EvoPhylo
EvoPhylo added BEAST2 alongside MrBayes, then went quiet for two years.
Comparison · Analytics
cheapr vs mutagen
A side-by-side editorial comparison of cheapr and mutagen — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
cheapr vs mutagen: at a glance
What is cheapr?
cheapr turned multi-threaded, and its next stop is a C++20 public API.
cheapr supplies lower-overhead replacements for base R's data manipulation primitives — subsetting, recycling, concatenation, attribute handling, data frame construction. Through 2025 it grew function by function: sset_df/sset_row/sset_col, list_as_df, cheapr_c, counts, str_coalesce, df_modify. The 1.5.0 release in April 2026 changed the nature of the package, adding parallelised math functions, user-settable thread counts, multi-threaded vector initialisers, and a SIMD-parallelised if_else_, with threading on by default at two threads.
What is mutagen?
A young package porting Stata's egen row-wise helpers to the tidyverse, one function per release
mutagen provides row-wise column-generation helpers for R data frames in the spirit of Stata's egen — gen_rowmean(), gen_rowsum(), gen_rowsd(), gen_rownonmiss() and about a dozen siblings. It reached 0.5.0 within three months of its first release, adding two or three functions each time. The most recent release adds gen_coldiff() and renames two functions to fit the naming scheme.
cheapr vs mutagen: editorial side-by-side
cheapr
0.0ANALYTICS
cheapr turned multi-threaded, and its next stop is a C++20 public API.
◆ Current state
cheapr supplies lower-overhead replacements for base R's data manipulation primitives — subsetting, recycling, concatenation, attribute handling, data frame construction. Through 2025 it grew function by function: sset_df/sset_row/sset_col, list_as_df, cheapr_c, counts, str_coalesce, df_modify. The 1.5.0 release in April 2026 changed the nature of the package, adding parallelised math functions, user-settable thread counts, multi-threaded vector initialisers, and a SIMD-parallelised if_else_, with threading on by default at two threads.
◆ Where it's heading
Two arcs run at once. The visible one is parallelism: what began as single-threaded C shortcuts is becoming a threaded compute layer, and the notes state the C/C++ API is mid-rewrite with a stable form promised at 2.0.0 behind a C++20 requirement. The quieter one is R C API compliance — 1.5.1 removed R_MissingArg, R_UnboundValue, Rf_findVar and Rf_findVarinFrame, the non-API entry points being closed off upstream. The 1.5.x patches since are narrow crash fixes, which reads as consolidation before the 2.0.0 break.
◆ Prediction
Expect 2.0.0 to land the stable C/C++ API behind a C++20 toolchain floor, with more of the existing function surface threaded in the interim. The package has announced both moves in its own release notes.
mutagen
0.0ANALYTICS
A young package porting Stata's egen row-wise helpers to the tidyverse, one function per release
◆ Current state
mutagen provides row-wise column-generation helpers for R data frames in the spirit of Stata's egen — gen_rowmean(), gen_rowsum(), gen_rowsd(), gen_rownonmiss() and about a dozen siblings. It reached 0.5.0 within three months of its first release, adding two or three functions each time. The most recent release adds gen_coldiff() and renames two functions to fit the naming scheme.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is filling out a known surface rather than discovering one: the reference implementation exists in Stata, so development is a matter of working through the list. Alongside that, the naming convention is still settling — gen_rowmatch became gen_rowany, gen_percent became gen_colpercent, gen_na_listcol became gen_listcol_na — which is normal for a pre-1.0 package but means callers should expect further renames. Contributions are arriving from several first-time contributors.
◆ Prediction
The gen_col* prefix has only two members against a dozen gen_row* functions, so column-wise coverage is the obvious gap; expect it to fill before the naming stabilises for a 1.0.
Alternatives to cheapr and mutagen
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 cheapr or mutagen.
treespace
treespace ships once every year or two, and only when CRAN or a user forces it.
Rpath
Rpath 1.1.0 learns to read Ecopath's own files, easing migration off the desktop tool.
TAF
TAF keeps turning ICES stock assessments into reproducible, dependency-pinned projects.
parallelDist
parallelDist is in pure preservation mode — one build fix every few years.
cairo
Cairo finally catches R's graphics engine, all the way to GE API 16.
See all cheapr alternatives → · See all mutagen alternatives →
Recent activity from cheapr and mutagen
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agocheaprrep_len_ crash on shrinking lengths fixed
- 4mo agocheaprNon-API R internals removed
- 4mo agocheaprParallelised math, thread control, and a C API rewrite ⚡
- 8mo agomutagengen_coldiff() added; two functions renamed for consistency
- 9mo agomutagengen_rowsum() and gen_rowsd() added
- 9mo agomutagengen_rownonmiss() and gen_rowall() added
- 9mo agomutagenRow mean, median and missingness helpers; gen_rowmatch renamed
- 11mo agomutagenFirst release with the row-wise gen_* family
- 1y agocheaprSubsetting speedups; sset_col negative-index crash fixed
- 1y agocheaprdf_modify added; attribute helpers renamed for intent
- 1y agocheaprcounts and str_coalesce added; reconstruct renamed to rebuild
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between cheapr and mutagen?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. cheapr and mutagen 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 cheapr better than mutagen?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. cheapr and mutagen 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 cheapr?
Top cheapr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "cheapr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/cheapr-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to mutagen?
Top mutagen alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "mutagen alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mutagen-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.