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Comparison · Analytics

epidemics vs fabletools

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

epidemics vs fabletools: at a glance

Featureepidemicsfabletools
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score3.80.0
Sparks · 30d10
Top themesepiverse-trace, compartmental-models, odin, breaking-changesforecasting, tidyverts, model-combination, reconciliation
Last editorial update4h ago56m ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is epidemics?

epidemics swapped its C++ engine for odin — and quietly inverted how contact matrices must be passed.

epidemics ships composable compartmental model structures — default SEIR-V, Vacamole, diphtheria and Ebola — with classes for populations, interventions and vaccination campaigns. After more than two years without a release, 0.5.0 landed in July 2026 carrying both an engine migration and a breaking input-convention change. Maintainership moved to a new lead back in 0.4.0.

Read the full epidemics trajectory →

What is fabletools?

The tidyverts forecasting core rebuilt model combination on full residual covariance.

fabletools is the framework layer under fable and fpp3 — mables, fables, accuracy measures, reconciliation, and the model arithmetic that lets forecasters express ensembles as expressions. Version 0.8.0 reworked that arithmetic: combination now uses a joint N-way convolution accounting for the full residual covariance across components rather than composing pairwise, and every arithmetic operator collapses to a single model_combination with correctly implied weights, so nested expressions like ((m1 + m2)/2 + m3)/2 flatten automatically. In parallel, the package has been shedding graphics to {ggtime} on a deliberately slow deprecation clock.

Read the full fabletools trajectory →

epidemics vs fabletools: editorial side-by-side

E
epidemics
ANALYTICS
3.8

epidemics swapped its C++ engine for odin — and quietly inverted how contact matrices must be passed.

◆ Current state

epidemics ships composable compartmental model structures — default SEIR-V, Vacamole, diphtheria and Ebola — with classes for populations, interventions and vaccination campaigns. After more than two years without a release, 0.5.0 landed in July 2026 carrying both an engine migration and a breaking input-convention change. Maintainership moved to a new lead back in 0.4.0.

◆ Where it's heading

The package's history is a sequence of deliberate breaking releases: 0.2.0 renamed every model function and vectorised the ODE models, 0.3.0 restructured the Ebola model into two levels and made replicates the default, and 0.5.0 rewrites the compiled core. The direction is toward a smaller, more declarative model definition layer with the numerical work delegated to a dedicated tool.

◆ Prediction

With the default, Vacamole and diphtheria systems now declared in odin, the Ebola model is the obvious remaining candidate for the same treatment.

F
fabletools
ANALYTICS
0.0

The tidyverts forecasting core rebuilt model combination on full residual covariance.

◆ Current state

fabletools is the framework layer under fable and fpp3 — mables, fables, accuracy measures, reconciliation, and the model arithmetic that lets forecasters express ensembles as expressions. Version 0.8.0 reworked that arithmetic: combination now uses a joint N-way convolution accounting for the full residual covariance across components rather than composing pairwise, and every arithmetic operator collapses to a single model_combination with correctly implied weights, so nested expressions like ((m1 + m2)/2 + m3)/2 flatten automatically. In parallel, the package has been shedding graphics to {ggtime} on a deliberately slow deprecation clock.

◆ Where it's heading

The framework is being narrowed and deepened at the same time. Narrowed, because plotting is moving out to a dedicated package over an announced two-year deprecation, leaving fabletools to modeling infrastructure. Deepened, because the recent statistical work targets correctness in places users could not easily inspect — combination weights, inverse-variance weighting computed on response rather than innovation residuals, reconciliation coherency matrices exposed via coherent_smat() and coherent_cmat(). Class hygiene follows the same instinct, with mdl_lst replacing lst_mdl and gaining augment(), glance(), and tidy() so global and reconciliation models report statistics like any other.

◆ Prediction

With combination and reconciliation infrastructure freshly reworked, the remaining announced work is the ggtime separation, so expect the graphics re-exports to keep degrading toward removal while modeling changes stay incremental.

Alternatives to epidemics and fabletools

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 epidemics or fabletools.

See all epidemics alternatives → · See all fabletools alternatives →

Recent activity from epidemics and fabletools

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

  1. 25d agoepidemicsODE models migrate to odin; contact matrices must no longer be transposed
  2. 1mo agofabletoolsModel combination rebuilt on joint N-way convolution
  3. 3mo agofabletoolsCoherency matrices exposed, mdl_lst gains tidier methods
  4. 5mo agofabletoolsGraphics methods now require fabletools to be attached
  5. 6mo agofabletoolsTime series graphics migrating out to ggtime
  6. 8mo agofabletoolsggplot2 4.0.0 compatibility patch
  7. 8mo agofabletoolsIRF() generic and multivariate bootstrap sample paths
  8. 2y agoepidemicsPeak timing and scenario comparison helpers; negative-susceptible bug fixed
  9. 2y agoepidemicsEbola model accepts vector inputs and defaults to 100 replicates
  10. 2y agoepidemicsODE models vectorised; every model function renamed
  11. 2y agoepidemicsFirst release: four composable compartmental model structures

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between epidemics and fabletools?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. epidemics is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 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 epidemics better than fabletools?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. epidemics is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 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 epidemics?

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

What are the best alternatives to fabletools?

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