Whatagraph
Whatagraph keeps fixing what breaks when one account runs a thousand sources.
Comparison · Analytics
distributions3 vs momentuHMM
A side-by-side editorial comparison of distributions3 and momentuHMM — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
distributions3 vs momentuHMM: at a glance
| Feature | distributions3 | momentuHMM |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Analytics | Analytics |
| Velocity score | 6.3 | 0.0 |
| Sparks · 30d | 1 | 0 |
| Top themes | r-package, probability-distributions, empirical-distributions, likelihood-inference | movement-ecology, hidden-markov-models, telemetry, maintenance-mode |
| Last editorial update | 10h ago | 3d ago |
| Website | Visit → | Visit → |
What is distributions3?
distributions3 0.3.0 adds sample-based distributions and likelihood derivatives
An R package giving probability distributions a consistent object interface - d/p/q/r functions, moments, and prodist() methods that pull a fitted distribution out of a regression object. Version 0.3.0 is the first substantive release under Achim Zeileis's maintenance, and it widens what a distribution is allowed to be: Empirical() represents a distribution by a random sample rather than by parameters, and numerical fallbacks now fill in cdf(), pdf(), quantile(), random() and the moments for any object that implements only some of them. New score() and hessian() generics compute first and second derivatives of the log-likelihood with respect to the parameters, analytically for a few distributions and numerically for the rest.
What is momentuHMM?
The animal-movement HMM workhorse, feature-frozen since 2021 and coasting on compiler patches
momentuHMM fits hidden Markov models to animal telemetry — multiple data streams, measurement error, temporally irregular tracks, hierarchical and mixture structures. It is one of the reference implementations in movement ecology and is cited as such. Its capability set has been essentially fixed since 2021; the last four years of releases are compiler, dependency and CRAN metadata work.
distributions3 vs momentuHMM: editorial side-by-side
distributions3
6.3ANALYTICS
distributions3 0.3.0 adds sample-based distributions and likelihood derivatives
◆ Current state
An R package giving probability distributions a consistent object interface - d/p/q/r functions, moments, and prodist() methods that pull a fitted distribution out of a regression object. Version 0.3.0 is the first substantive release under Achim Zeileis's maintenance, and it widens what a distribution is allowed to be: Empirical() represents a distribution by a random sample rather than by parameters, and numerical fallbacks now fill in cdf(), pdf(), quantile(), random() and the moments for any object that implements only some of them. New score() and hessian() generics compute first and second derivatives of the log-likelihood with respect to the parameters, analytically for a few distributions and numerically for the rest.
◆ Where it's heading
Growth used to arrive as new distribution families contributed from outside - the extreme-value set, Erlang, later the Poisson binomial. This release changes the axis: alongside two new distributions it adds an inference layer (score, hessian) and a forecast-evaluation one (crps() methods against scoringRules), which are capabilities about distributions rather than more of them. Dependency weight is being cut at the same time, with ggplot2 demoted to Suggests and glue replaced by base R sprintf().
◆ Prediction
With numeric fallbacks and the derivative generics in place, expect analytic score() and hessian() methods to be filled in across more of the distribution catalogue. The constructor-default change is the likeliest source of follow-up fixes, since calls like Poisson() now return a length-zero distribution where they previously errored.
momentuHMM
0.0ANALYTICS
The animal-movement HMM workhorse, feature-frozen since 2021 and coasting on compiler patches
◆ Current state
momentuHMM fits hidden Markov models to animal telemetry — multiple data streams, measurement error, temporally irregular tracks, hierarchical and mixture structures. It is one of the reference implementations in movement ecology and is cited as such. Its capability set has been essentially fixed since 2021; the last four years of releases are compiler, dependency and CRAN metadata work.
◆ Where it's heading
The development arc peaked with 1.5.0 in 2019, which brought hierarchical HMMs, discrete individual random effects and multivariate normal data streams, and effectively closed with 1.5.4 in 2021. What follows is a maintenance tail driven entirely by other people's changes: RcppArmadillo deprecating a function, Brobdingnag unexporting one, crawl dropping an import, CRAN asking for metadata edits. The package is stable in the sense that matters to its users and dormant in the sense that matters to its roadmap.
◆ Prediction
On this pattern the next release will be another upstream-forced patch rather than new modelling capability, unless a maintainer change or a new methods paper reopens development.
Alternatives to distributions3 and momentuHMM
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 momentuHMM.
Lightdash
Lightdash keeps handing authoring to outside agents and keeping the governed layer for itself.
Delta Lake
A 4.4.0 tag appears, but the feed carries only its release plumbing
Basedash
Basedash keeps pushing its data out of the workspace — now to people without accounts
RStudio
RStudio ships through release branches, and the notes are commit messages
dbt Core
dbt Fusion's second beta is adapter work: ClickHouse gets materializations, indexes, and catalogs
See all distributions3 alternatives → · See all momentuHMM alternatives →
Recent activity from distributions3 and momentuHMM
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 11h agodistributions3Empirical distributions, plus score and hessian generics ⚡
- 29d agodistributions3Maintenance moves to Achim Zeileis; moment calculations corrected
- 8mo agomomentuHMMDrops an unexported Brobdingnag import
- 10mo agomomentuHMMSwitches to std::isfinite after RcppArmadillo deprecation
- 10mo agodistributions3ggplot2 compatibility for the plotting functions
- 1y agomomentuHMMCRAN-requested metadata and documentation edits
- 1y agodistributions3Poisson binomial distribution, with a normal-approximation fallback
- 3y agomomentuHMMraster moved to Imports after crawl dropped it
- 3y agodistributions3is_discrete and is_continuous generics, plus elementwise type-safety
- 4y agodistributions3Extreme-value family, Erlang, and a plotting generic
- 4y agomomentuHMMRandom-walk stream offset bug invalidates prior fits
- 5y agomomentuHMMdoFuture becomes the default parallel backend
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between distributions3 and momentuHMM?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. distributions3 is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 0.0), with 1 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 momentuHMM?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. distributions3 is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 0.0), with 1 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 momentuHMM?
Top momentuHMM alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "momentuHMM alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/momentuhmm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.