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Comparison · Infra & APIs

prova vs radiatR

A side-by-side editorial comparison of prova and radiatR — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

prova vs radiatR: at a glance

FeatureprovaradiatR
SectorInfra & APIsInfra & APIs
Velocity score6.32.5
Sparks · 30d10
Top themesr-packages, bayesian-inference, decision-analysis, api-consolidationcircular-statistics, animal-movement, r-package, shiny-app
Last editorial update42m ago2h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is prova?

prova adds expected-utility calculation on top of its Bayesian inference core.

prova does Bayesian nonparametric inference in R — probabilities through Pr() and qPr(), mutual information, quantile plots. Five releases in about two weeks renamed its central argument, collapsed two plotting functions into one, and then in v2.3.0 introduced exputility() for expected utilities and their revisability, with plot() and print() methods attached from the start.

Read the full prova trajectory →

What is radiatR?

A circular-statistics toolkit for animal movement, shipped and then tightened in three weeks.

radiatR reads movement trajectories, plots them on circular axes, computes kinematics such as speed and path sinuosity, and runs the circular statistics that go with them, including tests of mean direction, symmetry and unimodality. It arrived as a first public release on 9 July 2026 with an accompanying Shiny app, and has had two releases since at roughly weekly intervals. The 0.1.x line is still setting its boundaries: 0.1.2 removes a loader dialect and makes previously silent data problems into errors.

Read the full radiatR trajectory →

prova vs radiatR: editorial side-by-side

P
prova
INFRA · APIS
6.3

prova adds expected-utility calculation on top of its Bayesian inference core.

◆ Current state

prova does Bayesian nonparametric inference in R — probabilities through Pr() and qPr(), mutual information, quantile plots. Five releases in about two weeks renamed its central argument, collapsed two plotting functions into one, and then in v2.3.0 introduced exputility() for expected utilities and their revisability, with plot() and print() methods attached from the start.

◆ Where it's heading

Two arcs run in parallel. One compresses the API: learnt= became K=, flexiplot() and plotquantiles() merged into pplot(), and omitting arguments such as Y=, X= and K= got simpler. The other extends reach — mutualinfoF() for finite-domain variates, quantile accuracy reported alongside mutual information, and now a decision-theoretic layer sitting on the inference the package already did.

◆ Prediction

exputility() shipping with print() and plot() methods matches how the probability and mutual-information classes were treated, so utilities are likely to get the same class-based handling as they mature. The notes do not say whether decision analysis extends beyond expected utility.

R
radiatR
INFRA · APIS
2.5

A circular-statistics toolkit for animal movement, shipped and then tightened in three weeks.

◆ Current state

radiatR reads movement trajectories, plots them on circular axes, computes kinematics such as speed and path sinuosity, and runs the circular statistics that go with them, including tests of mean direction, symmetry and unimodality. It arrived as a first public release on 9 July 2026 with an accompanying Shiny app, and has had two releases since at roughly weekly intervals. The 0.1.x line is still setting its boundaries: 0.1.2 removes a loader dialect and makes previously silent data problems into errors.

◆ Where it's heading

Three releases in twelve days show a package hardening in public rather than accreting features. The direction of travel is toward refusing bad input instead of quietly working around it: non-finite coordinate rows now error by default rather than being dropped silently, combining Tracks objects rejects colliding trajectory ids and conflicting calibration metadata instead of merging them and discarding one side, and the Shiny app clears prior state before reading a new upload. The statistical surface is growing in parallel, but within the scope the first release already claimed.

◆ Prediction

Expect the remaining goodness-of-fit gap the notes name explicitly, Jones-Pewsey, to be filled in a later release, and the error-on-bad-input treatment to reach the parts of the loader it has not yet covered. A CRAN submission is the natural next step for a package this young, though nothing in these entries commits to one.

Alternatives to prova and radiatR

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 prova or radiatR.

See all prova alternatives → · See all radiatR alternatives →

Recent activity from prova and radiatR

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 13d agoprovaexputility() brings decision analysis into prova
  2. 20d agoprovaCumulative 2.x notes, plus hist() and mutual-information changes
  3. 23d agoprovalearnt= becomes K=; pplot() replaces two plot functions
  4. 27d agoprovaFix for pre-existing parallel clusters
  5. 28d agoprovaextraDistr dropped; mutual-information objects get a class
  6. 29d agoradiatRctrax loader dropped; bad coordinates now error by default
  7. 1mo agoradiatRWrapped-Cauchy and Pycke tests close two statistical gaps
  8. 1mo agoradiatRFirst public release

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between prova and radiatR?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. prova is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 2.5), 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.

Is prova better than radiatR?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. prova is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 2.5), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to prova?

Top prova alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "prova alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/prova for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to radiatR?

Top radiatR alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "radiatR alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/radiatr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.