jSDM
Joint species distribution models in Gibbs-sampled C++, quiet since 2023.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
mice vs samplr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of mice and samplr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
mice vs samplr: at a glance
What is mice?
mice can finally predict, not just estimate, from multiply imputed data.
mice is the reference implementation of multiple imputation by chained equations, and the default answer to missing data in R. The releases here follow a consistent shape: one or two substantive additions per version, most contributed by outside authors, plus fixes to methods that have been in the package for years. The current 3.19.0 adds predict_mi(), which pools predictions across imputations under Rubin's rules and can return prediction intervals.
What is samplr?
A cognitive-science sampling package ships once, then goes quiet for eighteen months
samplr compares human performance against sampling algorithms, giving cognitive scientists the MCMC machinery to test whether people behave like samplers. Its entire public history is three releases: a 1.0.0 in August 2024, a floating-point fix eighteen seconds later, and then nothing until a February 2026 patch. The release notes are unusually thin even by CRAN standards.
mice vs samplr: editorial side-by-side
mice
0.0INFRA · APIS
mice can finally predict, not just estimate, from multiply imputed data.
◆ Current state
mice is the reference implementation of multiple imputation by chained equations, and the default answer to missing data in R. The releases here follow a consistent shape: one or two substantive additions per version, most contributed by outside authors, plus fixes to methods that have been in the package for years. The current 3.19.0 adds predict_mi(), which pools predictions across imputations under Rubin's rules and can return prediction intervals.
◆ Where it's heading
Two things are happening. The imputation method catalogue keeps widening — lasso variants, multivariate PMM, categorical PMM via canonical correlation — while the pooling side is being extended past its original purpose, first to synthetic data, now to predictions on held-out sets. That second thread points at predictive modelling workflows rather than the inferential ones mice was built for. Meanwhile the maintainers keep finding consequential old bugs: the augment() ordered-factor defect in 3.18.0 had been silently degrading ordinal imputations for years.
◆ Prediction
predict_mi() is framed around evaluating predictive performance on test sets, and the ignore argument added in 3.12.0 already exists to hold out rows from the imputation model. Expect the next work to join those up into a fuller train/test story for imputed data, since the pieces are now in place but not yet connected.
samplr
0.0INFRA · APIS
A cognitive-science sampling package ships once, then goes quiet for eighteen months
◆ Current state
samplr compares human performance against sampling algorithms, giving cognitive scientists the MCMC machinery to test whether people behave like samplers. Its entire public history is three releases: a 1.0.0 in August 2024, a floating-point fix eighteen seconds later, and then nothing until a February 2026 patch. The release notes are unusually thin even by CRAN standards.
◆ Where it's heading
The feed shows a package that shipped and stopped. The 2024 tags were both created in one sitting and say almost nothing; the 2026 release is a row-count bug in Mean_Variance() bundled with citation metadata, a dropped dependency and http-to-https link fixes — the housekeeping profile of a package being kept alive for the paper that cites it rather than actively developed.
◆ Prediction
Adding citation information to the README is usually the move of a maintainer expecting the package to be referenced rather than extended. On this cadence the next release is more likely another CRAN-hygiene patch than new algorithms; there is not enough in these notes to say otherwise.
Alternatives to mice and samplr
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 mice or samplr.
rsofun
An ecosystem model starts tracking carbon isotopes and land-use change.
usmap
Ten years in, US mapping splits its data out and finally adds Puerto Rico.
trackeR
Fitness-tracking analysis in slow maintenance, still absorbing upstream breakage.
states
State-panel tooling holding steady since its 2020 data and ergonomics release.
multimark
Five years of compiler and CRAN fixes on a capture-recapture package.
Recent activity from mice and samplr
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5mo agosamplrMean_Variance() row count corrected after eighteen months
- 8mo agomicemice 3.19.0 ⚡
- 1y agomicemice 3.18.0
- 1y agomicemice 3.17.0
- 1y agosamplrFloating point comparison fix
- 1y agosamplrsamplr 1.0.0
- 3y agomicemice 3.16.0
- 3y agomicemice 3.15.0
- 4y agomicemice 3.14.0
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between mice and samplr?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Infra & APIs. mice and samplr 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 mice better than samplr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. mice and samplr 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 mice?
Top mice alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "mice alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mice for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to samplr?
Top samplr alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "samplr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/samplr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.