simlandr
Potential landscape tooling settling onto standard R generics after two rounds of renaming.
Comparison · Analytics
ggtrace vs probmed
A side-by-side editorial comparison of ggtrace and probmed — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
ggtrace vs probmed: at a glance
What is ggtrace?
A debugger for ggplot2's internals, hardening its grip as the internals it traces keep moving.
ggtrace lets users step inside ggplot2's rendering pipeline — tracing ggproto methods, dumping intermediate state, and snapshotting layer data at each stage via layer_before_stat(), layer_after_stat(), layer_before_geom() and layer_after_scale(). The workflow functions gained short aliases at 0.7.1, and recent releases have gone into making method resolution work on ggproto definitions written in forms the tracer did not originally expect.
What is probmed?
probmed went from one probabilistic effect size to a family of them in sixteen days.
probmed computes P_med, a scale-free probabilistic effect size for causal mediation, as part of the Data-Wise mediationverse alongside medfit, medsim and RMediation. Three releases in three weeks took it from a single estimator to four additional families built on a shared cross-fitted corner-EIF core, covering gauge-calibrated, incremental-elasticity and Sobol variance-share versions of the proportion mediated. Distribution is GitHub and r-universe rather than CRAN, with a load-bearing Remotes pin on medfit.
ggtrace vs probmed: editorial side-by-side
ggtrace
0.0ANALYTICS
A debugger for ggplot2's internals, hardening its grip as the internals it traces keep moving.
◆ Current state
ggtrace lets users step inside ggplot2's rendering pipeline — tracing ggproto methods, dumping intermediate state, and snapshotting layer data at each stage via layer_before_stat(), layer_after_stat(), layer_before_geom() and layer_after_scale(). The workflow functions gained short aliases at 0.7.1, and recent releases have gone into making method resolution work on ggproto definitions written in forms the tracer did not originally expect.
◆ Where it's heading
The package matured from raw tracing primitives into named workflows: 0.6.0 added the sublayer snapshot functions and error-context helpers, 0.7.x has been sanding down how reliably those workflows find and evaluate a method. Three consecutive releases in May 2025, two of them minutes apart, all address the same class of failure — one-liner ggproto methods without braces, and inheritance resolution on instances rather than subclasses. That pattern says the remaining bugs are in method introspection, not in the tracing machinery itself.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued fixes to method resolution as ggplot2's ggproto definitions vary, and realignment work when ggplot2 4.x changes internals this package deliberately reaches into. The entries do not signal new workflow functions.
probmed
0.0ANALYTICS
probmed went from one probabilistic effect size to a family of them in sixteen days.
◆ Current state
probmed computes P_med, a scale-free probabilistic effect size for causal mediation, as part of the Data-Wise mediationverse alongside medfit, medsim and RMediation. Three releases in three weeks took it from a single estimator to four additional families built on a shared cross-fitted corner-EIF core, covering gauge-calibrated, incremental-elasticity and Sobol variance-share versions of the proportion mediated. Distribution is GitHub and r-universe rather than CRAN, with a load-bearing Remotes pin on medfit.
◆ Where it's heading
The pace is manuscript-driven — estimators arrive with their citations attached and vignettes alongside, and the 0.1.0 notes correct the estimand itself against a manuscript definition rather than fixing a bug in code. Each release adds inference machinery as well as point estimates: percentile-bootstrap intervals and Fieller sets in 0.3.0, a deterministic MBCO interval in 0.2.0 that avoids resampling entirely. The gauge residual and the pmed_sensitivity() helper suggest a growing concern with when the estimand does not decompose at all.
◆ Prediction
0.3.0 shipped a sensitivity helper for shared mediator-outcome confounding and a diagnostic that flags non-decomposability, so the next release most likely extends that diagnostic side rather than adding a fifth estimator family.
Alternatives to ggtrace and probmed
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 ggtrace or probmed.
lavaanExtra
SEM reporting helpers converging on APA output, one CRAN resubmission at a time.
ibis.iSDM
A raster-to-terra migration is the only readable change in a feed of merge notes.
anyflights
A nycflights13 generator whose recent work is all about the data being right.
vinereg
Conditional density and log-likelihood fill out a vine copula regression package.
stringx
A drop-in string API for base R, kept alive by upstream check failures.
See all ggtrace alternatives → · See all probmed alternatives →
Recent activity from ggtrace and probmed
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agoprobmedFour estimator families on a cross-fitted corner-EIF core ⚡
- 2mo agoprobmedParallel mediators and a resampling-free MBCO interval ⚡
- 2mo agoprobmedFirst release: pmed() with the estimand corrected
- 1y agoggtraceBrace-less one-liner methods traced gracefully
- 1y agoggtraceget_method_inheritance() fixed for class instances
- 1y agoggtraceWorkflow functions recognise one-liner ggproto methods
- 1y agoggtraceEager layer_is(), clearer method-mismatch errors, consistent tracedump names
- 1y agoggtracetrace_steps = "all" added; double-evaluation side effects fixed
- 1y agoggtracelayer_is() targets by_layer() downstream directly
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between ggtrace and probmed?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. ggtrace and probmed 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 ggtrace better than probmed?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. ggtrace and probmed 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 ggtrace?
Top ggtrace alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ggtrace alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ggtrace for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to probmed?
Top probmed alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "probmed alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/probmed for the full list with editorial commentary on each.