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gtsummary vs weird

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

Shared themes:r-package

gtsummary vs weird: at a glance

Featuregtsummaryweird
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesclinical-tables, analysis-results-data, regression-summaries, reproducible-reportinganomaly-detection, r-package, distributional, robust-statistics
Last editorial update1h ago50m ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is gtsummary?

gtsummary is quietly rebuilding itself around analysis results data, one table verb at a time.

gtsummary builds publication-ready summary, regression and survival tables for clinical and epidemiological work. Across this window it has grown in two directions at once: table composition primitives — splitting tables by rows and columns, stacking with labeled IDs, nested strata stacks, flexible merge columns — and a steadily deepening ARD layer, where tbl_ard_* functions, gather_ard() and the hierarchical table family expose the underlying analysis results data as a first-class object.

Read the full gtsummary trajectory →

What is weird?

weird rebuilt itself on distributional objects, and now the anomaly tooling composes with everything else.

An R package for anomaly detection and unusual-observation diagnostics, at four releases with a long gap between the 2024 patch and the 2026 major line. The current shape is set by 2.0.0, which refactored the package onto distributional objects and renamed its central concept from density_scores() to surprisals(). Since then the work has been filling that structure in: surprisals for more model classes, faster bandwidth and probability calculations, and new visual diagnostics.

Read the full weird trajectory →

gtsummary vs weird: editorial side-by-side

G
gtsummary
ANALYTICS
0.0

gtsummary is quietly rebuilding itself around analysis results data, one table verb at a time.

◆ Current state

gtsummary builds publication-ready summary, regression and survival tables for clinical and epidemiological work. Across this window it has grown in two directions at once: table composition primitives — splitting tables by rows and columns, stacking with labeled IDs, nested strata stacks, flexible merge columns — and a steadily deepening ARD layer, where tbl_ard_* functions, gather_ard() and the hierarchical table family expose the underlying analysis results data as a first-class object.

◆ Where it's heading

The ARD work is the through-line. Table IDs exist so gather_ard() can return a named list; hierarchical tables gained per-level sorting and targeted filtering; ARD inputs are pre-processed so sorting applies to non-standard shapes. The package is becoming a structured-results engine that happens to render tables, rather than a renderer alone. Alongside that, 2.2.0 restored data pre-processing that 2.0 had removed after the reduced functionality hurt users — a maintainer willing to reverse a major-version decision.

◆ Prediction

Expect the hierarchical and ARD functions, introduced as a preview without a full deprecation cycle, to keep stabilizing toward a settled API rather than new table types appearing.

W
weird
ANALYTICS
0.0

weird rebuilt itself on distributional objects, and now the anomaly tooling composes with everything else.

◆ Current state

An R package for anomaly detection and unusual-observation diagnostics, at four releases with a long gap between the 2024 patch and the 2026 major line. The current shape is set by 2.0.0, which refactored the package onto distributional objects and renamed its central concept from density_scores() to surprisals(). Since then the work has been filling that structure in: surprisals for more model classes, faster bandwidth and probability calculations, and new visual diagnostics.

◆ Where it's heading

The refactor onto a shared distribution representation is the decision everything else follows from. It let 2.1.0 add hdr() and parameters() methods for kde objects rather than bespoke accessors, and it let 3.0.0 bring in dist_mclust() to turn a Gaussian mixture model into the same object type — so a mixture, a kernel density estimate and a fitted distribution all flow through one interface. The 3.0.0 additions lean visual and multivariate: outlier maps plotting score distance against orthogonal distance, biplot projections with variable axes overlaid, and an augment() method for robust PCA objects. Dependencies have been shed steadily along the way — lookout, interpolation — while mvscale() moved out and then back in.

◆ Prediction

Expect surprisals() coverage to keep extending to further model classes, and the multivariate and robust-PCA diagnostics introduced in 3.0.0 to gain the same distributional-object treatment as the univariate side.

Alternatives to gtsummary and weird

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 gtsummary or weird.

See all gtsummary alternatives → · See all weird alternatives →

Recent activity from gtsummary and weird

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

  1. 1mo agoweirdOutlier maps, biplot projections, and Gaussian mixtures as distributional objects
  2. 2mo agogtsummaryTheme elements no longer evaluated by default
  3. 3mo agoweirdsurprisals() reaches glm objects; lookout dependency dropped
  4. 6mo agoweirdPackage refactored onto distributional objects; density_scores becomes surprisals
  5. 8mo agogtsummaryARD strata functions and finer theme control
  6. 11mo agogtsummaryPer-level hierarchical sorting and labeled stacking
  7. 1y agogtsummaryTable splitting, ID labeling, and add_difference_row
  8. 1y agogtsummaryData pre-processing restored after the 2.0 removal
  9. 1y agogtsummarytbl_merge gains explicit merge columns
  10. 2y agoweirdWine reviews dataset replaced with a fetch function

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between gtsummary and weird?

Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. gtsummary and weird 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 gtsummary better than weird?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. gtsummary and weird 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 gtsummary?

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

What are the best alternatives to weird?

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