writexl
writexl spent nine years refusing to do formatting, then shipped all of it in 2.0.0.
Comparison · Analytics
easystats vs rnaturalearth
A side-by-side editorial comparison of easystats and rnaturalearth — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
easystats vs rnaturalearth: at a glance
What is easystats?
The easystats meta-package is install tooling wrapped around a relicensed ecosystem.
easystats is the meta-package for the easystats ecosystem, which spans insight, parameters, performance and their siblings. It ships almost no statistics of its own; its releases add installation helpers, ecosystem introspection functions and vignettes. The consequential release in this window is 0.7.0, which moved the whole ecosystem to an MIT license.
What is rnaturalearth?
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
1.0.0 ended sp support outright, making sf the default and offering terra's SpatVector via `returnclass`, after 0.3.3 had signposted that with lifecycle badges. The two releases since move to delivery mechanics: 1.1.0 reads data directly out of the zip through the GDAL Virtual File System, starts moving unloaded downloads to GeoPackage instead of shapefile, and switches the base URL to naciscdn.org; 1.2.0 adds caching to `ne_download()` when `destdir` is persistent, swaps devtools for pak when installing the companion data packages, and handles Natural Earth's inconsistent raster zip layouts.
easystats vs rnaturalearth: editorial side-by-side
easystats
0.0ANALYTICS
The easystats meta-package is install tooling wrapped around a relicensed ecosystem.
◆ Current state
easystats is the meta-package for the easystats ecosystem, which spans insight, parameters, performance and their siblings. It ships almost no statistics of its own; its releases add installation helpers, ecosystem introspection functions and vignettes. The consequential release in this window is 0.7.0, which moved the whole ecosystem to an MIT license.
◆ Where it's heading
Work concentrates on making the ecosystem legible and installable as a unit: easystats_packages() to enumerate it, easystats_citations() to count its citations, pak and r-universe support to install it, and a complete-workflow vignette to show it in use. Underneath that, 0.7.0 settled the licensing and formalized the author list. The pattern is a project tending its own boundaries rather than adding capability.
◆ Prediction
The recent additions are all introspection and installation helpers, so the next release most likely adds another of those or refreshes component versions rather than changing what the ecosystem does.
rnaturalearth
0.0ANALYTICS
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
◆ Current state
1.0.0 ended sp support outright, making sf the default and offering terra's SpatVector via `returnclass`, after 0.3.3 had signposted that with lifecycle badges. The two releases since move to delivery mechanics: 1.1.0 reads data directly out of the zip through the GDAL Virtual File System, starts moving unloaded downloads to GeoPackage instead of shapefile, and switches the base URL to naciscdn.org; 1.2.0 adds caching to `ne_download()` when `destdir` is persistent, swaps devtools for pak when installing the companion data packages, and handles Natural Earth's inconsistent raster zip layouts.
◆ Where it's heading
With the class question settled, the work has shifted to not re-downloading and not unpacking — VFS reads, caching, and a container format that does not need a sidecar of four files. That points at the package being used in repeated or automated contexts rather than interactive one-offs. The shapefile-to-GeoPackage transition is explicitly incomplete.
◆ Prediction
Completing the GeoPackage transition for `load = FALSE` downloads is the obvious next step, since 1.1.0 described it as in progress.
Alternatives to easystats and rnaturalearth
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 easystats or rnaturalearth.
rgbif
rgbif is steadily pushing users off paged searching and onto real downloads.
rstanarm
rstanarm is community-maintained now, tracking Stan and lme4 rather than adding models.
taxa
taxa started a ground-up rewrite in 2021 and has published almost nothing since.
rotl
rotl's whole release history is keeping name matching honest against a moving taxonomy.
taxize
taxize spends its releases absorbing other people's API changes, one dead source at a time.
See all easystats alternatives → · See all rnaturalearth alternatives →
Recent activity from easystats and rnaturalearth
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6mo agornaturalearthrnaturalearth 1.2.0
- 1y agornaturalearthrnaturalearth 1.1.0
- 1y agoeasystatseasystats_citations() added; install_latest() gains a github source
- 1y agoeasystatsComplete-workflow vignette added; install_suggested() fix
- 2y agoeasystatseasystats_packages() added; pak used for installs when available
- 2y agoeasystatsR version policy vignette added
- 2y agoeasystatsFix for development package version detection
- 2y agornaturalearthrnaturalearth 1.0.0 drops sp for sf and terra
- 2y agoeasystatsEcosystem relicensed to MIT; two new authors added ⚡
- 3y agornaturalearthrnaturalearth 0.3.3 deprecates sp, imports terra
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between easystats and rnaturalearth?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. easystats and rnaturalearth 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 easystats better than rnaturalearth?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. easystats and rnaturalearth 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 easystats?
Top easystats alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "easystats alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/easystats for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rnaturalearth?
Top rnaturalearth alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rnaturalearth alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rnaturalearth for the full list with editorial commentary on each.