STACAS
Single-cell batch correction that learned to use cell labels, then spent three releases chasing Seurat.
Comparison · Analytics
cfbfastr vs vecvec
A side-by-side editorial comparison of cfbfastr and vecvec — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
cfbfastr vs vecvec: 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 vecvec?
A vector-of-vectors class swapped its object system mid-flight and came out faster.
vecvec provides an R class that holds multiple vectors as a single logical vector without copying them together, aimed at cases where concatenating would be wasteful. The 1.0.0 rewrite moved the class off vctrs onto S7 while keeping user-facing code working, and added matrix and array behaviour. Recent releases have concentrated on the details that decide whether the abstraction actually saves work: ALTREP vectors surviving intact, subassignment edge cases, and printing that does not materialise what it is describing.
cfbfastr vs vecvec: 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.
vecvec
0.0ANALYTICS
A vector-of-vectors class swapped its object system mid-flight and came out faster.
◆ Current state
vecvec provides an R class that holds multiple vectors as a single logical vector without copying them together, aimed at cases where concatenating would be wasteful. The 1.0.0 rewrite moved the class off vctrs onto S7 while keeping user-facing code working, and added matrix and array behaviour. Recent releases have concentrated on the details that decide whether the abstraction actually saves work: ALTREP vectors surviving intact, subassignment edge cases, and printing that does not materialise what it is describing.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc runs from proving the idea to making it cheap. Early releases established constructors and vctrs dispatch; 1.0.0 rebuilt the internals on S7 with a smaller, faster representation and automatic flattening of adjacent compatible vectors; the two releases since have been about not defeating the point — an ALTREP vector flattened on construction or materialised by a print method gives back exactly the memory the class exists to save. Extensibility is the other visible thread, with custom ptype2 and cast methods now registrable and extension packages expected to subclass class_vecvec. The internal index structure is explicitly reserved for future change, so faster special-case representations look planned rather than incidental.
◆ Prediction
The reserved internal structure and the stated intent to accommodate faster variants point at specialised representations for particular vector types next; the entries do not indicate which cases are queued first.
Alternatives to cfbfastr and vecvec
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 vecvec.
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 vecvec alternatives →
Recent activity from cfbfastr and vecvec
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agovecvecExtension packages can register their own ptype and cast methods
- 1mo agovecvecALTREP vectors survive construction and printing intact
- 3mo agovecvecThe class is rebuilt on S7, with a new internal representation ⚡
- 4mo agovecvecMissing value handling fixed for is.na()
- 11mo agovecvecArithmetic and per-vector apply arrive
- 11mo agovecvecFirst release: constructors and vctrs dispatch
- 11mo agocfbfastrRebuilt on CFBD API v2 with metered access and live endpoints ⚡
- 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 vecvec?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. cfbfastr and vecvec 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 vecvec?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. cfbfastr and vecvec 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 vecvec?
Top vecvec alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "vecvec alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/vecvec for the full list with editorial commentary on each.