distributions3
distributions3 changes hands to Achim Zeileis, and a moment calculation bug goes with it.
Comparison · Analytics
collapse vs fastplyr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of collapse and fastplyr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
collapse vs fastplyr: at a glance
What is collapse?
collapse got a JSS paper and a 7x fmean speedup in the same release.
collapse provides fast grouped statistical computing and data transformation for R, built on a C backend with its own grouping, hashing and aggregation primitives. The 2.1.x line is a maintenance and optimization series: SIMD multiple-accumulator work delivering roughly 2x on fsum() and 7x on fmean() for systems without OpenMP, a custom internal unlist() with better attribute preservation, and a steady stream of correctness fixes in collap(), pivot() and roworderv().
What is fastplyr?
A fast dplyr stand-in that keeps finding new places to skip work entirely.
fastplyr reimplements the dplyr verbs on a faster backend, exposing f_summarise, f_mutate, f_reframe and a set of group metadata helpers alongside optimized joins and quantiles. The most recent release removes non-API C functions and raises the floor to R 4.5.0, a steep requirement that follows the C++17 requirement introduced a release earlier. The verb surface itself has been stable since 0.9.0.
collapse vs fastplyr: editorial side-by-side
collapse
0.0ANALYTICS
collapse got a JSS paper and a 7x fmean speedup in the same release.
◆ Current state
collapse provides fast grouped statistical computing and data transformation for R, built on a C backend with its own grouping, hashing and aggregation primitives. The 2.1.x line is a maintenance and optimization series: SIMD multiple-accumulator work delivering roughly 2x on fsum() and 7x on fmean() for systems without OpenMP, a custom internal unlist() with better attribute preservation, and a steady stream of correctness fixes in collap(), pivot() and roworderv().
◆ Where it's heading
The package is consolidating institutionally as much as technically. The repository moved to the fastverse organization with multiple people granted access, the Journal of Statistical Software paper landed as the primary citation, and documentation now includes an AI-generated interactive layer. Technically the focus is the hashing and grouping core — the decision to treat -0 and 0 as equal across funique(), group(), fmatch(), fmode() and their derivatives was made in sync with an equivalent change in Rcpp, and accepted a measured 3% cost to get it. The last release with breaking changes sits outside this six-entry window.
◆ Prediction
Expect further targeted performance work on the grouped statistical functions and continued small correctness fixes; the governance move to fastverse suggests contribution volume rather than direction is what the maintainer is managing.
fastplyr
0.0ANALYTICS
A fast dplyr stand-in that keeps finding new places to skip work entirely.
◆ Current state
fastplyr reimplements the dplyr verbs on a faster backend, exposing f_summarise, f_mutate, f_reframe and a set of group metadata helpers alongside optimized joins and quantiles. The most recent release removes non-API C functions and raises the floor to R 4.5.0, a steep requirement that follows the C++17 requirement introduced a release earlier. The verb surface itself has been stable since 0.9.0.
◆ Where it's heading
The optimization strategy has shifted from making individual functions fast to reasoning about expressions before evaluating them — 0.9.9 began marking simple operators as group-unaware so expressions built only from them are evaluated across the whole data frame rather than per group. That is a structural bet: the package increasingly inspects what you wrote to decide how much work is actually needed. Running alongside it is a steady tightening of build requirements, with C++17, R 4.5.0 and CRAN's C API rules all landing within a year.
◆ Prediction
Expect the group-unaware classification to widen to more functions, since each addition compounds across every grouped expression, and expect the dependency floors to keep rising as the package tracks CRAN's compiled-code policy.
Alternatives to collapse and fastplyr
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 collapse or fastplyr.
mizer
After two and a half years dormant, mizer shipped three major versions in seven weeks.
vellumplot
vellumplot tags its first release with a bet most R grammars don't make: the static figure and the widget are the same object.
vellum
vellum's bugs are now found by using it, not testing it — the downstream grammar is doing the QA.
n2kanalysis
n2kanalysis has spent eight years wiring INLA models to an S3 bucket.
n1qn1c
A Fortran-descended optimizer got thread-safe, then found two flags that never worked.
See all collapse alternatives → · See all fastplyr alternatives →
Recent activity from collapse and fastplyr
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2mo agocollapseSIMD accumulators give fmean a 7x speedup without OpenMP
- 4mo agofastplyrNon-API C functions dropped, R 4.5.0 now required
- 7mo agocollapseNegative zero now hashes equal to zero across the package
- 8mo agofastplyrIn-place sorting arrives with a C++17 requirement
- 8mo agocollapsecollap() no longer double-aggregates external weights
- 9mo agocollapseCustom unlist() preserves attributes
- 10mo agofastplyrGroup-unaware expressions evaluated on the whole frame
- 0y agocollapseAssorted bug fixes
- 1y agofastplyrf_mutate and f_reframe complete the verb set
- 1y agocollapsena_insert gains by-reference mode; gsplit and pivot speed up
- 1y agofastplyrDynamic argument evaluation and f_pull
- 1y agofastplyrf_fill added and grouped joins repaired
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between collapse and fastplyr?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. collapse and fastplyr 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 collapse better than fastplyr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. collapse and fastplyr 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 collapse?
Top collapse alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "collapse alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/collapse-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to fastplyr?
Top fastplyr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "fastplyr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/fastplyr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.