HydroPortailStats
France's national flood statistics, ported out of Fortran and into R.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
ggdist vs offsetreg
A side-by-side editorial comparison of ggdist and offsetreg — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
ggdist vs offsetreg: at a glance
What is ggdist?
The grammar of uncertainty visualization, now drawing the uncertainty in its own estimates.
ggdist supplies ggplot2 with a compositional vocabulary for distributions — slabs, intervals, dotplots and the sub-geometries that combine them. The last three years moved it from a drawing library to an estimation library: bounded density estimation with Sheather-Jones bandwidth became the default, weights propagate through every density, interval and point summary, and blurred dotplots render Monte Carlo standard error as visual fuzz. The 2025 release rounds this out with per-geometry thickness subscales and settable global defaults.
What is offsetreg?
The parsnip extension for exposure models grew from one algorithm to three
offsetreg supplies parsnip model specifications for regressions with offsets, the form actuarial and epidemiological work needs when modelling rates over exposure. It launched with a single specification, poisson_reg_offset(), backed by glm and glmnet engines. Version 1.1.0 added two more model types - boost_tree_offset() for boosted trees via xgboost and decision_tree_exposure() for weighted decision trees via rpart - and 1.2.0 has been consolidation: argument passthrough to the underlying glm and glmnet calls, an xgboost 3.0 minimum with API accommodation, and cli-formatted messages.
ggdist vs offsetreg: editorial side-by-side
ggdist
0.0INFRA · APIS
The grammar of uncertainty visualization, now drawing the uncertainty in its own estimates.
◆ Current state
ggdist supplies ggplot2 with a compositional vocabulary for distributions — slabs, intervals, dotplots and the sub-geometries that combine them. The last three years moved it from a drawing library to an estimation library: bounded density estimation with Sheather-Jones bandwidth became the default, weights propagate through every density, interval and point summary, and blurred dotplots render Monte Carlo standard error as visual fuzz. The 2025 release rounds this out with per-geometry thickness subscales and settable global defaults.
◆ Where it's heading
Two threads run in parallel and keep converging. One is statistical: pluggable density estimators arrived first, then became the default, then gained weights and quantile histograms. The other is compositional: sub-geometries acquired their own guides, then their own scales, so a slab's thickness axis is now a first-class annotated dimension. Cadence has stretched from twice-yearly to roughly annual, with the recent work tightening existing surface rather than opening new.
◆ Prediction
Subguides gained subscales a release later, so the remaining asymmetry is in the sub-geometry system rather than the statistics; expect the next release to continue that fill-in work.
offsetreg
0.0INFRA · APIS
The parsnip extension for exposure models grew from one algorithm to three
◆ Current state
offsetreg supplies parsnip model specifications for regressions with offsets, the form actuarial and epidemiological work needs when modelling rates over exposure. It launched with a single specification, poisson_reg_offset(), backed by glm and glmnet engines. Version 1.1.0 added two more model types - boost_tree_offset() for boosted trees via xgboost and decision_tree_exposure() for weighted decision trees via rpart - and 1.2.0 has been consolidation: argument passthrough to the underlying glm and glmnet calls, an xgboost 3.0 minimum with API accommodation, and cli-formatted messages.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is following the tidymodels extension playbook: establish one model type, then add types rather than engines, and keep pace with parsnip's own releases. Each version has also tightened the guardrails around correct use - a vignette on when offsetreg should and should not be used, check_args() methods on the specifications - which suggests the maintainer is fielding misapplication rather than feature requests.
◆ Prediction
Expect additional engines under the existing model types, or a fourth specification, before any change to the offset handling itself, since the package's structure invites extension at the engine layer.
Alternatives to ggdist and offsetreg
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 ggdist or offsetreg.
bsvarSIGNs
Sign, zero and narrative restrictions brought into the bsvars ecosystem.
estimatr
Fast design-based estimators for experiments, coasting on CRAN patches.
ipaddress
IP address vectors for R that hit 1.0 and then went quiet.
ltertools
A column-key toolkit for stitching decades of ecological field data into one table.
finnts
Microsoft's automated forecasting framework, still mostly a one-maintainer effort.
See all ggdist alternatives → · See all offsetreg alternatives →
Recent activity from ggdist and offsetreg
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4mo agooffsetregArgument passthrough to glm and glmnet, xgboost 3.0 minimum
- 1y agoggdistPer-geometry thickness subscales and settable defaults
- 1y agooffsetregBoosted trees and weighted decision trees join the offset model family ⚡
- 2y agoggdistBlurred dotplots draw Monte Carlo error; weights reach every estimator ⚡
- 2y agooffsetregInitial release with Poisson regression over offsets
- 2y agoggdistC++ dotplot binning and safer bandwidth fallbacks
- 3y agoggdistBounded density becomes the default; existing charts change ⚡
- 3y agoggdistCategorical distributions, hex layouts, pluggable density estimators
- 4y agoggdistComputed variables shared across sub-geometries
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between ggdist and offsetreg?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Infra & APIs. ggdist and offsetreg 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 ggdist better than offsetreg?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. ggdist and offsetreg 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 ggdist?
Top ggdist alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ggdist alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ggdist for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to offsetreg?
Top offsetreg alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "offsetreg alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/offsetreg for the full list with editorial commentary on each.