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distributions3 vs ggstatsplot

A side-by-side editorial comparison of distributions3 and ggstatsplot — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Shared themes:r-package

distributions3 vs ggstatsplot: at a glance

Featuredistributions3ggstatsplot
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score2.50.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesr-package, probability-distributions, statistical-modelling, maintainershipstatistical-plots, ggplot2, contingency-tables, hypothesis-testing
Last editorial update46m ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is distributions3?

distributions3 changes hands to Achim Zeileis, and a moment calculation bug goes with it.

An R package giving probability distributions a consistent object interface — d/p/q/r functions, moments, and prodist() methods that extract a fitted distribution from a regression object. Releases are infrequent, roughly one a year, and the last one is largely administrative: Achim Zeileis takes over maintenance from Alex Hayes, with all URLs and documentation updated to match, alongside a fix to incorrect moment calculations reported by a user.

Read the full distributions3 trajectory →

What is ggstatsplot?

ggstatsplot reached 1.0 by adding tests, having outsourced its statistics years ago.

ggstatsplot produces ggplot2 graphics with statistical test results embedded in the subtitle and caption — comparisons, correlations, contingency tables, histograms. Since the 2019 refactoring that moved all statistical computation into the separate statsExpressions package, its own release notes have been dominated by upstream tracking: adapting to ggplot2, dplyr, purrr and easystats changes. The 1.0.0 release in April 2026 breaks that run with real additions to the contingency-table functions.

Read the full ggstatsplot trajectory →

distributions3 vs ggstatsplot: editorial side-by-side

D2.5

distributions3 changes hands to Achim Zeileis, and a moment calculation bug goes with it.

◆ Current state

An R package giving probability distributions a consistent object interface — d/p/q/r functions, moments, and prodist() methods that extract a fitted distribution from a regression object. Releases are infrequent, roughly one a year, and the last one is largely administrative: Achim Zeileis takes over maintenance from Alex Hayes, with all URLs and documentation updated to match, alongside a fix to incorrect moment calculations reported by a user.

◆ Where it's heading

The package's growth has come in two modes. Early releases absorbed whole families of distributions from outside contributors — the extreme-value set, Erlang, later the Poisson binomial — while later ones tightened the interface itself with is_discrete() and is_continuous() generics and elementwise type-safety when applying a distribution vector to a numeric vector. The handover is the notable event in the current window: maintenance moves to the author of the surrounding statistical ecosystem this package already integrates with through prodist() and countreg, which suggests the interface work will continue over the distribution-collection work.

◆ Prediction

Expect closer alignment with Zeileis's own packages, with prodist() coverage widening to more model classes; the entries here do not indicate whether new distribution families remain on the agenda.

G
ggstatsplot
ANALYTICS
0.0

ggstatsplot reached 1.0 by adding tests, having outsourced its statistics years ago.

◆ Current state

ggstatsplot produces ggplot2 graphics with statistical test results embedded in the subtitle and caption — comparisons, correlations, contingency tables, histograms. Since the 2019 refactoring that moved all statistical computation into the separate statsExpressions package, its own release notes have been dominated by upstream tracking: adapting to ggplot2, dplyr, purrr and easystats changes. The 1.0.0 release in April 2026 breaks that run with real additions to the contingency-table functions.

◆ Where it's heading

The architecture explains the cadence. With statistics living in statsExpressions, ggstatsplot's own releases are mostly the tax of sitting on top of a fast-moving plotting and tidyverse stack — five of the six most recent entries change nothing a user would notice. When substantive work does arrive it clusters in the plotting layer's coverage of test families, as in 1.0.0's one-sample goodness-of-fit support and pairwise contingency analyses. The maintainer is also visibly deliberate about scope, having removed the normality-curve overlay in 0.12.4 for being unrelated to the analysis in question.

◆ Prediction

Expect continued parity work across the plot family — features that exist in one function being extended to its siblings, as goodness-of-fit support moved from ggpiestats to ggbarstats — punctuated by maintenance releases tracking ggplot2 and easystats.

Alternatives to distributions3 and ggstatsplot

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 distributions3 or ggstatsplot.

See all distributions3 alternatives → · See all ggstatsplot alternatives →

Recent activity from distributions3 and ggstatsplot

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 24d agodistributions3Maintenance moves to Achim Zeileis; moment calculations corrected
  2. 3mo agoggstatsplotPairwise contingency tests and one-sample goodness-of-fit
  3. 4mo agoggstatsplotInternal maintenance only
  4. 6mo agoggstatsplotAdapted to dplyr 1.2.0 and purrr 1.2.1
  5. 8mo agoggstatsplotContributor list updated in DESCRIPTION
  6. 10mo agodistributions3ggplot2 compatibility for the plotting functions
  7. 10mo agoggstatsplotSecondary axis label parsing fixed in gghistostats
  8. 11mo agoggstatsplotAdapted to the latest ggplot2 release
  9. 1y agodistributions3Poisson binomial distribution, with a normal-approximation fallback
  10. 3y agodistributions3is_discrete and is_continuous generics, plus elementwise type-safety
  11. 4y agodistributions3Extreme-value family, Erlang, and a plotting generic

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between distributions3 and ggstatsplot?

Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. distributions3 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 distributions3 better than ggstatsplot?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. distributions3 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 distributions3?

Top distributions3 alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "distributions3 alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/distributions3-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to ggstatsplot?

Top ggstatsplot alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ggstatsplot alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ggstatsplot for the full list with editorial commentary on each.