tidytext
Finished, widely taught, and shipping roxygen fixes.
Comparison · Analytics
feasts vs patchwork
A side-by-side editorial comparison of feasts and patchwork — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
feasts vs patchwork: at a glance
What is feasts?
feasts is splitting itself in two, moving every plot into ggtime
feasts provides feature extraction and statistics for tsibble time series. The last two releases are dominated by one decision: all of its gg_*() plotting functions are being moved out into a separate ggtime package. 0.4.2 announced the deprecation and 0.5.0 makes ggtime a dependency with soft-deprecation messages on every re-export.
What is patchwork?
patchwork stopped being a ggplot composer and became a page composer.
patchwork assembles plots into compositions with arithmetic operators, and the 1.x line has steadily hardened that grammar: guide and axis collection, free() to exempt a plot from alignment, inset_element() for overlays, and list-like behaviour so lapply() and length() work on a patchwork. Version 1.3.0 added native gt table support. The two releases since are a load-time warning fix and a compatibility pass for the next ggplot2 release.
feasts vs patchwork: editorial side-by-side
feasts
0.0ANALYTICS
feasts is splitting itself in two, moving every plot into ggtime
◆ Current state
feasts provides feature extraction and statistics for tsibble time series. The last two releases are dominated by one decision: all of its gg_*() plotting functions are being moved out into a separate ggtime package. 0.4.2 announced the deprecation and 0.5.0 makes ggtime a dependency with soft-deprecation messages on every re-export.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is narrowing to its stated purpose — features and statistics — and shedding graphics entirely over a deliberately slow two-year window. Everything else in the recent history is ggplot2 compatibility work and narrow seasonal-plot bug fixes, which is consistent with a maintainer trimming surface area rather than growing it.
◆ Prediction
The next releases should be compatibility upkeep while the ggtime deprecation runs its course; the re-exports stay until the announced window closes.
patchwork
0.0ANALYTICS
patchwork stopped being a ggplot composer and became a page composer.
◆ Current state
patchwork assembles plots into compositions with arithmetic operators, and the 1.x line has steadily hardened that grammar: guide and axis collection, free() to exempt a plot from alignment, inset_element() for overlays, and list-like behaviour so lapply() and length() work on a patchwork. Version 1.3.0 added native gt table support. The two releases since are a load-time warning fix and a compatibility pass for the next ggplot2 release.
◆ Where it's heading
The centre of gravity is shifting from alignment mechanics to composition scope. Early releases were almost entirely bug fixes against grid and ggplot2 internals — strip placement, fixed aspect ratios, guide merging. Recent ones add object types and escape hatches instead. Between feature cycles the package is in maintenance defined by ggplot2's release calendar, which is what 1.3.1 is in its entirety.
◆ Prediction
Expect wrap_table() to grow beyond gt to other table objects, and expect the next substantive release to be triggered by a ggplot2 internals change rather than by a patchwork roadmap.
Alternatives to feasts and patchwork
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 feasts or patchwork.
textrecipes
Text features finally stay sparse all the way to the model.
probably
The package that made calibration a step instead of an afterthought.
workflowsets
workflowsets keeps widening what counts as a model worth comparing.
workflows
The tidymodels pipeline grew a third stage, and it happens after the model runs.
vetiver
Posit's MLOps package went quiet for two years, then came back to keep up with recipes.
See all feasts alternatives → · See all patchwork alternatives →
Recent activity from feasts and patchwork
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6mo agofeastsfeasts moves its plots to ggtime behind a 2-year deprecation ⚡
- 11mo agofeastsggplot2 4.0.0 compatibility and the ggtime deprecation notice
- 11mo agopatchworkFix spurious load-time warnings
- 1y agopatchworkCompatibility pass for the next ggplot2 release
- 1y agofeastsgg_season() fix for sub-weekly daily data
- 1y agofeastsImpulse-response plots and Johansen cointegration tests
- 1y agopatchworkgt tables become first-class patchwork objects ⚡
- 2y agofeastsPatch for ggplot2 3.5.0 breaking changes
- 2y agopatchworkAxis collection and free() arrive
- 3y agopatchworkPatchworks behave like lists; NULL becomes a no-op
- 3y agofeastsCRAN patch for S3 method consistency
- 3y agopatchworkClearer error when plotting space is too small
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between feasts and patchwork?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. feasts and patchwork 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 feasts better than patchwork?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. feasts and patchwork 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 feasts?
Top feasts alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "feasts alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/feasts for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to patchwork?
Top patchwork alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "patchwork alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/patchwork for the full list with editorial commentary on each.