pr2database
The protist reference database keeps widening past the rRNA gene it was built on.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
ggalign vs statsExpressions
A side-by-side editorial comparison of ggalign and statsExpressions — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
ggalign vs statsExpressions: at a glance
What is ggalign?
Composable aligned layouts, rebuilt on S7 while ggplot2 4.0 lands underneath.
ggalign composes multiple ggplots against a shared observation ordering, covering heatmap annotation, oncoplots, phylogenies and circular layouts. Releases have come roughly monthly through 2025, first completing the layout system, then migrating the internals to S7 and absorbing the ggplot2 4.0 changes. The alignment machinery is now exported for other packages to build on.
What is statsExpressions?
A statistics backend whose release history is mostly other people's weather
statsExpressions produces the tidy dataframes and plotmath expressions that ggstatsplot prints onto plots, and that position defines its changelog. Six of its ten most recent versions exist to absorb API changes in easystats, dplyr or purrr. Version 2.0.0 is the exception, cut to accompany ggstatsplot's own 1.0.0 and carrying pairwise Fisher's exact post hocs for contingency tables.
ggalign vs statsExpressions: editorial side-by-side
ggalign
0.0INFRA · APIS
Composable aligned layouts, rebuilt on S7 while ggplot2 4.0 lands underneath.
◆ Current state
ggalign composes multiple ggplots against a shared observation ordering, covering heatmap annotation, oncoplots, phylogenies and circular layouts. Releases have come roughly monthly through 2025, first completing the layout system, then migrating the internals to S7 and absorbing the ggplot2 4.0 changes. The alignment machinery is now exported for other packages to build on.
◆ Where it's heading
Two threads run in parallel. One widens what can be aligned, with sector facets, ideograms, image point shapes and observation linking. The other keeps rebuilding the foundation, with the S7 migration, repeated renames toward consistent naming, and the deliberate handing of element_polygon() and element_curve() upstream to ggplot2. The renaming is aggressive enough that each recent release soft-deprecates something.
◆ Prediction
With the internals on S7 and the Patch object exported, the next step is most likely stabilising those names rather than another refactor.
statsExpressions
0.0INFRA · APIS
A statistics backend whose release history is mostly other people's weather
◆ Current state
statsExpressions produces the tidy dataframes and plotmath expressions that ggstatsplot prints onto plots, and that position defines its changelog. Six of its ten most recent versions exist to absorb API changes in easystats, dplyr or purrr. Version 2.0.0 is the exception, cut to accompany ggstatsplot's own 1.0.0 and carrying pairwise Fisher's exact post hocs for contingency tables.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a component settling into place beneath a larger package rather than a product with its own roadmap. New statistical content arrives rarely and narrowly — an exact-p toggle, one post-hoc function — while the recurring work is keeping expressions correct as the easystats stack shifts underneath. The one bug class it keeps returning to is rendering: p-values of exactly zero, decimal commas that plotmath parses as list separators.
◆ Prediction
Coupled this tightly, the next release is most likely another compatibility pass timed to an easystats or ggstatsplot version rather than new tests. Nothing in these entries signals an independent feature direction.
Alternatives to ggalign and statsExpressions
Other Infra & APIs 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 ggalign or statsExpressions.
prioritizr
Conservation planning absorbs the literature's target-setting rules as code.
jSDM
Joint species distribution models in Gibbs-sampled C++, quiet since 2023.
rsofun
An ecosystem model starts tracking carbon isotopes and land-use change.
usmap
Ten years in, US mapping splits its data out and finally adds Puerto Rico.
trackeR
Fitness-tracking analysis in slow maintenance, still absorbing upstream breakage.
See all ggalign alternatives → · See all statsExpressions alternatives →
Recent activity from ggalign and statsExpressions
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3mo agostatsExpressionsPairwise Fisher's post hocs for contingency tables
- 4mo agostatsExpressionsInternal maintenance only, no user-facing changes
- 6mo agostatsExpressionsAdapts to dplyr 1.2.0 and purrr 1.2.1
- 6mo agostatsExpressionsAdapts to changes in the easystats packages
- 10mo agoggalignalignpatch internals moved to S7; Patch object exported
- 11mo agoggalignInternals migrated to S7; ideogram, tags and image shapes
- 1y agostatsExpressionsFixes p-value rendering when p is exactly zero
- 1y agoggalignz aesthetic scales and guide collection in borders
- 1y agostatsExpressionscentrality_description() follows the new easystats API
- 1y agoggalignchannelGrob() draws across facets; ggplot2 3.5.2 fix
- 1y agoggalignLayout system declared complete; polar facets and coord_circle()
- 1y agoggalignLayouts split into discrete and continuous; linking system added ⚡
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between ggalign and statsExpressions?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. ggalign and statsExpressions 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 ggalign better than statsExpressions?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. ggalign and statsExpressions 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 Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to ggalign?
Top ggalign alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ggalign alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ggalign for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to statsExpressions?
Top statsExpressions alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "statsExpressions alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/statsexpressions for the full list with editorial commentary on each.