mlr3proba
mlr3proba is shedding weight as its survival work moves into sibling packages
A side-by-side editorial comparison of censored and patchwork — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
censored keeps survival models aligned with parsnip's shifting prediction contracts
censored supplies survival-analysis engines to parsnip, and its release history is dominated by staying in step with the rest of tidymodels rather than shipping independent features. The 0.2.0 and 0.3.0 releases added engines and prediction types; everything since has been contract alignment — quantile prediction format, hardhat test adaptation, flexsurv preparation.
patchwork stopped being a ggplot composer and became a page composer.
patchwork assembles plots into compositions with arithmetic operators, and the 1.x line has steadily hardened that grammar: guide and axis collection, free() to exempt a plot from alignment, inset_element() for overlays, and list-like behaviour so lapply() and length() work on a patchwork. Version 1.3.0 added native gt table support. The two releases since are a load-time warning fix and a compatibility pass for the next ggplot2 release.
censored supplies survival-analysis engines to parsnip, and its release history is dominated by staying in step with the rest of tidymodels rather than shipping independent features. The 0.2.0 and 0.3.0 releases added engines and prediction types; everything since has been contract alignment — quantile prediction format, hardhat test adaptation, flexsurv preparation.
The package is settling into a downstream role where parsnip and hardhat set the interface and censored implements it for censored regression. Breaking changes arrive from upstream, not from new ideas here. The substantive engine work — aorsf, flexsurvspline, glmnet multi_predict — is behind it, and recent cycles are thin.
Expect the next releases to track further parsnip prediction-type changes rather than add engines; the entries do not show new survival methods in progress.
patchwork assembles plots into compositions with arithmetic operators, and the 1.x line has steadily hardened that grammar: guide and axis collection, free() to exempt a plot from alignment, inset_element() for overlays, and list-like behaviour so lapply() and length() work on a patchwork. Version 1.3.0 added native gt table support. The two releases since are a load-time warning fix and a compatibility pass for the next ggplot2 release.
The centre of gravity is shifting from alignment mechanics to composition scope. Early releases were almost entirely bug fixes against grid and ggplot2 internals — strip placement, fixed aspect ratios, guide merging. Recent ones add object types and escape hatches instead. Between feature cycles the package is in maintenance defined by ggplot2's release calendar, which is what 1.3.1 is in its entirety.
Expect wrap_table() to grow beyond gt to other table objects, and expect the next substantive release to be triggered by a ggplot2 internals change rather than by a patchwork roadmap.
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 censored or patchwork.
mlr3proba is shedding weight as its survival work moves into sibling packages
mlr3viz keeps the ecosystem's plots working while the plots themselves move out
mlr3tuning is rebuilding its async machinery under a stable public surface
timetk swallowed anomalize whole, then went quiet for two years
modelbased is turning marginal effects into a full contrast grammar
easystats' parameters package absorbs one more model class every few weeks
See all censored alternatives → · See all patchwork alternatives →
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. censored and patchwork 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.
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. censored and patchwork 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.
Top censored alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "censored alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/censored for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
Top patchwork alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "patchwork alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/patchwork for the full list with editorial commentary on each.