r2rtf
The clinical-report table engine learned Chinese, then learned to leave RTF entirely
Comparison · Analytics
forestly vs RBesT
A side-by-side editorial comparison of forestly and RBesT — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-language
forestly vs RBesT: at a glance
What is forestly?
forestly built an interactive safety review tool, then taught it to produce submission-ready RTF.
forestly renders adverse-event forest plots as interactive reactable widgets — filterable by AE category, with sliders for incidence thresholds and a toggle for the risk-difference column. Version 0.1.3 added `rtf_static_forestly()` for static RTF output, and 0.1.4 has been about giving the display owner control over what reviewers see: the CSV download button, the AE filter label, and the diff toggle can each be switched off.
What is RBesT?
RBesT is teaching its Bayesian decision rules to answer two-sided questions.
RBesT builds meta-analytic-predictive priors — the machinery for borrowing historical control data into a new trial — and evaluates the operating characteristics of decisions made with them. The stable line has spent several releases on effective sample size: ESS for normal mixtures via a new `family` argument, boundary corrections when no responses or no non-responses are observed, and stabilised ELIR computations. The 1.9-0 release candidate extends the normal, binomial and Poisson outcome functions to two-sided decisions.
forestly vs RBesT: editorial side-by-side
forestly
0.0ANALYTICS
forestly built an interactive safety review tool, then taught it to produce submission-ready RTF.
◆ Current state
forestly renders adverse-event forest plots as interactive reactable widgets — filterable by AE category, with sliders for incidence thresholds and a toggle for the risk-difference column. Version 0.1.3 added `rtf_static_forestly()` for static RTF output, and 0.1.4 has been about giving the display owner control over what reviewers see: the CSV download button, the AE filter label, and the diff toggle can each be switched off.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc runs from a fixed interactive widget toward a configurable one with two output modes. Nearly every new argument in the last two releases exists to remove something from the display or relabel it, which suggests the users driving development are producing outputs for others to review under conventions they do not control. The x-axis range, column header, figure header and slider range arguments point the same way — this is a tool being fitted into standardised reporting rather than used ad hoc.
◆ Prediction
Given that the last two releases have consisted almost entirely of display-control arguments, the next is likely more of the same, applied to whichever parts of the interactive layout are still fixed.
RBesT
0.0ANALYTICS
RBesT is teaching its Bayesian decision rules to answer two-sided questions.
◆ Current state
RBesT builds meta-analytic-predictive priors — the machinery for borrowing historical control data into a new trial — and evaluates the operating characteristics of decisions made with them. The stable line has spent several releases on effective sample size: ESS for normal mixtures via a new `family` argument, boundary corrections when no responses or no non-responses are observed, and stabilised ELIR computations. The 1.9-0 release candidate extends the normal, binomial and Poisson outcome functions to two-sided decisions.
◆ Where it's heading
Two currents run through the changelog. One is ESS hardening — nearly every release since 1.7-4 fixes another edge case where the ELIR calculation aborted or returned something unstable, which is what happens when a quantity used to justify prior strength to regulators gets scrutinised. The other is Stan and brms integration debt: array syntax updates, a minimum Stan version bump, truncated prior generation for `mixstanvar`, deterministic EM. The RC's contributor list shows a second active maintainer, and the work is broader than any recent stable release.
◆ Prediction
The release candidate covers all three outcome families and has already absorbed a round of review comments, so the next step is most likely the 1.9-0 CRAN release itself rather than further feature work.
Alternatives to forestly and RBesT
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 forestly or RBesT.
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 forestly alternatives → · See all RBesT alternatives →
Recent activity from forestly and RBesT
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5mo agoRBesTTwo-sided decisions across normal, binomial and Poisson outcomes ⚡
- 5mo agoforestlyDownload button, AE filter label and diff toggle become optional
- 11mo agoforestlyStatic RTF forest plots join the interactive output ⚡
- 1y agoRBesTJSON read and write for mixture objects
- 1y agoRBesTess() fixed inside apply functions
- 1y agoforestlyreactR 0.6.0 rendering fix and slider label control
- 1y agoRBesTESS for normal mixtures in the exponential family
- 1y agoRBesTTruncated mixture priors for brms, plus faster Stan models
- 2y agoforestlyTreatment group selection and rough-edge fixes
- 2y agoRBesTStan array syntax update and CRAN system requirements
- 3y agoforestlyFirst release on GitHub and CRAN
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between forestly and RBesT?
Both compete on the same themes — r-language — within Analytics. forestly and RBesT 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 forestly better than RBesT?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. forestly and RBesT 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 forestly?
Top forestly alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "forestly alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/forestly for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to RBesT?
Top RBesT alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "RBesT alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rbest for the full list with editorial commentary on each.