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ggcorrplot vs redist

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

Shared themes:r

ggcorrplot vs redist: at a glance

Featureggcorrplotredist
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score2.50.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themescorrelation, r, ggplot2, visualizationr, redistricting, monte-carlo, sampling
Last editorial update6h ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is ggcorrplot?

ggcorrplot came back after four years and found its significance markers had been lying

ggcorrplot draws correlation matrices in ggplot2 with optional significance marking and hierarchical reordering. It sat untouched from late 2022 until mid-2026, then shipped 0.2.0 and 0.3.0 sixteen days apart. Between them they added the display options users had been requesting since 2016 and repaired a set of bugs where hc.order = TRUE silently changed which cells were marked significant.

Read the full ggcorrplot trajectory →

What is redist?

redist keeps rewriting the sampler underneath a district-drawing API it has held stable since 4.0.

redist simulates redistricting plans via sequential Monte Carlo, merge-split MCMC and short-burst optimization, and it is the analysis tool behind a good deal of published districting work. The user-facing shape was set by 4.0.1's constraint interface and the split of metrics into the redistmetrics package; since then the changes are in the algorithms. The most consequential recent one replaces the SMC label-counting adjustment with a backward kernel that removes approximation error outright.

Read the full redist trajectory →

ggcorrplot vs redist: editorial side-by-side

G
ggcorrplot
ANALYTICS
2.5

ggcorrplot came back after four years and found its significance markers had been lying

◆ Current state

ggcorrplot draws correlation matrices in ggplot2 with optional significance marking and hierarchical reordering. It sat untouched from late 2022 until mid-2026, then shipped 0.2.0 and 0.3.0 sixteen days apart. Between them they added the display options users had been requesting since 2016 and repaired a set of bugs where hc.order = TRUE silently changed which cells were marked significant.

◆ Where it's heading

Both releases chase the same target: parity with the older corrplot package inside a ggplot2 object. Significance stars appended to coefficient labels, circle scaling, decimal control, then boxed cells and glyphs sized by absolute correlation — these are corrplot's visual vocabulary reimplemented where they can be composed with other ggplot2 layers. The bug fixes point the other way, at foundations: p-values matched to cells by name rather than row position, clustering computed on the unrounded matrix, tl.col actually applied.

◆ Prediction

With the corrplot look largely reproduced and the correctness backlog cleared, the remaining gap is the mixed upper/lower display corrplot supports; that is the natural next argument if the current release pace holds.

R
redist
ANALYTICS
0.0

redist keeps rewriting the sampler underneath a district-drawing API it has held stable since 4.0.

◆ Current state

redist simulates redistricting plans via sequential Monte Carlo, merge-split MCMC and short-burst optimization, and it is the analysis tool behind a good deal of published districting work. The user-facing shape was set by 4.0.1's constraint interface and the split of metrics into the redistmetrics package; since then the changes are in the algorithms. The most consequential recent one replaces the SMC label-counting adjustment with a backward kernel that removes approximation error outright.

◆ Where it's heading

The direction is toward exactness and throughput at once — the new kernel is described as both eliminating approximation error and costing far less computation, and successive releases keep adding parallelism, most recently to the flip algorithm. Feature growth has moved into the optimization side, where short-burst gained multiple independent scorers and a Pareto frontier. The release notes are not a reliable ledger: 4.3.1 ships the identical text as 4.3.0.

◆ Prediction

Expect the remaining single-threaded algorithms to gain the chains-style parallelism that flip just received, following the pattern SMC established several releases ago.

Alternatives to ggcorrplot and redist

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 ggcorrplot or redist.

See all ggcorrplot alternatives → · See all redist alternatives →

Recent activity from ggcorrplot and redist

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

  1. 21d agoggcorrplotggcorrplot 0.3.0 adds boxed cells and correlation-sized squares
  2. 1mo agoggcorrplotggcorrplot 0.2.0 fixes significance markers broken by hc.order
  3. 6mo agoredistParallel chains for redist_flip()
  4. 6mo agoredistPatch release reusing the 4.3.0 notes
  5. 10mo agoredistSMC backward kernel removes label-counting approximation error
  6. 2y agoredistMulti-objective short-burst search with Pareto frontier
  7. 3y agoredistredist_ci interface and faster loop-erased random walk
  8. 3y agoggcorrplotggcorrplot 0.1.4
  9. 4y agoredistredist_constr() unifies constraints and admits user-defined ones
  10. 6y agoggcorrplotggcorrplot 0.1.3
  11. 7y agoggcorrplotggcorrplot 0.1.2
  12. 10y agoggcorrplotggcorrplot's first release: correlograms in ggplot2

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between ggcorrplot and redist?

Both compete on the same themes — r — within Analytics. ggcorrplot is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is ggcorrplot better than redist?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. ggcorrplot is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to ggcorrplot?

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

What are the best alternatives to redist?

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