DNSControl
DNSControl v5 is feature complete and counting down to an August ship date
Comparison · Infra & APIs
chromote vs highr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of chromote and highr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
chromote vs highr: at a glance
What is chromote?
chromote turned the browser itself into a pinned, downloadable dependency.
chromote drives headless Chrome from R over the DevTools Protocol and underpins the R screenshot and app-testing stack. The visible history is shaped almost entirely by Chrome's own changes: old headless mode removed, DevTools URLs moved, viewport APIs deprecated. Version 0.5.0 answered that by letting chromote fetch and pin specific Chrome builds itself.
What is highr?
highr is finished software: one-line releases every year or two
highr does syntax highlighting for knitr output, and every release in this window is a single line of change. The most recent wraps hilight() output in xfun::raw_string() for nicer printing; before that, a rename of two LaTeX command macros and two bumps to the minimum R version. There is no feature work here at all.
chromote vs highr: editorial side-by-side
chromote
0.0INFRA · APIS
chromote turned the browser itself into a pinned, downloadable dependency.
◆ Current state
chromote drives headless Chrome from R over the DevTools Protocol and underpins the R screenshot and app-testing stack. The visible history is shaped almost entirely by Chrome's own changes: old headless mode removed, DevTools URLs moved, viewport APIs deprecated. Version 0.5.0 answered that by letting chromote fetch and pin specific Chrome builds itself.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has moved from reacting to Chrome upgrades to controlling them. The 0.3.0 and 0.4.0 pair tracked the headless-mode transition by first adding an option and then flipping the default; 0.5.0 removed the need to track it at all by managing versioned binaries through Chrome for Testing. Alongside that, the session API keeps accumulating helpers that collapse multi-step DevTools call sequences, such as $go_to() and $set_viewport_size().
◆ Prediction
The version-management features shipped marked experimental, so the likely next step is stabilizing that API and extending the session helpers that wrap common DevTools sequences.
highr
0.0INFRA · APIS
highr is finished software: one-line releases every year or two
◆ Current state
highr does syntax highlighting for knitr output, and every release in this window is a single line of change. The most recent wraps hilight() output in xfun::raw_string() for nicer printing; before that, a rename of two LaTeX command macros and two bumps to the minimum R version. There is no feature work here at all.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a completed micro-package in the knitr ecosystem, maintained only to stay installable and consistent with its parent packages. Changes are triggered by knitr's needs or CRAN's requirements rather than by any plan of its own, and the gaps between releases run to years.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release whenever knitr or CRAN requires one, with a similarly single-line changelog.
Alternatives to chromote and highr
Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either chromote or highr.
git2r
git2r stopped vendoring libgit2 and now expects it on the system
Casdoor
casdoor ships several times a day, mostly tightening organization boundaries.
downlit
downlit's HTML contract was set in 0.4.0; every release since tracks R itself.
dittodb
dittodb has spent four years on CRAN link fixes and one DBI bump.
connectapi
connectapi is becoming the scripted administration surface for Posit Connect.
See all chromote alternatives → · See all highr alternatives →
Recent activity from chromote and highr
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5mo agohighrhilight() output wrapped in raw_string()
- 1y agochromote$go_to() helper added; DevTools view fixed for Chrome 135
- 1y agochromoteVersioned Chrome downloads and viewport control arrive ⚡
- 1y agochromoteDefault switches to new headless mode for Chrome v132+
- 1y agochromoteHeadless mode now selectable via option or env var
- 1y agochromoteFix launch_chrome() error caused by a typo
- 2y agohighrLaTeX macros renamed to \hlsng and \hldef
- 2y agochromoteis_active() redefined; adds respawn() and screenshot options
- 3y agohighrMinimum R version raised to 3.3.0
- 5y agohighrmarkdown added to Suggests for knitr
- 5y agohighrMinimum R version raised to 3.2.3
- 8y agohighrInternal pandoc LaTeX command table added
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between chromote and highr?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. chromote and highr 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 chromote better than highr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. chromote and highr 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 Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to chromote?
Top chromote alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "chromote alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/chromote for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to highr?
Top highr alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "highr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/highr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.