n2kanalysis
n2kanalysis has spent eight years wiring INLA models to an S3 bucket.
Comparison · Analytics
cheapr vs TwoSampleMR
A side-by-side editorial comparison of cheapr and TwoSampleMR — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
cheapr vs TwoSampleMR: 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 TwoSampleMR?
The flagship Mendelian randomization package is auditing its own estimators, one bootstrap at a time.
TwoSampleMR is the MRC-IEU package for two-sample Mendelian randomization against OpenGWAS. Its 2026 releases are a sustained correctness review rather than feature work: 0.7.9 fixed bootstrap standard errors in mr_mode() and mr_rucker_bootstrap() that had been inflated since v0.6.30, and repaired two Rucker functions that were returning malformed objects. Point estimates were not affected by the bootstrap bug.
cheapr vs TwoSampleMR: 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.
TwoSampleMR
0.0ANALYTICS
The flagship Mendelian randomization package is auditing its own estimators, one bootstrap at a time.
◆ Current state
TwoSampleMR is the MRC-IEU package for two-sample Mendelian randomization against OpenGWAS. Its 2026 releases are a sustained correctness review rather than feature work: 0.7.9 fixed bootstrap standard errors in mr_mode() and mr_rucker_bootstrap() that had been inflated since v0.6.30, and repaired two Rucker functions that were returning malformed objects. Point estimates were not affected by the bootstrap bug.
◆ Where it's heading
The pattern across these releases is a package being read line by line — a copy-paste weight vector in ldsc_rg(), chunking that produced zero splits for short SNP lists, penalisation recycled across the wrong SNPs, dead code paths removed, and regression tests added behind each fix. Alongside it runs a mechanical modernization pass: seq_len() for loop indices, tidyr in place of reshape2, current ggplot2 idioms, and the OpenGWAS URL migration. Feature work is limited to forest plot presentation.
◆ Prediction
Expect the audit to continue through the remaining bootstrap and jackknife routines, with releases staying in the 0.7.x patch range and each fix arriving with its own regression test.
Alternatives to cheapr and TwoSampleMR
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 TwoSampleMR.
n1qn1c
A Fortran-descended optimizer got thread-safe, then found two flags that never worked.
ggstatsplot
ggstatsplot reached 1.0 by adding tests, having outsourced its statistics years ago.
collapse
collapse got a JSS paper and a 7x fmean speedup in the same release.
gtsummary
gtsummary is quietly rebuilding itself around analysis results data, one table verb at a time.
broadcast
broadcast is filling in NumPy-style array broadcasting for R, operator by operator.
See all cheapr alternatives → · See all TwoSampleMR alternatives →
Recent activity from cheapr and TwoSampleMR
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agocheaprrep_len_ crash on shrinking lengths fixed
- 1mo agoTwoSampleMRBootstrap standard errors corrected in mode and Rucker estimators
- 2mo agoTwoSampleMRWrong weight vector and chunking fixes across the estimator set
- 2mo agoTwoSampleMRDeprecated ggplot2 idioms and dead code removed
- 3mo agoTwoSampleMROpenGWAS URLs migrated and Wald ratio warnings quieted
- 4mo agocheaprNon-API R internals removed
- 4mo agoTwoSampleMRCategorized forest plots aligned with the published figures
- 4mo agocheaprParallelised math, thread control, and a C API rewrite ⚡
- 4mo agoTwoSampleMRFurther internal code optimizations
- 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 TwoSampleMR?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. cheapr and TwoSampleMR 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 TwoSampleMR?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. cheapr and TwoSampleMR 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 TwoSampleMR?
Top TwoSampleMR alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "TwoSampleMR alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/twosamplemr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.