | 0.0 | 0 | clinical-tablesanalysis-results-dataregression-summaries | — |
The 12 best collapse alternatives, in depth
1. vellumplot · velocity 6.3
Vellumplot tags its first release with a bet most R grammars don't make: the static figure and the widget are the same object.
Over the last 30 days vellumplot shipped 1 meaningful update vs collapse's 0, most recently “First tagged release: one spec compiles to PNG, SVG, tagged PDF and a widget”. Its velocity score of 6.3/10 blends that with longer-term release cadence.
Where collapse leans on data transformation, performance and simd, vellumplot focuses on r graphics, grammar of graphics and accessibility.
Over the last 30 days vellumplot has been shipping faster than collapse — a point in its favour if release momentum matters to you.
Full vellumplot trajectory → · Compare collapse vs vellumplot →
2. mizer · velocity 5.0
After two and a half years dormant, mizer shipped three major versions in seven weeks.
Its velocity score of 5.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence; its most recent meaningful update was “Diffusion enters the McKendrick-von Foerster equation, ending a two-year gap”.
Where collapse leans on data transformation, performance and simd, mizer focuses on size spectrum modelling, marine ecology and numerical methods.
mizer and collapse have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
3. vellum · velocity 5.0
Vellum's bugs are now found by using it, not testing it — the downstream grammar is doing the QA.
Its velocity score of 5.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence.
Where collapse leans on data transformation, performance and simd, vellum focuses on r graphics, rendering engine and linting.
vellum and collapse have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
4. distributions3 · velocity 2.5
Distributions3 changes hands to Achim Zeileis, and a moment calculation bug goes with it.
Its velocity score of 2.5/10 reflects longer-term release cadence.
Where collapse leans on data transformation, performance and simd, distributions3 focuses on r package, probability distributions and statistical modelling.
distributions3 and collapse have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
Full distributions3 trajectory → · Compare collapse vs distributions3 →
5. stringi · velocity 2.5
Stringi has spent two years on build hardening since its Unicode 15.1 reset.
Its velocity score of 2.5/10 reflects longer-term release cadence; its most recent meaningful update was “ICU 74.1 bundle lands; Solaris support dropped”.
Where collapse leans on data transformation, performance and simd, stringi focuses on unicode, icu and build portability.
stringi and collapse have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
6. distributional · velocity 0.0
Distributional taught + and - to work on any pair of distributions, closing the algebra it started with.
Its velocity score of 0.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence; its most recent meaningful update was “Distribution arithmetic: FFT convolution behind the + and - operators”.
Where collapse leans on data transformation, performance and simd, distributional focuses on r package, probability distributions and distribution arithmetic.
distributional and collapse have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
Full distributional trajectory → · Compare collapse vs distributional →
7. ardlverse · velocity 0.0
An outside audit against Stata found seven errors in ardlverse's panel estimator, including regressions with no intercept.
Its velocity score of 0.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence.
Where collapse leans on data transformation, performance and simd, ardlverse focuses on econometrics, panel data and ardl.
ardlverse and collapse have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
Full ardlverse trajectory → · Compare collapse vs ardlverse →
8. weird · velocity 0.0
Weird rebuilt itself on distributional objects, and now the anomaly tooling composes with everything else.
Its velocity score of 0.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence.
Where collapse leans on data transformation, performance and simd, weird focuses on anomaly detection, r package and distributional.
weird and collapse have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
9. n2kanalysis · velocity 0.0
N2kanalysis has spent eight years wiring INLA models to an S3 bucket.
Its velocity score of 0.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence.
Where collapse leans on data transformation, performance and simd, n2kanalysis focuses on biodiversity monitoring, inla and bayesian models.
n2kanalysis and collapse have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
Full n2kanalysis trajectory → · Compare collapse vs n2kanalysis →
10. n1qn1c · velocity 0.0
A Fortran-descended optimizer got thread-safe, then found two flags that never worked.
Its velocity score of 0.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence.
Where collapse leans on data transformation, performance and simd, n1qn1c focuses on numerical optimization, quasi newton and thread safety.
n1qn1c and collapse have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
11. ggstatsplot · velocity 0.0
Ggstatsplot reached 1.0 by adding tests, having outsourced its statistics years ago.
Its velocity score of 0.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence.
Where collapse leans on data transformation, performance and simd, ggstatsplot focuses on statistical plots, ggplot2 and contingency tables.
ggstatsplot and collapse have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
Full ggstatsplot trajectory → · Compare collapse vs ggstatsplot →
12. gtsummary · velocity 0.0
Gtsummary is quietly rebuilding itself around analysis results data, one table verb at a time.
Its velocity score of 0.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence.
Where collapse leans on data transformation, performance and simd, gtsummary focuses on clinical tables, analysis results data and regression summaries.
gtsummary and collapse have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
Full gtsummary trajectory → · Compare collapse vs gtsummary →
Frequently asked questions
What are the best alternatives to collapse?
The top collapse alternatives we currently track in analytics tools are vellumplot, mizer, vellum, distributions3, stringi, ranked by recent ship velocity.
How is this list of collapse alternatives ranked?
Alternatives are ranked by Sparkpulse's velocity_score — release cadence + 30-day spark count + sector-relative ship rate.
Can I compare collapse directly with one of these alternatives?
Yes — every card has a "Compare with collapse" link to a side-by-side /compare page.