writexl
writexl spent nine years refusing to do formatting, then shipped all of it in 2.0.0.
Comparison · Analytics
googlesheets4 vs rnaturalearth
A side-by-side editorial comparison of googlesheets4 and rnaturalearth — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
googlesheets4 vs rnaturalearth: at a glance
What is googlesheets4?
googlesheets4's releases track Google's API and gargle's auth, not its own roadmap.
googlesheets4 is the tidyverse client for the Google Sheets API. Its recent history is dominated by authentication: retry logic for quota errors at 0.3.0, a cli-based message and error surface at 1.0.0, then successive rounds of syncing with gargle's OAuth model through the 1.1.x line. The latest release is documentation-only.
What is rnaturalearth?
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
1.0.0 ended sp support outright, making sf the default and offering terra's SpatVector via `returnclass`, after 0.3.3 had signposted that with lifecycle badges. The two releases since move to delivery mechanics: 1.1.0 reads data directly out of the zip through the GDAL Virtual File System, starts moving unloaded downloads to GeoPackage instead of shapefile, and switches the base URL to naciscdn.org; 1.2.0 adds caching to `ne_download()` when `destdir` is persistent, swaps devtools for pak when installing the companion data packages, and handles Natural Earth's inconsistent raster zip layouts.
googlesheets4 vs rnaturalearth: editorial side-by-side
googlesheets4
0.0ANALYTICS
googlesheets4's releases track Google's API and gargle's auth, not its own roadmap.
◆ Current state
googlesheets4 is the tidyverse client for the Google Sheets API. Its recent history is dominated by authentication: retry logic for quota errors at 0.3.0, a cli-based message and error surface at 1.0.0, then successive rounds of syncing with gargle's OAuth model through the 1.1.x line. The latest release is documentation-only.
◆ Where it's heading
Reading and writing sheets is essentially feature-complete, so remaining work concentrates on credential ergonomics — service accounts, user impersonation, explicit scope access — and absorbing Google's own capacity and quota changes as they land.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next substantive release to follow a gargle auth change or a Sheets API limit revision rather than new spreadsheet functionality.
rnaturalearth
0.0ANALYTICS
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
◆ Current state
1.0.0 ended sp support outright, making sf the default and offering terra's SpatVector via `returnclass`, after 0.3.3 had signposted that with lifecycle badges. The two releases since move to delivery mechanics: 1.1.0 reads data directly out of the zip through the GDAL Virtual File System, starts moving unloaded downloads to GeoPackage instead of shapefile, and switches the base URL to naciscdn.org; 1.2.0 adds caching to `ne_download()` when `destdir` is persistent, swaps devtools for pak when installing the companion data packages, and handles Natural Earth's inconsistent raster zip layouts.
◆ Where it's heading
With the class question settled, the work has shifted to not re-downloading and not unpacking — VFS reads, caching, and a container format that does not need a sidecar of four files. That points at the package being used in repeated or automated contexts rather than interactive one-offs. The shapefile-to-GeoPackage transition is explicitly incomplete.
◆ Prediction
Completing the GeoPackage transition for `load = FALSE` downloads is the obvious next step, since 1.1.0 described it as in progress.
Alternatives to googlesheets4 and rnaturalearth
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 googlesheets4 or rnaturalearth.
rgbif
rgbif is steadily pushing users off paged searching and onto real downloads.
rstanarm
rstanarm is community-maintained now, tracking Stan and lme4 rather than adding models.
taxa
taxa started a ground-up rewrite in 2021 and has published almost nothing since.
rotl
rotl's whole release history is keeping name matching honest against a moving taxonomy.
taxize
taxize spends its releases absorbing other people's API changes, one dead source at a time.
See all googlesheets4 alternatives → · See all rnaturalearth alternatives →
Recent activity from googlesheets4 and rnaturalearth
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 6mo agornaturalearthrnaturalearth 1.2.0
- 11mo agogooglesheets4googlesheets4 1.1.2 ships documentation updates for CRAN
- 1y agornaturalearthrnaturalearth 1.1.0
- 2y agornaturalearthrnaturalearth 1.0.0 drops sp for sf and terra
- 3y agogooglesheets4googlesheets4 1.1.1 supports service-account user impersonation
- 3y agornaturalearthrnaturalearth 0.3.3 deprecates sp, imports terra
- 3y agogooglesheets4googlesheets4 1.1.0 replaces OAuth app with client configuration
- 4y agogooglesheets4googlesheets4 1.0.1 tolerates invalid named ranges, sees 10M cells
- 5y agogooglesheets4googlesheets4 1.0.0 moves to cli messages and classed errors
- 5y agogooglesheets4googlesheets4 0.3.0 retries requests on quota exhaustion
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between googlesheets4 and rnaturalearth?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. googlesheets4 and rnaturalearth 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 googlesheets4 better than rnaturalearth?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. googlesheets4 and rnaturalearth 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 googlesheets4?
Top googlesheets4 alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "googlesheets4 alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/googlesheets4 for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rnaturalearth?
Top rnaturalearth alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rnaturalearth alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rnaturalearth for the full list with editorial commentary on each.