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Comparison · Infra & APIs
jstable vs rgm
A side-by-side editorial comparison of jstable and rgm — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
jstable vs rgm: at a glance
What is jstable?
A clinical table generator paying down years of edge cases in survey-weighted models
jstable turns regression and survival models into the formatted tables medical papers publish, wrapping coxph, glm, geeglm, lmer and their survey-weighted counterparts. The recent line is almost entirely correction work, concentrated in two places: the .display family and the TableSubgroup family. Version 1.3.25 alone fixed quasibinomial support for survey-weighted logistic regression, automatic factor-to-numeric outcome conversion for svyglm, weighted-versus-original sample counts in the n row, data.table input handling, and Overall column labelling.
What is rgm?
A microbiome network model that got itself un-archived by deleting the dependency that killed it.
rgm implements the random graphical model for microbiome interactions across related environments, published in JABES in 2026. The package was archived from CRAN in February 2026 because of its dependency on huge; the recovery release drops that dependency entirely, which cost it the graphical-lasso warm start that used to seed the initial graph — the default is now an empty graph, with warm starts left to the user. A post-processing function returning ggplot diagnostics arrived in the same release.
jstable vs rgm: editorial side-by-side
jstable
0.0INFRA · APIS
A clinical table generator paying down years of edge cases in survey-weighted models
◆ Current state
jstable turns regression and survival models into the formatted tables medical papers publish, wrapping coxph, glm, geeglm, lmer and their survey-weighted counterparts. The recent line is almost entirely correction work, concentrated in two places: the .display family and the TableSubgroup family. Version 1.3.25 alone fixed quasibinomial support for survey-weighted logistic regression, automatic factor-to-numeric outcome conversion for svyglm, weighted-versus-original sample counts in the n row, data.table input handling, and Overall column labelling.
◆ Where it's heading
Each CRAN release bundles several GitHub patch versions, so the notes read as rolled-up fix lists rather than feature announcements. The substantive thread is pcut.univariate, introduced across seven display functions in 1.3.11 to allow multivariable analysis restricted to significant variables, and repaired repeatedly since as it collided with interaction terms, single-variable selections, clustered models and data.table inputs. The survey-weighted path is the other recurring source: counts, labels and family handling that worked for unweighted data kept failing once weights were involved.
◆ Prediction
Expect further patches in the survey-weighted subgroup functions, since 1.3.25 fixed four separate issues there and each recent release has surfaced more in the same area.
rgm
0.0INFRA · APIS
A microbiome network model that got itself un-archived by deleting the dependency that killed it.
◆ Current state
rgm implements the random graphical model for microbiome interactions across related environments, published in JABES in 2026. The package was archived from CRAN in February 2026 because of its dependency on huge; the recovery release drops that dependency entirely, which cost it the graphical-lasso warm start that used to seed the initial graph — the default is now an empty graph, with warm starts left to the user. A post-processing function returning ggplot diagnostics arrived in the same release.
◆ Where it's heading
Three tags shipped inside two hours on one day, and the notes are candid about why: 1.1.0 held the actual work but was never released, 1.2.0 restated it under a higher version to signal the size of the change, and 1.2.1 answered CRAN pre-test feedback. Beyond the archival recovery, the visible work is housekeeping that had accumulated — a shadowed rmvnorm() definition, roxygen import tags that were silently emitting nothing, leftover C++ template scaffolding, and build artifacts under version control. The diagnostics function is the only genuinely new user-facing capability in the window.
◆ Prediction
The immediate task was restoring availability, and that is done; the open question the entries raise is whether losing the graphical-lasso warm start affects convergence in practice, which the new diagnostic plots are positioned to answer.
Alternatives to jstable and rgm
Other Infra & APIs 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 jstable or rgm.
WPML
WPML made machine translation the default, and its point releases keep chasing WordPress and page builders.
forestploter
A forest plot package that keeps handing users control of one more graphical detail.
ggInterval
Interval-valued data plotting, spending 2026 making its function names and examples survive CRAN.
contagionchannels
Three releases in ten days, every one of them a CRAN reviewer's correction rather than a code change.
tidyaudit
Pipeline provenance for tidyverse workflows, recording what changed at each step without keeping the data.
Recent activity from jstable and rgm
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 3mo agorgmJournal DOI replaces the preprint; promotional wording removed
- 3mo agorgmBack on CRAN after dropping the dependency that caused archival
- 3mo agorgmUnreleased twin of the CRAN recovery release
- 4mo agojstableSurvey-weighted logistic regression and sample counts corrected
- 6mo agojstableCompeting-risk counts drawn from original rather than transformed data
- 9mo agojstableMulti-state Cox models detected without a manual flag
- 10mo agojstableWide fix pass across the display functions
- 1y agojstableCrude p-values computed from raw data via data_for_univariate
- 1y agojstableSignificance-filtered multivariable analysis added across seven functions
- 2y agorgmFirst release: simulation, estimation and post-processing
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between jstable and rgm?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Infra & APIs. jstable and rgm 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 jstable better than rgm?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. jstable and rgm 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 Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to jstable?
Top jstable alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "jstable alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/jstable for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rgm?
Top rgm alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rgm alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rgm for the full list with editorial commentary on each.