OHPL
A 2017 chemometrics method frozen in place, visited only when CRAN changes its documentation rules.
A side-by-side editorial comparison of EpiNow2 and OneSampleMR — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
EpiNow2 unified its model interface, then went back to deepen the estimators behind it
EpiNow2 estimates reproduction numbers, infections and delay distributions from incomplete epidemiological reporting data. 1.8.0 was the structural turning point: every main modelling function now returns a consistent S3 object with `fit`, `args` and `observations`, reachable through shared accessors. The releases either side of it work on estimator quality — accumulation of irregularly reported data in 1.7.0, and a substantial expansion of `estimate_truncation()` in 1.9.0.
OneSampleMR found that argument order in a formula was silently changing its estimates
OneSampleMR implements one-sample Mendelian randomization estimators — two-stage predictor substitution, two-stage residual inclusion, and Sanderson-Windmeijer conditional F statistics for instrument strength. The package spent its first years on packaging and dependency upkeep. The 2026 releases turn to substance: broader support for models fitted elsewhere, then a correctness fix for a defect that depended on nothing more than where covariates appeared in a formula.
EpiNow2 estimates reproduction numbers, infections and delay distributions from incomplete epidemiological reporting data. 1.8.0 was the structural turning point: every main modelling function now returns a consistent S3 object with `fit`, `args` and `observations`, reachable through shared accessors. The releases either side of it work on estimator quality — accumulation of irregularly reported data in 1.7.0, and a substantial expansion of `estimate_truncation()` in 1.9.0.
The package spent this window paying down interface debt and is now extending from the tidier base. Options that existed only for `estimate_infections()` have been propagated outward: `estimate_truncation()` gained the full `dist_spec` delay families, `obs_opts()` observation model selection between Poisson and negative binomial, and the `likelihood` and `return_likelihood` settings that make prior-only fits and loo-compatible output possible. Hardcoded assumptions are being replaced by specifiable ones in the same motion — the truncation model's additive noise term was a fixed `sigma ~ normal(0, 1)` prior and is now a `dist_spec` argument.
Expect the remaining modelling functions to keep converging on the shared options interface, since the last two releases have each moved another function onto it. A new `estimate_dist()` for interval-censored linelist data suggests delay estimation is the area still gaining surface.
OneSampleMR implements one-sample Mendelian randomization estimators — two-stage predictor substitution, two-stage residual inclusion, and Sanderson-Windmeijer conditional F statistics for instrument strength. The package spent its first years on packaging and dependency upkeep. The 2026 releases turn to substance: broader support for models fitted elsewhere, then a correctness fix for a defect that depended on nothing more than where covariates appeared in a formula.
Two threads. The first is reach — fsw() now reads models fitted by AER::ivreg(), estimatr::iv_robust() and fixest::feols() in addition to ivreg::ivreg(), which makes conditional F statistics available without refitting in the package's own idiom. The second is hardening: clear errors when more than one exposure is given or when a variable collides with the reserved name y, and print methods that no longer fail on user-specified t0 with log or logit links. Both come largely from user reports rather than a plan.
The estimator-support work has been adding one IV-fitting package at a time on outside contributions, so further backends are the likeliest next content — the package's own estimators have been stable since first release.
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 EpiNow2 or OneSampleMR.
A 2017 chemometrics method frozen in place, visited only when CRAN changes its documentation rules.
A fast dplyr stand-in that keeps finding new places to skip work entirely.
Belgium's invasive-species indicator toolkit is in steady refinement, one plotting edge case at a time.
The ICES stock assessment client took upload away in 2024 and spent two years giving it back.
A discrete global grid generator grew cell traversal and became a usable spatial index.
Community ecology's standard toolkit is retiring the functions a generation of scripts was built on.
See all EpiNow2 alternatives → · See all OneSampleMR alternatives →
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
Both compete on the same themes — epidemiology — within Analytics. EpiNow2 and OneSampleMR 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.
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. EpiNow2 and OneSampleMR 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.
Top EpiNow2 alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "EpiNow2 alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/epinow2 for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
Top OneSampleMR alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "OneSampleMR alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/onesamplemr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.