httpuv
httpuv ships almost nothing, which is what you want from the web server under Shiny
Comparison · DevOps
ASP.NET Core vs httr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of ASP.NET Core and httr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:maintenance
ASP.NET Core vs httr: at a glance
What is ASP.NET Core?
ASP.NET Core's public feed is servicing traffic; the real work happens on the .NET 11 previews.
The repository ships on a predictable servicing rhythm — monthly patch rollups across the 8.0, 9.0, and 10.0 branches, dominated by branding bumps, dependency updates, and build-infrastructure work. User-visible changes are rare and concentrated in the 10.0 line, where Blazor fixes still land. The 11.0 preview tags appear separately and carry single commits rather than release notes.
What is httr?
httr's last releases are housekeeping - the package now points users at httr2
httr is in wind-down. The last release with real feature work was 1.4.0 in 2018; everything since is test stabilization, CRAN-driven fixes, and unwinding a dependency on the httpbin service. Version 1.4.7 removed the vignette contents outright and redirects readers to httr2.
ASP.NET Core vs httr: editorial side-by-side
ASP.NET Core
5.0DEVOPS
ASP.NET Core's public feed is servicing traffic; the real work happens on the .NET 11 previews.
◆ Current state
The repository ships on a predictable servicing rhythm — monthly patch rollups across the 8.0, 9.0, and 10.0 branches, dominated by branding bumps, dependency updates, and build-infrastructure work. User-visible changes are rare and concentrated in the 10.0 line, where Blazor fixes still land. The 11.0 preview tags appear separately and carry single commits rather than release notes.
◆ Where it's heading
Nothing in this feed suggests a directional shift: the 8.0 and 9.0 branches are in maintenance, 10.0 absorbs the remaining behavioral fixes, and 11.0 is accumulating previews one commit at a time. Recent servicing entries lean unusually heavily toward CI and internal feed authentication work — the team replacing expired PATs with build identity and moving pipelines to newer images. Read this feed for stability signals, not for product direction.
◆ Prediction
The cadence points to continued monthly servicing across all three branches, with .NET 11 preview tags accumulating until a preview release note consolidates them into something readable.
httr
0.0DEVOPS
httr's last releases are housekeeping - the package now points users at httr2
◆ Current state
httr is in wind-down. The last release with real feature work was 1.4.0 in 2018; everything since is test stabilization, CRAN-driven fixes, and unwinding a dependency on the httpbin service. Version 1.4.7 removed the vignette contents outright and redirects readers to httr2.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a succession, not a decline. The maintainers are keeping httr installable and passing checks for the very large base of packages that depend on it, while all design work happens in httr2. The pattern across these six releases is unambiguous: nothing lands here unless CRAN, a test service, or a platform forced it.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued patch releases driven only by CRAN checks and toolchain changes; the interesting HTTP work in R will keep landing in httr2.
Alternatives to ASP.NET Core and httr
Other DevOps products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either ASP.NET Core or httr.
promises
promises drops R6 for plain environments and wires async work into OpenTelemetry
withr
withr rebuilt defer() on base R's own on.exit(), and got much faster for it
htmltools
htmltools spends three releases walking back its own fill-layout opinions
xml2
xml2 relicensed to MIT, then moved its hot accessors from S3 into C
magrittr
magrittr rewrote its pipe in C, then base R shipped one and the releases stopped
See all ASP.NET Core alternatives → · See all httr alternatives →
Recent activity from ASP.NET Core and httr
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoASP.NET Core.NET 9.0.19
- 1d agoASP.NET Core.NET 8.0.30
- 16d agoASP.NET Core.NET 11 preview 7: OpenAPI generation environment support
- 27d agoASP.NET Corev10.0.11: [release/10.0] Limit Microsoft.OpenApi to disallow next major (#67772)
- 29d agoASP.NET Core.NET 10.0.10
- 29d agoASP.NET Core.NET 9.0.18
- 2y agohttrVignettes removed and redirected to httr2 ⚡
- 3y agohttrStops using the httpbin service in examples and tests
- 3y agohttrOut-of-band auth helper honors the rlang_interactive option
- 3y agohttrFixes an intermittent test failure
- 6y agohttrparse_url() follows RFC3986 for scheme parsing
- 7y agohttrDrops the Windows CA bundle override so curl uses schannel
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between ASP.NET Core and httr?
Both compete on the same themes — maintenance — within DevOps. ASP.NET Core is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is ASP.NET Core better than httr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. ASP.NET Core is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other DevOps products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to ASP.NET Core?
Top ASP.NET Core alternatives in DevOps are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ASP.NET Core alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/aspnet-core for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to httr?
Top httr alternatives in DevOps are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "httr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/httr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.