r2rtf
The clinical-report table engine learned Chinese, then learned to leave RTF entirely
Comparison · Analytics
epidemics vs ymlthis
A side-by-side editorial comparison of epidemics and ymlthis — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
epidemics vs ymlthis: at a glance
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.
What is ymlthis?
ymlthis retired itself, naming Quarto as the reason it no longer needs to exist.
ymlthis built R Markdown YAML front matter programmatically — a fluent `yml_*()` interface plus RStudio add-ins, so users did not have to hand-write metadata blocks whose valid fields were scattered across output-format documentation. Version 1.0.0 declares the package retired, with only CRAN-preserving changes to follow, and states the reason plainly: Quarto now provides good YAML support.
epidemics vs ymlthis: editorial side-by-side
epidemics
3.8ANALYTICS
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.
ymlthis
0.0ANALYTICS
ymlthis retired itself, naming Quarto as the reason it no longer needs to exist.
◆ Current state
ymlthis built R Markdown YAML front matter programmatically — a fluent `yml_*()` interface plus RStudio add-ins, so users did not have to hand-write metadata blocks whose valid fields were scattered across output-format documentation. Version 1.0.0 declares the package retired, with only CRAN-preserving changes to follow, and states the reason plainly: Quarto now provides good YAML support.
◆ Where it's heading
The retirement is the endpoint of a long drift. Between 2020 and 2022 every release was reactive — patching around a crayon update that mangled rendered YAML, tracking shiny 1.6, following roxygen2 7.0.0, fixing a typo in an add-in. No new capability has landed in six years, and the four-year gap before 1.0.0 had already answered the question the release note finally makes explicit.
◆ Prediction
Nothing further of substance is expected — the stated policy is changes only where CRAN requires them, so the next release, if any, will be a compatibility patch.
Alternatives to epidemics and ymlthis
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 ymlthis.
DoseFinding
New stewardship at openpharma, then two releases adding the methods MCP-Mod was missing
webmockr
The stubbing library added httr2 support, then spent a year cutting itself free of everything else
crul
crul took mocking back from webmockr and made it a property of the client itself
dendroNetwork
Six releases, six identical bodies — the feed carries the package abstract instead of release notes
chattr
chattr deleted every LLM integration it had written and outsourced the lot to ellmer
See all epidemics alternatives → · See all ymlthis alternatives →
Recent activity from epidemics and ymlthis
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 25d agoepidemicsODE models migrate to odin; contact matrices must no longer be transposed ⚡
- 5mo agoymlthisymlthis retired; Quarto covers the need ⚡
- 2y agoepidemicsPeak timing and scenario comparison helpers; negative-susceptible bug fixed
- 2y agoepidemicsEbola model accepts vector inputs and defaults to 100 replicates
- 2y agoepidemicsODE models vectorised; every model function renamed
- 2y agoepidemicsFirst release: four composable compartmental model structures
- 4y agoymlthisTypo fixed in the miniUI add-in check
- 4y agoymlthisyml_author() accepts yml_blank(); shiny fixes
- 4y agoymlthisciteproc handling moved to newer rmarkdown functions
- 5y agoymlthisPatched a crayon update that mangled rendered YAML
- 5y agoymlthisAdjustments for shiny 1.6
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between epidemics and ymlthis?
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 ymlthis?
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 ymlthis?
Top ymlthis alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ymlthis alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ymlthis for the full list with editorial commentary on each.