randomwalk
randomwalk spent every release getting an R simulation to run in the browser, not on a server.
Comparison · Analytics
crossmap vs rfm
A side-by-side editorial comparison of crossmap and rfm — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
crossmap vs rfm: at a glance
What is crossmap?
crossmap's roadmap is set by purrr and furrr — it deprecates what upstream deprecates.
A small package for mapping over combinations of arguments, following purrr and furrr conventions. Its own functional additions stopped after xpluck() in 2023 and the cross_fit() clustering work in 2022. Everything since tracks upstream: xmap_raw() and future_xmap_raw() are now defunct because purrr removed map_raw() and furrr removed future_pmap_raw(), and re-exported parallel helpers now come from parallelly rather than future.
What is rfm?
A customer segmentation package that went quiet for six years and returned with dependency hygiene
rfm computes recency, frequency and monetary segmentation for customer analytics in R. The feature surface was set early: 0.1.0 shipped a Shiny app and customer-level input, 0.2.0 added default segments and median statistics, 0.2.1 added user-specified score thresholds and returnable plot objects. Then nothing for nearly six years. Version 0.4.0 in April 2026 fixes a missing-column error and a customer id fault, and moves plotly and gganimate from Suggests to Imports.
crossmap vs rfm: editorial side-by-side
crossmap
0.0ANALYTICS
crossmap's roadmap is set by purrr and furrr — it deprecates what upstream deprecates.
◆ Current state
A small package for mapping over combinations of arguments, following purrr and furrr conventions. Its own functional additions stopped after xpluck() in 2023 and the cross_fit() clustering work in 2022. Everything since tracks upstream: xmap_raw() and future_xmap_raw() are now defunct because purrr removed map_raw() and furrr removed future_pmap_raw(), and re-exported parallel helpers now come from parallelly rather than future.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has settled into being a compatible extension rather than an independent one — its release notes read as a mirror of purrr's and furrr's deprecation schedules. Note that the release stamps are unreliable here: several versions were backfilled minutes apart and the 0.3.x tags carry timestamps in reverse version order, so feed position says nothing about what shipped when.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to be driven by another purrr or furrr change rather than new functionality, since that has been the sole trigger for the last four.
rfm
0.0ANALYTICS
A customer segmentation package that went quiet for six years and returned with dependency hygiene
◆ Current state
rfm computes recency, frequency and monetary segmentation for customer analytics in R. The feature surface was set early: 0.1.0 shipped a Shiny app and customer-level input, 0.2.0 added default segments and median statistics, 0.2.1 added user-specified score thresholds and returnable plot objects. Then nothing for nearly six years. Version 0.4.0 in April 2026 fixes a missing-column error and a customer id fault, and moves plotly and gganimate from Suggests to Imports.
◆ Where it's heading
The 0.4.0 release says more about maintenance posture than about product direction — the version jump past 0.3.x with only two bug fixes and a dependency reshuffle suggests a package being brought back to a releasable state rather than resuming development. Promoting plotly and gganimate to Imports makes the visualization stack mandatory, which is a heavier install in exchange for a simpler code path. The core RFM computation itself has not changed in this window.
◆ Prediction
The entries show a package returning from dormancy rather than pursuing a roadmap, so further small fixes are more likely than new segmentation capability.
Alternatives to crossmap and rfm
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 crossmap or rfm.
fastml
fastml added survival modelling and leakage-proof resampling, moving past classification and regression.
abclass
abclass built out angle-based classifiers in 2022, then went quiet except for CRAN upkeep.
churon
churon is spending its entire release history getting a Rust ONNX binding through CRAN.
firatheme
firatheme woke up after four years and started fixing what ggplot2 changed underneath it.
bagyo
bagyo reached CRAN as a Philippine tropical cyclone dataset, with its tags stamped out of order.
See all crossmap alternatives → · See all rfm alternatives →
Recent activity from crossmap and rfm
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3mo agorfmrfm 0.4.0
- 6mo agocrossmapRaw-vector mapping functions removed
- 6mo agocrossmapRe-exports moved to the parallelly namespace
- 11mo agocrossmapFuture-backed tests skipped on CRAN
- 11mo agocrossmapInternal test fixes
- 3y agocrossmapxpluck adds multi-index plucking
- 4y agocrossmapCluster specifications supported in cross_fit
- 6y agorfmrfm 0.2.2
- 6y agorfmrfm 0.2.1
- 7y agorfmrfm 0.2.0
- 8y agorfmrfm 0.1.1
- 8y agorfmrfm 0.1.0
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between crossmap and rfm?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. crossmap and rfm 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 crossmap better than rfm?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. crossmap and rfm 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 crossmap?
Top crossmap alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "crossmap alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/crossmap for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rfm?
Top rfm alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rfm alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rfm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.