tidytlg
A tables-listings-graphs package that reached CRAN and then went quiet.
Comparison · Analytics
lobstr vs Tplyr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of lobstr and Tplyr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
lobstr vs Tplyr: 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 Tplyr?
Tplyr made clinical summary tables explain where every number came from.
Tplyr builds clinical summary tables through a layered grammar — count, descriptive statistics, and shift layers assembled onto a table object. The 1.0.0 release added a traceability metadata framework that lets a user ask which source rows produced any given cell, and later releases extended it to cases the first pass missed. The package is maintained by Atorus within the pharmaverse ecosystem.
lobstr vs Tplyr: 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.
Tplyr
0.0ANALYTICS
Tplyr made clinical summary tables explain where every number came from.
◆ Current state
Tplyr builds clinical summary tables through a layered grammar — count, descriptive statistics, and shift layers assembled onto a table object. The 1.0.0 release added a traceability metadata framework that lets a user ask which source rows produced any given cell, and later releases extended it to cases the first pass missed. The package is maintained by Atorus within the pharmaverse ecosystem.
◆ Where it's heading
Post-1.0 work has been about completing the metadata story and filling gaps in layer composition rather than adding table types — metadata for missing subjects, add_anti_join(), missing-subject rows, data limiting, and fixes to nested count layers where an inner value appears under several outer groups. Releases cluster tightly after a major version, then go quiet, and the window ends with a patch issued days after the release it corrects.
◆ Prediction
Further releases will most likely continue closing traceability and nested-layer edge cases rather than introducing new layer types, following the pattern of both post-1.0 feature releases.
Alternatives to lobstr and Tplyr
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 Tplyr.
rlistings
Clinical listings that keep inheriting their hardest problem — pagination — from the layer below.
hoardr
A cache-directory helper that has shipped nothing but CRAN-triggered patches for seven years.
gigs
gigs redesigned its whole conversion API for rOpenSci, then spent three releases getting the docs to build.
riem
A weather-data client that keeps rewriting its HTTP layer while slowly tightening its API.
datasetjson
datasetjson rebuilt its object model to track the CDISC Dataset-JSON 1.1 schema.
See all lobstr alternatives → · See all Tplyr alternatives →
Recent activity from lobstr and Tplyr
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 ⚡
- 2y agoTplyrMissing-subject metadata, add_anti_join(), and nested-layer fixes
- 3y agoTplyrMetadata vignette fix and parenthesis hugging
- 3y agoTplyrDenominator logic fix ahead of CRAN release
- 3y agoTplyrReverse-dependency fix
- 3y agoTplyr1.0.0 introduces the traceability metadata framework ⚡
- 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 Tplyr?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. lobstr and Tplyr 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 Tplyr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. lobstr and Tplyr 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 Tplyr?
Top Tplyr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Tplyr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tplyr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.