rnaturalearth
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
Comparison · Analytics
billboarder vs parameters
A side-by-side editorial comparison of billboarder and parameters — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
billboarder vs parameters: at a glance
What is billboarder?
An htmlwidget whose release notes are mostly billboard.js version bumps, quiet since 2021.
billboarder wraps the billboard.js charting library as an R htmlwidget, with Shiny proxy support for live updates. Most releases restate an upstream library version; the package's own additions arrive one function at a time, such as bauge(), bb_export() and set_color_palette(). The visible history stops at v0.3.1 in May 2021.
What is parameters?
easystats' parameters package absorbs one more model class every few weeks
parameters extracts and formats coefficients from an enormous range of R model objects, and its releases read as a running ledger of that range expanding — lavaan and lavaan.mi, survey, lcmm, glmmTMB, fixest, marginaleffects, ordinal. Recent versions ship roughly monthly with a mix of new support, new arguments, and fixes for label handling and standard errors. The most consequential recent change is behavioral: post-hoc standardization no longer standardizes the intercept, setting it and its inferential statistics to NA.
billboarder vs parameters: editorial side-by-side
billboarder
0.0ANALYTICS
An htmlwidget whose release notes are mostly billboard.js version bumps, quiet since 2021.
◆ Current state
billboarder wraps the billboard.js charting library as an R htmlwidget, with Shiny proxy support for live updates. Most releases restate an upstream library version; the package's own additions arrive one function at a time, such as bauge(), bb_export() and set_color_palette(). The visible history stops at v0.3.1 in May 2021.
◆ Where it's heading
The package tracks billboard.js rather than leading it, and the R-side features that do appear are thin conveniences over capabilities upstream already shipped. The one directional move visible here is 0.3.0's adoption of aes()-style mapping, which pulls the API toward tidyverse conventions. Nothing since 2021 suggests that convergence continued.
◆ Prediction
If the package resumes, the pattern points to another billboard.js bump with a small Shiny helper attached; the entries show no sign of a broader API rework.
parameters
0.0ANALYTICS
easystats' parameters package absorbs one more model class every few weeks
◆ Current state
parameters extracts and formats coefficients from an enormous range of R model objects, and its releases read as a running ledger of that range expanding — lavaan and lavaan.mi, survey, lcmm, glmmTMB, fixest, marginaleffects, ordinal. Recent versions ship roughly monthly with a mix of new support, new arguments, and fixes for label handling and standard errors. The most consequential recent change is behavioral: post-hoc standardization no longer standardizes the intercept, setting it and its inferential statistics to NA.
◆ Where it's heading
The package's job is to be the universal adapter for model output, so its roadmap is effectively set by what the R modelling ecosystem produces. Two threads are visible beyond coverage: getting standard errors right for awkward cases such as frailty terms and robust vcov matrices, and getting labels right when factors are converted on the fly or character variables appear in a formula. Interoperability inside easystats keeps tightening, with equivalence_test() gaining methods for modelbased objects.
◆ Prediction
Given the cadence, the next release will most likely add another model class alongside label and standard-error fixes rather than change how the package works.
Alternatives to billboarder and parameters
Other Analytics 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 billboarder or parameters.
writexl
writexl spent nine years refusing to do formatting, then shipped all of it in 2.0.0.
rgbif
rgbif is steadily pushing users off paged searching and onto real downloads.
rstanarm
rstanarm is community-maintained now, tracking Stan and lme4 rather than adding models.
taxa
taxa started a ground-up rewrite in 2021 and has published almost nothing since.
rotl
rotl's whole release history is keeping name matching honest against a moving taxonomy.
See all billboarder alternatives → · See all parameters alternatives →
Recent activity from billboarder and parameters
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agoparametersparameters 0.29.2 extends lavaan support and fixes label dropping
- 2mo agoparametersparameters 0.29.1 adds a cluster argument and fixes vcov handling
- 3mo agoparametersparameters 0.29.0 stops standardizing the intercept in post-hoc methods
- 8mo agoparametersparameters 0.28.3 adds Kenward-Roger and Satterthwaite for glmmTMB
- 11mo agoparametersparameters 0.28.2 updates tests for the latest fixest release
- 11mo agoparametersparameters 0.28.1 adds robust standard errors for glmmTMB
- 5y agobillboarderbillboard.js updated to 3.0.1
- 5y agobillboarderaes() mapping, set_color_palette() and a datalab theme
- 6y agobillboarderbb_export() adds PNG chart export for Shiny apps
- 6y agobillboarderbillboard.js upgraded to 1.10.0
- 7y agobillboarderbauge() adds a self-updating gauge for Shiny
- 7y agobillboarderbillboard.js upgraded to 1.7.0
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between billboarder and parameters?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. billboarder and parameters are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is billboarder better than parameters?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. billboarder and parameters are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 0.0 vs 0.0, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to billboarder?
Top billboarder alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "billboarder alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/billboarder for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to parameters?
Top parameters alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "parameters alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/parameters-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.