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Comparison · Analytics

glyanno vs glyvis

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

Shared themes:glycomics

glyanno vs glyvis: at a glance

Featureglyannoglyvis
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score3.80.0
Sparks · 30d10
Top themesglycomics, mass-spectrometry, structure-annotation, databasesglycomics, visualization, ggplot2, bioconductor
Last editorial update1h ago13m ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is glyanno?

Glycan annotation stops depending on the database having seen the structure before.

glyanno resolves mass spectrometry observations into glycan compositions and structures, converting between m/z, composition and structure, filling in missing detail on partial structures, and mapping results to GlyTouCan accessions. The newest release adds de novo reconstruction of topological N-glycans, falling back to the topological database only when reconstruction is not possible. Batch performance was reworked at the same time, with vector inputs reusing prepared databases and direct lookups instead of repeating setup per element.

Read the full glyanno trajectory →

What is glyvis?

glyvis keeps losing plot functions as the packages behind them get reorganized.

glyvis is the plotting layer for glycoverse results. Its recent releases are dominated by two forces it does not control: glyexp's container migration, which it absorbed in 0.7.0 by accepting SummarizedExperiment inputs, and glystats' function removals, which cost it first the WGCNA and consensus-clustering autoplot methods and then the entire enrichment plotting surface. Its own additions in the window are narrow, mostly label handling and NA robustness.

Read the full glyvis trajectory →

glyanno vs glyvis: editorial side-by-side

G
glyanno
ANALYTICS
3.8

Glycan annotation stops depending on the database having seen the structure before.

◆ Current state

glyanno resolves mass spectrometry observations into glycan compositions and structures, converting between m/z, composition and structure, filling in missing detail on partial structures, and mapping results to GlyTouCan accessions. The newest release adds de novo reconstruction of topological N-glycans, falling back to the topological database only when reconstruction is not possible. Batch performance was reworked at the same time, with vector inputs reusing prepared databases and direct lookups instead of repeating setup per element.

◆ Where it's heading

The consistent theme is making ambiguous results honest and predictable. return_best moved from returning a shortened tibble to a vector aligned with the input, with NA for unmatched glycans; matching concrete compositions against a generic database now errors instead of silently returning nothing; zero-length database arguments are rejected. Alongside that, functions belonging elsewhere have been pushed down into glyrepr rather than duplicated, which is the same boundary discipline visible across this cohort. Version churn is largely driven by upstream: two of the last six entries exist to absorb breaking changes in glyrepr.

◆ Prediction

De novo reconstruction currently covers topological N-glycans only, so extending it to other structure levels or to O-glycans is the natural next step. The performance work suggests batch annotation of full experiments is now the primary use being optimised for.

G
glyvis
ANALYTICS
0.0

glyvis keeps losing plot functions as the packages behind them get reorganized.

◆ Current state

glyvis is the plotting layer for glycoverse results. Its recent releases are dominated by two forces it does not control: glyexp's container migration, which it absorbed in 0.7.0 by accepting SummarizedExperiment inputs, and glystats' function removals, which cost it first the WGCNA and consensus-clustering autoplot methods and then the entire enrichment plotting surface. Its own additions in the window are narrow, mostly label handling and NA robustness.

◆ Where it's heading

The package is being pruned from upstream rather than expanded from within. Every breaking change in the last four releases is a removal triggered by a sibling package dropping the function that produced the object being plotted. With enrichment now living in glyfun, the plotting for it has to be rebuilt somewhere, and glyvis is the obvious home.

◆ Prediction

Expect enrichment plotting to return once glyfun's result objects stabilize, since the visualizations were removed for want of an upstream producer rather than because users stopped needing them.

Alternatives to glyanno and glyvis

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 glyanno or glyvis.

See all glyanno alternatives → · See all glyvis alternatives →

Recent activity from glyanno and glyvis

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

  1. 24d agoglyannoDe novo reconstruction of topological N-glycans, with database fallback
  2. 1mo agoglyvisDocs recommend the new SE containers
  3. 1mo agoglyvisplot_logo() detects glycoproteomics across both containers
  4. 1mo agoglyvisPlots accept SummarizedExperiment; enrichment plots removed
  5. 3mo agoglyvisStale WGCNA and clustering autoplot methods removed
  6. 3mo agoglyannoGlyTouCan accession mapping and anomeric position filling
  7. 3mo agoglyannoFixes an enhance_struc() break from glyrepr 0.11.0
  8. 4mo agoglyannoExplicit empty return from com_to_struc()
  9. 4mo agoglyannoreturn_best output aligns with input length; silent empty matches now error
  10. 5mo agoglyannoto_level parameter removed from enhance_struc()
  11. 6mo agoglyvisDependencies move to the r-universe repository
  12. 7mo agoglyvisplot_logo() fetches UniProt sequences automatically

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between glyanno and glyvis?

Both compete on the same themes — glycomics — within Analytics. glyanno is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 vs 0.0), with 1 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 glyanno better than glyvis?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. glyanno is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 vs 0.0), with 1 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 glyanno?

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

What are the best alternatives to glyvis?

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