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Single-cell batch correction that learned to use cell labels, then spent three releases chasing Seurat.
Comparison · Analytics
cfbfastr vs healthyR.ts
A side-by-side editorial comparison of cfbfastr and healthyR.ts — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
cfbfastr vs healthyR.ts: at a glance
What is cfbfastr?
College football's open data client hit v2 — and now reports how many API calls you have left.
cfbfastR retrieves college football data — play-by-play, box scores, betting lines, ratings and recruiting — from the CollegeFootballData API, ESPN endpoints and the sportsdataverse data repository. Version 2.0.0 in September 2025 was the first release in over three years and rebuilt the package against CFBD's v2 API. Every load_cfb_*() function changed its underlying source to comply with CFBD's terms, the play-by-play dataset gained team and game identifiers users previously had to join in themselves, and a batch of new endpoints arrived covering opponent-adjusted metrics, FPI ratings and live scoreboard and play data.
What is healthyR.ts?
healthyR.ts keeps adding time-series helpers, then quietly breaks the old ones to modernise them.
A time-series companion in the healthyverse family, shipping helper functions in batches: growth-rate vectors, an ADF test and auto_stationarize() in 0.2.11, then five log and differencing transforms in 0.3.0, and a random-walk plot in 0.3.2. Alongside the additions runs a steady stream of breaking cleanups — invisible returns dropped, R 4.1 required for the native pipe, and ts_ma_plot() refactored onto ggplot2 facets with its xts output removed and its return value cut from six items to two.
cfbfastr vs healthyR.ts: editorial side-by-side
cfbfastr
0.0ANALYTICS
College football's open data client hit v2 — and now reports how many API calls you have left.
◆ Current state
cfbfastR retrieves college football data — play-by-play, box scores, betting lines, ratings and recruiting — from the CollegeFootballData API, ESPN endpoints and the sportsdataverse data repository. Version 2.0.0 in September 2025 was the first release in over three years and rebuilt the package against CFBD's v2 API. Every load_cfb_*() function changed its underlying source to comply with CFBD's terms, the play-by-play dataset gained team and game identifiers users previously had to join in themselves, and a batch of new endpoints arrived covering opponent-adjusted metrics, FPI ratings and live scoreboard and play data.
◆ Where it's heading
The package's direction is now set by the data provider rather than by its own plans, and that provider has moved to metered access — the free tier is capped at 1,000 calls a month, with limits tied to membership level. cfbd_api_key_info() reporting a user's tier and usage is the clearest sign of that shift: quota is now something an analysis has to manage. The long gap before 2.0.0 and its arrival largely through a first-time contributor also indicate a package sustained by community effort rather than steady maintenance.
◆ Prediction
The live scoreboard and play endpoints are the natural place for the next work, since they are the ones that benefit from in-season iteration. Given the release notes warn users to check their pipelines, follow-up fixes for the changed loading functions are likely before anything new lands.
healthyR.ts
0.0ANALYTICS
healthyR.ts keeps adding time-series helpers, then quietly breaks the old ones to modernise them.
◆ Current state
A time-series companion in the healthyverse family, shipping helper functions in batches: growth-rate vectors, an ADF test and auto_stationarize() in 0.2.11, then five log and differencing transforms in 0.3.0, and a random-walk plot in 0.3.2. Alongside the additions runs a steady stream of breaking cleanups — invisible returns dropped, R 4.1 required for the native pipe, and ts_ma_plot() refactored onto ggplot2 facets with its xts output removed and its return value cut from six items to two.
◆ Where it's heading
Two threads, both consistent. The functional one is coverage of the stationarity workflow — transform, test, auto-stationarize, plot — assembled function by function rather than as a single API. The structural one is convergence on ggplot2 and tidy conventions, retiring xts objects and multi-object return lists as it goes. The package is not afraid to break return shapes to get there, so upgrades are not drop-in.
◆ Prediction
Expect the remaining functions that still return xts objects or bundled lists to get the same ggplot2-only treatment, since ts_ma_plot() was refactored on exactly that rationale.
Alternatives to cfbfastr and healthyR.ts
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 cfbfastr or healthyR.ts.
ggtrace
A debugger for ggplot2's internals, hardening its grip as the internals it traces keep moving.
kde1d
A univariate density estimator that added zero-inflated data and reopened its C++ API to do it.
svines
Stationary vine copulas for time series, released in lockstep with the rest of Nagler's vine stack.
gghighlight
A single-purpose ggplot2 extension that has spent six years tracking ggplot2 instead of growing.
rtrek
A Star Trek data package that became a Memory Alpha web client and has been patching scrapers ever since.
See all cfbfastr alternatives → · See all healthyR.ts alternatives →
Recent activity from cfbfastr and healthyR.ts
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6mo agohealthyR.tsRandom walk plot added; ts_ma_plot drops xts for ggplot2 facets
- 11mo agocfbfastrRebuilt on CFBD API v2 with metered access and live endpoints ⚡
- 1y agohealthyR.tsInvisible returns dropped; random walk and vva plot fixes
- 2y agohealthyR.tsFive log and differencing transform utilities added
- 2y agohealthyR.tsStationarity testing and auto_stationarize added
- 2y agohealthyR.tsSingle example fix
- 3y agohealthyR.tsBoilerplate fitting uses show_best directly
- 4y agocfbfastrESPN endpoints and repo-backed loaders added
- 4y agocfbfastrAll outputs standardised as tibbles with a custom class
- 4y agocfbfastrCRAN release with option-restoring cleanup
- 4y agocfbfastrMinor fixes to betting and FPI rating functions
- 4y agocfbfastrESPN scoreboard and play-by-play access, with argument cleanup
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between cfbfastr and healthyR.ts?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. cfbfastr and healthyR.ts 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 cfbfastr better than healthyR.ts?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. cfbfastr and healthyR.ts 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 cfbfastr?
Top cfbfastr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "cfbfastr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/cfbfastr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to healthyR.ts?
Top healthyR.ts alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "healthyR.ts alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/healthyr-ts for the full list with editorial commentary on each.