randomwalk
randomwalk spent every release getting an R simulation to run in the browser, not on a server.
Comparison · Analytics
ggstats vs tglkmeans
A side-by-side editorial comparison of ggstats and tglkmeans — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
ggstats vs tglkmeans: at a glance
What is ggstats?
ggstats keeps widening what a coefficient or Likert plot can be
ggstats extends ggplot2 with statistical plotting: model coefficient plots, Likert and diverging bar charts, proportion geometries and the helpers that make them behave. Recent releases have added an experimental gglikert_side(), left and right total columns for gglikert(), and survey-object support across the Likert family. Development is steady and CRAN-paced, with releases every two to three months.
What is tglkmeans?
A k-means implementation that just told users their Spearman clustering on missing data was wrong
tglkmeans is a multi-core k-means implementation with seeding, aimed at single-cell and other large matrix workloads. Version 0.4.0 flipped the id_column default and moved to R's random number generator, 0.5.x added count-matrix downsampling and fixed id handling, and 0.6.3 in May 2026 is a correctness release: Spearman distance was ranking missing values as the largest value instead of dropping them, and predict_tgl_kmeans() with Euclidean distance did not reproduce the training metric when a cluster center had a missing dimension.
ggstats vs tglkmeans: editorial side-by-side
ggstats
0.0ANALYTICS
ggstats keeps widening what a coefficient or Likert plot can be
◆ Current state
ggstats extends ggplot2 with statistical plotting: model coefficient plots, Likert and diverging bar charts, proportion geometries and the helpers that make them behave. Recent releases have added an experimental gglikert_side(), left and right total columns for gglikert(), and survey-object support across the Likert family. Development is steady and CRAN-paced, with releases every two to three months.
◆ Where it's heading
Two long-running threads. The coefficient side has been consolidating — ggcoef_multinom() and ggcoef_multicomponents() soft-deprecated in favour of a unified ggcoef_model() with group_by, plus new ggcoef_dodged() and ggcoef_faceted() variants. The Likert side keeps expanding outward instead, absorbing survey objects, total columns and side-by-side layouts. Underneath both is a steady tax of ggplot2 and vctrs compatibility work, including tracking the geom_errorbarh() deprecation in ggplot2 4.0.0.
◆ Prediction
Expect gglikert_side() to lose its experimental status once its interface settles, and the deprecated multinomial entry points to be removed in a future release now that ggcoef_model() covers their cases.
tglkmeans
0.0ANALYTICS
A k-means implementation that just told users their Spearman clustering on missing data was wrong
◆ Current state
tglkmeans is a multi-core k-means implementation with seeding, aimed at single-cell and other large matrix workloads. Version 0.4.0 flipped the id_column default and moved to R's random number generator, 0.5.x added count-matrix downsampling and fixed id handling, and 0.6.3 in May 2026 is a correctness release: Spearman distance was ranking missing values as the largest value instead of dropping them, and predict_tgl_kmeans() with Euclidean distance did not reproduce the training metric when a cluster center had a missing dimension.
◆ Where it's heading
The package handles missing data across three distance metrics, and 0.6.3 shows those paths had drifted apart — Spearman behaved unlike Euclidean and Pearson, and prediction behaved unlike training. Both fixes change results on affected data, and the release notes are careful to bound exactly where: Spearman on data with NAs changes, complete data does not. Performance work runs alongside, with the dense per-thread vote matrix removed from the reassignment step.
◆ Prediction
With the metric paths now aligned on missing-value handling, further work is more likely to target the parallel reassignment internals than the distance semantics.
Alternatives to ggstats and tglkmeans
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 ggstats or tglkmeans.
fastml
fastml added survival modelling and leakage-proof resampling, moving past classification and regression.
abclass
abclass built out angle-based classifiers in 2022, then went quiet except for CRAN upkeep.
churon
churon is spending its entire release history getting a Rust ONNX binding through CRAN.
firatheme
firatheme woke up after four years and started fixing what ggplot2 changed underneath it.
bagyo
bagyo reached CRAN as a Philippine tropical cyclone dataset, with its tags stamped out of order.
See all ggstats alternatives → · See all tglkmeans alternatives →
Recent activity from ggstats and tglkmeans
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2mo agotglkmeansSpearman metric no longer ranks missing values as the largest
- 5mo agoggstatsgglikert_side() and total columns for Likert plots
- 7mo agoggstatsLikert functions accept survey objects
- 11mo agoggstatsTable output for ggcoef_compare(); x-axis limits harmonised
- 1y agoggstatsggstats 0.10.0
- 1y agoggstatsCoefficient plots unified around ggcoef_model() with grouping
- 1y agoggstatsDiverging and Likert geoms redesigned; connector geoms added
- 2y agotglkmeansFixes corrupted cluster ids and dropped dimnames
- 2y agotglkmeansAdds downsample_matrix() for count matrices
- 2y agotglkmeansBreaking: id_column defaults to FALSE, switches to R's RNG
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between ggstats and tglkmeans?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. ggstats and tglkmeans 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 ggstats better than tglkmeans?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. ggstats and tglkmeans 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 ggstats?
Top ggstats alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ggstats alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ggstats for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to tglkmeans?
Top tglkmeans alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "tglkmeans alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tglkmeans for the full list with editorial commentary on each.