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haven vs tsibble

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

haven vs tsibble: at a glance

Featurehaventsibble
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesr, data-import, spss-stata-sas, readstattime-series, data-structures, vctrs, tidyverts
Last editorial update2h ago51m ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is haven?

haven's release cadence has narrowed to compiler and R-devel upkeep.

haven is the tidyverse's bridge to SPSS, Stata and SAS files, wrapping the C ReadStat library. The last several releases are almost entirely maintenance: syncing vendored ReadStat and patching ahead of R-devel changes. The most recent substantive user-facing work landed in 2.5.2 and earlier.

Read the full haven trajectory →

What is tsibble?

tsibble shipped one release in five and a half years - the data structure is finished

tsibble defines the tidy time-series data structure that fable and feasts are built on. The design churned heavily through 2018 and 2019, settled with the 0.9.0 move onto vctrs in mid-2020, and then went quiet: the next release, 1.2.0, arrived in February 2026 with a summary() method and some tidyselect helpers.

Read the full tsibble trajectory →

haven vs tsibble: editorial side-by-side

H
haven
ANALYTICS
0.0

haven's release cadence has narrowed to compiler and R-devel upkeep.

◆ Current state

haven is the tidyverse's bridge to SPSS, Stata and SAS files, wrapping the C ReadStat library. The last several releases are almost entirely maintenance: syncing vendored ReadStat and patching ahead of R-devel changes. The most recent substantive user-facing work landed in 2.5.2 and earlier.

◆ Where it's heading

Development has shifted from extending the file-format surface to keeping a C dependency compiling against newer toolchains. The deprecation of write_sas() narrowed that surface deliberately, steering users to write_xpt() because the sas7bdat format is undocumented and unsupported upstream.

◆ Prediction

Expect further ReadStat sync releases triggered by compiler or R-devel breakage rather than new format support or writing features.

T
tsibble
ANALYTICS
0.0

tsibble shipped one release in five and a half years - the data structure is finished

◆ Current state

tsibble defines the tidy time-series data structure that fable and feasts are built on. The design churned heavily through 2018 and 2019, settled with the 0.9.0 move onto vctrs in mid-2020, and then went quiet: the next release, 1.2.0, arrived in February 2026 with a summary() method and some tidyselect helpers.

◆ Where it's heading

This is a package that reached its final shape and stopped. The early releases are a rapid sequence of breaking changes to the key and interval metadata, each one warning that previously stored objects are corrupt; once the interval became a formal vctrs record type there was nothing structural left to change. The five-year gap is the trajectory, not a lapse.

◆ Prediction

Expect further releases to be small compatibility and convenience additions at long intervals; with the type system settled and windowing delegated to slider, there is no visible pressure for another breaking change.

Alternatives to haven and tsibble

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 haven or tsibble.

See all haven alternatives → · See all tsibble alternatives →

Recent activity from haven and tsibble

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

  1. 6mo agotsibblesummary() for time classes; sequential column construction
  2. 1y agohavenhaven 2.5.5 syncs ReadStat for stricter gcc diagnostics
  3. 2y agohavenhaven 2.5.4 patches for an upcoming R-devel change
  4. 3y agohavenhaven 2.5.3 patches for an upcoming R-devel change
  5. 3y agohavenhaven 2.5.2 fixes SAS catalog reads and deprecates write_sas()
  6. 3y agohavenhaven 2.5.1 aligns labelled headers and fixes name repair
  7. 4y agohavenhaven 2.5.0 adds custom variable widths when writing files
  8. 6y agotsibbleInterval becomes a vctrs record type; windowing moves to slider
  9. 7y agotsibbleLifecycle badges and yearweek string parsing
  10. 7y agotsibblePatch fixes for renaming, single-row and duplicate-index cases
  11. 7y agotsibbleindex_by() groups the index; unnest_tsibble() added
  12. 7y agotsibbleMetadata overhaul folds regular into interval, ordered into index

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between haven and tsibble?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. haven and tsibble 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 haven better than tsibble?

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

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

What are the best alternatives to tsibble?

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