cIRT
A choice-based IRT model published once in 2019 and kept compiling ever since
Comparison · Analytics
ddpcr vs DHARMa
A side-by-side editorial comparison of ddpcr and DHARMa — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
ddpcr vs DHARMa: at a glance
What is ddpcr?
A decade-old droplet PCR analysis package woken up for one compatibility release
ddpcr reads droplet digital PCR data exported from Bio-Rad's QuantaSoft, classifies droplets and ships a Shiny interface over the analysis. It has been on CRAN since 2016 alongside an F1000Research paper. The last ten years of releases are almost entirely about keeping pace with QuantaSoft export formats and with churn in its own R dependencies.
What is DHARMa?
DHARMa changed how GLMM residuals are simulated, so the same code now returns different numbers.
DHARMa generates scaled quantile residuals for fitted GLMMs and runs the dispersion, uniformity, and autocorrelation tests built on them. Version 0.5.0 changed the default simulation for hierarchical models from the model's own default, mostly unconditional, to conditional simulation, and states plainly that residuals will differ from those computed by older versions. The same release added brms to the supported model set and reworked how predictors are passed to plotting and testing functions.
ddpcr vs DHARMa: editorial side-by-side
ddpcr
0.0ANALYTICS
A decade-old droplet PCR analysis package woken up for one compatibility release
◆ Current state
ddpcr reads droplet digital PCR data exported from Bio-Rad's QuantaSoft, classifies droplets and ships a Shiny interface over the analysis. It has been on CRAN since 2016 alongside an F1000Research paper. The last ten years of releases are almost entirely about keeping pace with QuantaSoft export formats and with churn in its own R dependencies.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a maintained-not-developed package, and the release history shows it plainly: a burst of real work through 2016 and 2017, then long silences broken by releases whose stated purpose is staying on CRAN. The 2026 release fits the same shape but does more than the 2023 pair did, adding support for a QuantaSoft variant and finally retiring dplyr code written against a tidy evaluation style that has been outdated for years.
◆ Prediction
Nothing in the entries points to new analysis capability; the pattern suggests the package surfaces again only when a QuantaSoft export change or a dependency deprecation forces it.
DHARMa
0.0ANALYTICS
DHARMa changed how GLMM residuals are simulated, so the same code now returns different numbers.
◆ Current state
DHARMa generates scaled quantile residuals for fitted GLMMs and runs the dispersion, uniformity, and autocorrelation tests built on them. Version 0.5.0 changed the default simulation for hierarchical models from the model's own default, mostly unconditional, to conditional simulation, and states plainly that residuals will differ from those computed by older versions. The same release added brms to the supported model set and reworked how predictors are passed to plotting and testing functions.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has spent several releases widening which model backends it can diagnose, from glmmTMB through mgcv, phylolm and now brms, while methodological work has gone into handling correlated residuals via the rotation argument. Version 0.5.0 shifts from adding coverage to changing defaults for statistical power. The formula interface arriving across plotResiduals, testCategorical, testQuantiles and the autocorrelation tests suggests the API is being unified rather than extended function by function.
◆ Prediction
The next releases will likely broaden brms support past the simple-model restriction and continue converting remaining functions to the formula interface.
Alternatives to ddpcr and DHARMa
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 ddpcr or DHARMa.
MetaboAnalystR
The R engine behind MetaboAnalyst closes the gap from raw spectra to biological interpretation
fmtr
Rebuilding SAS's formatting layer in R, one format specification at a time
betaselectr
Standardised coefficients for models where standardising everything is wrong — but the feed only links out
SSN2
Stream-network spatial models learning to run on data that no longer fits in memory
BiocManager
Bioconductor's installer, frozen at 1.30.x and tuned almost entirely through environment variables
See all ddpcr alternatives → · See all DHARMa alternatives →
Recent activity from ddpcr and DHARMa
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2mo agoDHARMaConditional simulation becomes the GLMM default, changing residuals ⚡
- 7mo agoddpcrHandles QuantaSoft files with prepended header lines
- 1y agoDHARMaDHARMa 0.4.7
- 2y agoddpcrMaintenance release to stay on CRAN
- 3y agoddpcrCompatibility touch-ups for newer R and dependencies
- 3y agoDHARMaDHARMa 0.4.6
- 4y agoDHARMaDHARMa 0.4.5
- 4y agoDHARMaDHARMa 0.4.4
- 5y agoDHARMaDHARMa 0.4.3
- 9y agoddpcrChannel 1 and 2 targets read from QuantaSoft 1.7.4 exports
- 9y agoddpcrggplot2 2.2.0 compatibility and dependency bumps
- 10y agoddpcrCRAN and F1000Research release
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between ddpcr and DHARMa?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. ddpcr and DHARMa 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 ddpcr better than DHARMa?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. ddpcr and DHARMa 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 ddpcr?
Top ddpcr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ddpcr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ddpcr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to DHARMa?
Top DHARMa alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "DHARMa alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/dharma for the full list with editorial commentary on each.