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Comparison · Infra & APIs
cvms vs forestploter
A side-by-side editorial comparison of cvms and forestploter — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
cvms vs forestploter: at a glance
What is cvms?
A cross-validation package whose real development has moved to its plotting function
cvms runs repeated cross-validation over model formulas and reports comparable metrics. The 2.0.0 release was a breaking correctness fix: every function accepting fold_cols mismatched training and testing data when fold indices were non-sequential, did not start at 1, or were strings, because the iteration index was compared against the raw fold value rather than its factor level index. 2.0.1 restored coefficient extraction for nnet::multinom and mixed models by supplying an environment containing the training data, and followed lme4's move of findbars() into the reformulas package.
What is forestploter?
A forest plot package that keeps handing users control of one more graphical detail.
forestploter draws forest plots where the layout is driven by the data frame itself, so text columns and confidence intervals sit in the same grid. The theme function has become the package's centre of gravity: it now controls graphical parameters for titles, legends, axis, arrow labels, footnotes, and reference lines, with multi-column and row-order legend controls added most recently. Two releases shipped nine minutes apart in April 2026 after a two-year gap, deprecating some theme parameters, removing inter-cell gaps, and improving tick breaks.
cvms vs forestploter: editorial side-by-side
cvms
0.0INFRA · APIS
A cross-validation package whose real development has moved to its plotting function
◆ Current state
cvms runs repeated cross-validation over model formulas and reports comparable metrics. The 2.0.0 release was a breaking correctness fix: every function accepting fold_cols mismatched training and testing data when fold indices were non-sequential, did not start at 1, or were strings, because the iteration index was compared against the raw fold value rather than its factor level index. 2.0.1 restored coefficient extraction for nnet::multinom and mixed models by supplying an environment containing the training data, and followed lme4's move of findbars() into the reformulas package.
◆ Where it's heading
Two threads run in parallel and only one is about cross-validation. The plotting function plot_confusion_matrix() has absorbed most feature work since 1.5.0 - custom gradient palettes, intensity limits, per-tile settings, dynamic font colors keyed to value thresholds, and arguments that accept functions rather than constants - to the point where a companion web application exists for using it without code. The cross-validation core, by contrast, sees maintenance: upstream compatibility fixes for pROC, ggnewscale and ggplot2, and the fold-matching correction that finally forced a major version.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued option growth in the confusion matrix plotting surface, since that is where nearly every release since 1.5.0 has spent its changes, with core cross-validation changes arriving only as upstream packages force them.
forestploter
0.0INFRA · APIS
A forest plot package that keeps handing users control of one more graphical detail.
◆ Current state
forestploter draws forest plots where the layout is driven by the data frame itself, so text columns and confidence intervals sit in the same grid. The theme function has become the package's centre of gravity: it now controls graphical parameters for titles, legends, axis, arrow labels, footnotes, and reference lines, with multi-column and row-order legend controls added most recently. Two releases shipped nine minutes apart in April 2026 after a two-year gap, deprecating some theme parameters, removing inter-cell gaps, and improving tick breaks.
◆ Where it's heading
The direction has been consistent for four years: whatever a user might want to restyle eventually becomes an argument. Point size stopped being transformed, cell height adjustment was removed as unwanted, legends gained size, column, and fill-order control, and vertical lines learned to extend the full plot height and to draw beneath the whiskers. The one structural move was 1.1.0, which let callers supply their own confidence-interval and summary drawing functions — turning a fixed renderer into an extensible one. Everything since has been the arguments that extensibility did not cover.
◆ Prediction
The latest release deprecates theme parameters rather than adding them, which suggests the next one consolidates the theme surface that has grown for four years rather than extending it further.
Alternatives to cvms and forestploter
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 cvms or forestploter.
WPML
WPML made machine translation the default, and its point releases keep chasing WordPress and page builders.
ggInterval
Interval-valued data plotting, spending 2026 making its function names and examples survive CRAN.
rgm
A microbiome network model that got itself un-archived by deleting the dependency that killed it.
contagionchannels
Three releases in ten days, every one of them a CRAN reviewer's correction rather than a code change.
tidyaudit
Pipeline provenance for tidyverse workflows, recording what changed at each step without keeping the data.
See all cvms alternatives → · See all forestploter alternatives →
Recent activity from cvms and forestploter
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2mo agocvmsCoefficient extraction restored for multinom and mixed models
- 3mo agoforestploterTheme parameters deprecated; cell gaps removed, ticks improved
- 3mo agoforestploterMulti-column legends and full-height vertical lines
- 9mo agocvmsBreaking fix for mismatched folds with non-sequential fold IDs
- 11mo agocvmsTest compatibility with pROC 1.19 and a deprecation warning fix
- 1y agocvmsConfusion matrix fonts and colors can now be computed from the values
- 1y agocvmsTile intensity by row or column percentages
- 1y agocvmsMultinom coefficient extraction fix after a parameters update
- 2y agoforestploterFull graphical control over titles, legends, axis and footnotes
- 2y agoforestploterTick digit calculation improved; automatic cell height removed
- 3y agoforestploterCustom CI and summary drawing functions; boxplots inside the plot
- 3y agoforestploterArbitrary grobs and math symbols can be placed in cells
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between cvms and forestploter?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Infra & APIs. cvms and forestploter 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 cvms better than forestploter?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. cvms and forestploter 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 cvms?
Top cvms alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "cvms alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/cvms for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to forestploter?
Top forestploter alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "forestploter alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/forestploter for the full list with editorial commentary on each.