austraits
The R client for AusTraits spends its releases chasing the dataset it reads.
Comparison · Analytics
paleobuddy vs tern.rbmi
A side-by-side editorial comparison of paleobuddy and tern.rbmi — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
paleobuddy vs tern.rbmi: at a glance
What is paleobuddy?
paleobuddy can now simulate trait-dependent diversification, not just birth-death.
paleobuddy simulates diversification, fossil records and phylogenetic trees, with rates that can be arbitrary functions of time — its founding idea, implemented through rexp.var() generalizing exponential and Weibull draws. The 1.1.0 release adds state-dependent speciation and extinction simulation at roughly MuHiSSE generality, and lets simulations stop at a target number of extant species instead of conditioning on time.
What is tern.rbmi?
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
tern.rbmi renders the output of {rbmi} reference-based multiple imputation analyses into tern tables for clinical reporting. Its three most recent releases exist to satisfy CRAN: restricting vignette builds to gcc, adding V8 to Suggests, and a plain resubmission. No user-facing functionality has changed in the visible window, and the three older entries now backfilled are version-bump automation.
paleobuddy vs tern.rbmi: editorial side-by-side
paleobuddy
0.0ANALYTICS
paleobuddy can now simulate trait-dependent diversification, not just birth-death.
◆ Current state
paleobuddy simulates diversification, fossil records and phylogenetic trees, with rates that can be arbitrary functions of time — its founding idea, implemented through rexp.var() generalizing exponential and Weibull draws. The 1.1.0 release adds state-dependent speciation and extinction simulation at roughly MuHiSSE generality, and lets simulations stop at a target number of extant species instead of conditioning on time.
◆ Where it's heading
Releases track the maintainer's publications rather than a product cadence — 1.0.0 accompanied the MEE manuscript, 1.0.0.1 exists purely as a Zenodo citation anchor, and 1.1.0 is stated as going with a paper on SSE model accuracy for trees including fossil data. That framing sets the direction: the package grows whichever capability the next study needs to test. The stated SSE limits, no quantitative traits and no cladogenetic transitions, mark exactly where that boundary currently sits.
◆ Prediction
Quantitative traits and cladogenetic transitions are named as missing, which makes them the obvious next targets, though on this history the timing will follow a paper rather than a roadmap.
tern.rbmi
0.0ANALYTICS
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
◆ Current state
tern.rbmi renders the output of {rbmi} reference-based multiple imputation analyses into tern tables for clinical reporting. Its three most recent releases exist to satisfy CRAN: restricting vignette builds to gcc, adding V8 to Suggests, and a plain resubmission. No user-facing functionality has changed in the visible window, and the three older entries now backfilled are version-bump automation.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a thin adapter package and behaves like one — it moves when CRAN or an upstream dependency forces it to. Between 2022 and 2024 the feed shows only version bumps, and the 2025 releases are packaging concerns rather than analysis changes. The newly surfaced 2022 entries reinforce rather than change that reading.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to be triggered by a CRAN check failure or an {rbmi} update rather than by new tabulation features.
Alternatives to paleobuddy and tern.rbmi
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 paleobuddy or tern.rbmi.
ggdemetra
A ggplot2 layer for seasonal adjustment output, filling in one plot type at a time.
fossilsim
A fossil-record simulator that quietly grew a trait-evolution engine.
tern.mmrm
An MMRM tabulation package that has published nothing since its 2024 CRAN releases.
ggmagnify
A single-purpose ggplot2 inset tool, refining the same three arguments.
symengine
An R symbolic-maths binding whose changelog is really the C++ core's release notes.
See all paleobuddy alternatives → · See all tern.rbmi alternatives →
Recent activity from paleobuddy and tern.rbmi
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1y agotern.rbmiVignette built only under gcc
- 1y agopaleobuddypaleobuddy 1.1.0 adds SSE trait-dependent simulation ⚡
- 1y agotern.rbmiV8 added to Suggests
- 1y agotern.rbmiCRAN resubmission with dependency and workflow updates
- 3y agotern.rbmiAutomated release commit for 0.1.1
- 3y agopaleobuddypaleobuddy 1.0.0.1: Zenodo citation release
- 4y agotern.rbmiDevelopment version bump to 0.1.0.9004
- 4y agotern.rbmiCI automation commit, no release content
- 4y agopaleobuddypaleobuddy 1.0.0: first release with time-varying rates
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between paleobuddy and tern.rbmi?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. paleobuddy and tern.rbmi 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 paleobuddy better than tern.rbmi?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. paleobuddy and tern.rbmi 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 paleobuddy?
Top paleobuddy alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "paleobuddy alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/paleobuddy for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to tern.rbmi?
Top tern.rbmi alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "tern.rbmi alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/tern-rbmi for the full list with editorial commentary on each.