← Back to home
Comparison · Analytics

EvoPhylo vs quantities

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

EvoPhylo vs quantities: at a glance

FeatureEvoPhyloquantities
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesphylogenetics, bayesian-inference, beast2, mrbayesunits, measurement-uncertainty, error-propagation, r-package
Last editorial update2h ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is EvoPhylo?

EvoPhylo added BEAST2 alongside MrBayes, then went quiet for two years.

EvoPhylo handles post-processing for Bayesian evolutionary rate and fossilized birth-death analyses, originally against MrBayes output. The 0.3.2 release added BEAST2 support for both FBD functions and rates analysis, making it usable by labs on either platform. Since then there has been one clock-partition fix and, in August 2025, a release whose notes say only that there are updated functions and bug fixes.

Read the full EvoPhylo trajectory →

What is quantities?

The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.

quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.

Read the full quantities trajectory →

EvoPhylo vs quantities: editorial side-by-side

E
EvoPhylo
ANALYTICS
0.0

EvoPhylo added BEAST2 alongside MrBayes, then went quiet for two years.

◆ Current state

EvoPhylo handles post-processing for Bayesian evolutionary rate and fossilized birth-death analyses, originally against MrBayes output. The 0.3.2 release added BEAST2 support for both FBD functions and rates analysis, making it usable by labs on either platform. Since then there has been one clock-partition fix and, in August 2025, a release whose notes say only that there are updated functions and bug fixes.

◆ Where it's heading

The package's substantive arc ended with the 0.3.2 publication release, which arrived with peer-review revisions and three first-time contributors — the shape of software built to accompany a paper. What follows is thin: a MrBayes plotting correction in 0.3.3, then a two-year gap and a release with no described contents. The August 2025 entry may contain real work, but the notes give a reader nothing to judge.

◆ Prediction

Without release notes on the latest version there is no observable basis for predicting the next move; the two-year gap before it suggests activity tied to specific research needs rather than a maintenance cadence.

Q
quantities
ANALYTICS
0.0

The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.

◆ Current state

quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.

◆ Where it's heading

The design settled with 0.2.0, which made uncertainty unit-aware and added correlation and covariance support for quantities objects. Since then the package behaves like the integration layer it is — releasing when units, errors, dplyr or ggplot2 shift underneath it rather than on its own schedule. Several releases consist only of test repairs against upstream changes.

◆ Prediction

Expect the next release to follow a units or errors change rather than introduce new behaviour of its own.

Alternatives to EvoPhylo and quantities

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 EvoPhylo or quantities.

See all EvoPhylo alternatives → · See all quantities alternatives →

Recent activity from EvoPhylo and quantities

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

  1. 11mo agoEvoPhyloEvoPhylo v. 0.3.5
  2. 1y agoquantitiesFixes covariance and correlation implementations
  3. 2y agoquantitiesFaster data.frame methods
  4. 3y agoEvoPhyloEvoPhylo 0.3.3 fixes back-rate plots for MrBayes
  5. 3y agoEvoPhyloEvoPhylo 0.3.2 adds BEAST2 support for FBD and rates
  6. 3y agoquantitiesTest fixes for an upstream units change
  7. 3y agoquantitiesUncertainty becomes unit-aware; adds correlation support
  8. 5y agoquantitiesCompatibility fix for units 0.7-0
  9. 6y agoquantitiesFixes uncertainty propagation for offset unit conversions

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between EvoPhylo and quantities?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. EvoPhylo and quantities 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 EvoPhylo better than quantities?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. EvoPhylo and quantities 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 EvoPhylo?

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

What are the best alternatives to quantities?

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