webchem
Adding chemical databases with one hand while public ones close programmatic access with the other.
Comparison · Analytics
lobstr vs marquee
A side-by-side editorial comparison of lobstr and marquee — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-libr-package
lobstr vs marquee: at a glance
What is lobstr?
R's object inspector is losing its view of the internals as CRAN closes off the private C API.
lobstr exposes R's internal object representation — sizes, addresses, reference counts, abstract syntax trees. Its two most recent releases are both driven by R's move to a restricted public C API: 1.1.3 stopped reporting a vector's truelength and reworked the reference indicator into refs:n, and 1.2.0 changed what sxp(expand = "environment") shows in order to stay compliant. 1.2.0 also adds src() for exploring srcref objects.
What is marquee?
marquee is filling in the typographic details — outlines, border types, real font metrics for underlines.
marquee renders markdown text onto R graphics devices, and backs element_marquee() and geom_marquee() in ggplot2. Development ran in a tight burst through August and September 2025: 1.1.0 added text outlines, a size shortcut and remote PNG/JPEG support, 1.2.0 added border and outline line types and moved underline placement onto font metrics, and 1.2.1 cleaned up the bugs those introduced.
lobstr vs marquee: editorial side-by-side
lobstr
0.0ANALYTICS
R's object inspector is losing its view of the internals as CRAN closes off the private C API.
◆ Current state
lobstr exposes R's internal object representation — sizes, addresses, reference counts, abstract syntax trees. Its two most recent releases are both driven by R's move to a restricted public C API: 1.1.3 stopped reporting a vector's truelength and reworked the reference indicator into refs:n, and 1.2.0 changed what sxp(expand = "environment") shows in order to stay compliant. 1.2.0 also adds src() for exploring srcref objects.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is being rebuilt inside a shrinking window of what R permits. Each release trades some introspection depth for API conformance while trying to keep the diagnostic value intact — showing promise expressions instead of internal frame structures, replacing named with a documented refs scale. Where the constraint does not bite, development continues normally: src() is genuinely new, and the environment-binding fixes remove long-standing errors on for-loop and immediate bindings.
◆ Prediction
Expect further conformance work, since the notes describe it as ongoing, with any remaining non-API-dependent readouts either reworked or dropped as R tightens further.
marquee
0.0ANALYTICS
marquee is filling in the typographic details — outlines, border types, real font metrics for underlines.
◆ Current state
marquee renders markdown text onto R graphics devices, and backs element_marquee() and geom_marquee() in ggplot2. Development ran in a tight burst through August and September 2025: 1.1.0 added text outlines, a size shortcut and remote PNG/JPEG support, 1.2.0 added border and outline line types and moved underline placement onto font metrics, and 1.2.1 cleaned up the bugs those introduced.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is converging on typographic fidelity rather than new capability. Early work settled layout semantics — CSS margin collapsing, inline padding reserving space during shaping, devices without glyph support — and recent releases refine how decorations are drawn and measured. The naming cleanup in 1.2.0, border_size becoming border_width, reads as an API being tidied ahead of wider use rather than one still being explored.
◆ Prediction
Expect continued small releases sanding down rendering edge cases in ggplot2 contexts, since that is where the recent bug reports come from; nothing here signals a new feature area.
Alternatives to lobstr and marquee
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 lobstr or marquee.
sftime
The spatiotemporal companion to sf, moving at the pace of the packages around it.
ReLTER
An interface to Europe's long-term ecosystem research network that went quiet after 2.0.
waywiser
Spatial model assessment that spent the last year on cross-platform arithmetic and CRAN rules.
taxizedb
Stopped trusting the cloud to prepare its taxonomic databases and does the conversion locally.
fellingdater
Went from estimating felling dates to doing the crossdating that produces them.
See all lobstr alternatives → · See all marquee alternatives →
Recent activity from lobstr and marquee
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5mo agolobstrNew src() for srcrefs; environment bindings stop erroring
- 9mo agolobstrtruelength reporting dropped for public C API compliance ⚡
- 11mo agomarqueeBug fixes for relative sizes, outlines and guide width
- 11mo agomarqueeBorder and outline line types; underlines follow font metrics
- 11mo agomarqueeRotated text width fixed; factor input supported
- 0y agomarqueeText outlines, size shortcuts and images from URLs
- 1y agomarquee1.0 settles margin collapsing and inline decoration spacing
- 4y agolobstrMoves to cpp11, relicensed MIT, adds experimental tree()
- 7y agolobstrPROTECT error fixed
- 7y agolobstrALTREP sizes computed correctly; obj_addr() stops side-effecting
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between lobstr and marquee?
Both compete on the same themes — r-lib, r-package — within Analytics. lobstr and marquee 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 lobstr better than marquee?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. lobstr and marquee 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 lobstr?
Top lobstr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "lobstr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/lobstr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to marquee?
Top marquee alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "marquee alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/marquee for the full list with editorial commentary on each.