nflreadr
The nflverse data loader, whose releases are dictated by the NFL calendar and CRAN's archive policy
A side-by-side editorial comparison of mmconvert and regfusionr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
A single-purpose mouse map interpolator that solved its problem in 2023 and has coasted since
mmconvert does one thing: interpolate between GRCm39 physical positions and the revised Cox genetic map for mouse MUGA array markers. The substantive work all landed in a burst across 2021-2023 — the initial function, the GRCm39 annotation dataset, cross2_to_grcm39(), the recomputed Cox maps and their smoothed replacement. Everything since is upkeep: a warning-message fix in 0.12, and 0.14 is a test adjustment to silence a CRAN Note with no code change at all.
Registration fusion mapping goes bidirectional, and a vertex-indexing bug that silently returned wrong coordinates is fixed
regfusionr maps coordinates between volumetric brain templates (MNI152, Colin27) and the fsaverage surface. After four dormant years it returned in July 2026 with a release that fixes a coordinate-indexing bug, unblocks a previously disabled function, and completes the template-by-method matrix so all four combinations answer point queries. It also breaks compatibility by switching to the standard FREESURFER_HOME environment variable.
mmconvert does one thing: interpolate between GRCm39 physical positions and the revised Cox genetic map for mouse MUGA array markers. The substantive work all landed in a burst across 2021-2023 — the initial function, the GRCm39 annotation dataset, cross2_to_grcm39(), the recomputed Cox maps and their smoothed replacement. Everything since is upkeep: a warning-message fix in 0.12, and 0.14 is a test adjustment to silence a CRAN Note with no code change at all.
The package has reached the natural end state of a reference-data converter — the reference data stopped moving, so the package stopped moving. Releases now arrive roughly annually and exist to keep CRAN checks green. The 0.14 release shipped the same day as sibling qtl2convert 0.36, confirming these are batch maintenance passes across the maintainer's packages rather than independent development.
Without a new mouse genome build or a revised Cox map, the next release is likely another CRAN-check accommodation rather than new functionality.
regfusionr maps coordinates between volumetric brain templates (MNI152, Colin27) and the fsaverage surface. After four dormant years it returned in July 2026 with a release that fixes a coordinate-indexing bug, unblocks a previously disabled function, and completes the template-by-method matrix so all four combinations answer point queries. It also breaks compatibility by switching to the standard FREESURFER_HOME environment variable.
The package moved from a partial implementation to a complete one in a single release. Before this, vol_coords_to_fsaverage returned coordinates indexed by query position rather than by vertex index — results that looked plausible and were wrong — and fsaverage_to_vol was guarded behind a stop(). Both are now resolved, and the new Colin27 and MNI152 convenience functions make the mapping bidirectional. The sibling package haze shipped a maintenance release 56 minutes later, marking this as a coordinated sweep across the maintainer's neuroimaging stack.
With the four template-by-method combinations closed and the coordinate bug fixed, the next release is more likely to be CRAN-adjacent packaging or documentation than new mapping capability.
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 mmconvert or regfusionr.
The nflverse data loader, whose releases are dictated by the NFL calendar and CRAN's archive policy
Fine-mapping workhorse susieR spends its releases hunting null-effect trimming bugs
A rank-based gene signature scorer that has grown by adapting to whatever object format single-cell R uses next
A diagnostic package that generalized past its own name, then learned to say which kind of separation it found
A bias-reduction package reaches 1.0 by adding an estimator built for high-dimensional logistic regression
The JAGS toolkit under RoBMA, shipping the standardization machinery its downstream rewrite needed
See all mmconvert alternatives → · See all regfusionr alternatives →
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. regfusionr is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. regfusionr is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 3.8 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
Top mmconvert alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "mmconvert alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mmconvert for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
Top regfusionr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "regfusionr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/regfusionr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.