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Comparison · Analytics
Distributions.jl vs StatsBase.jl
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Distributions.jl and StatsBase.jl — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:juliastatisticsmaintenance
Distributions.jl vs StatsBase.jl: at a glance
What is Distributions.jl?
Julia's distribution library grinds forward one distribution at a time
Distributions.jl ships small, frequent releases against a large and settled API surface. Recent work splits between correctness fixes to individual distributions (LogitNormal formulas, Semicircle quantiles, Truncated Chernoff), incremental fitting support such as sufficient statistics and MLE for Chi and Chisq, and infrastructure moves like more consistent error types and global sparsity tracing through constructors.
What is StatsBase.jl?
StatsBase.jl is in caretaker mode — correctness fixes in, dependency bumps out.
StatsBase.jl is deep in the 0.34 patch series, releasing every few months with changes that are either small correctness fixes or bot-authored dependency bumps. The most substantive recent release, 0.34.10, fixed weighted sampling with UnitWeights, sped up unweighted ecdf, and widened quantile to accept non-Real element types. Since then the tags have thinned to CI action bumps and a diff-only note.
Distributions.jl vs StatsBase.jl: editorial side-by-side
Distributions.jl
2.5ANALYTICS
Julia's distribution library grinds forward one distribution at a time
◆ Current state
Distributions.jl ships small, frequent releases against a large and settled API surface. Recent work splits between correctness fixes to individual distributions (LogitNormal formulas, Semicircle quantiles, Truncated Chernoff), incremental fitting support such as sufficient statistics and MLE for Chi and Chisq, and infrastructure moves like more consistent error types and global sparsity tracing through constructors.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc is consolidation rather than expansion: dependencies are being pruned and internals made more predictable so the package composes cleanly with the rest of the Julia numerical stack. Support for sparsity tracing and looser MvNormal type aliases both point at making the library easier to drive from automatic-differentiation and optimization code.
◆ Prediction
Expect the same cadence of per-distribution fixes and fitting-method additions, with continued work on making constructors transparent to tracing and AD tooling. Nothing in these entries signals a major version or API break.
StatsBase.jl
0.0ANALYTICS
StatsBase.jl is in caretaker mode — correctness fixes in, dependency bumps out.
◆ Current state
StatsBase.jl is deep in the 0.34 patch series, releasing every few months with changes that are either small correctness fixes or bot-authored dependency bumps. The most substantive recent release, 0.34.10, fixed weighted sampling with UnitWeights, sped up unweighted ecdf, and widened quantile to accept non-Real element types. Since then the tags have thinned to CI action bumps and a diff-only note.
◆ Where it's heading
This is the shape of a foundational Julia package that has reached its intended scope: the API is settled, and maintenance means keeping compat bounds current and closing long-tail correctness issues raised by users. Nothing in the feed suggests new statistical capability is being staged. The most likely reason is that new work now lands in the downstream packages that build on StatsBase rather than in StatsBase itself.
◆ Prediction
Expect more 0.34.x patches on the same rhythm — CompatHelper bumps and occasional user-reported edge-case fixes — with no signal in these entries that a 0.35 or 1.0 is being prepared.
Alternatives to Distributions.jl and StatsBase.jl
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 Distributions.jl or StatsBase.jl.
OpenHouse
OpenHouse is hardening the seams where table policies and jobs quietly fail.
silx
silx 3.0 moved its default Qt binding to PySide6 — a migration for everyone embedding it.
statsmodels
statsmodels ships only what the ecosystem breaks — six releases, no new statistics.
iris
Iris ships steadily on a two-a-year cadence, but its feed publishes only pointers.
shiny
Shiny made reactive apps observable, then gave them a way to tear themselves down
See all Distributions.jl alternatives → · See all StatsBase.jl alternatives →
Recent activity from Distributions.jl and StatsBase.jl
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 16d agoDistributions.jlLogitNormal comment fix and doc typo cleanup
- 1mo agoDistributions.jlLooser MvNormal and MvNormalCanon type aliases
- 1mo agoDistributions.jlTruncated Chernoff quantile and sparsity tracing fixes
- 1mo agoDistributions.jlSparsity tracing works through distribution constructors
- 1mo agoStatsBase.jlv0.34.12
- 2mo agoDistributions.jlStatsFuns 2 upgrade and CI action bumps
- 2mo agoStatsBase.jlv0.34.11
- 3mo agoDistributions.jlSufficient statistics and MLE for Chi and Chisq
- 7mo agoStatsBase.jl0.34.10: faster unweighted ecdf and quantile on non-Real element types
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Distributions.jl and StatsBase.jl?
Both compete on the same themes — julia, statistics, maintenance — within Analytics. Distributions.jl is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Distributions.jl better than StatsBase.jl?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Distributions.jl is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Distributions.jl?
Top Distributions.jl alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Distributions.jl alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/distributions-jl for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to StatsBase.jl?
Top StatsBase.jl alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "StatsBase.jl alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/statsbase-jl for the full list with editorial commentary on each.