qqman
The Manhattan-plot package for GWAS results, finished and dormant since 2017.
Comparison · Analytics
quantities vs TwoSampleMR
A side-by-side editorial comparison of quantities and TwoSampleMR — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
quantities vs TwoSampleMR: at a glance
What is quantities?
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.
What is TwoSampleMR?
The flagship Mendelian randomization package is auditing its own estimators, one bootstrap at a time.
TwoSampleMR is the MRC-IEU package for two-sample Mendelian randomization against OpenGWAS. Its 2026 releases are a sustained correctness review rather than feature work: 0.7.9 fixed bootstrap standard errors in mr_mode() and mr_rucker_bootstrap() that had been inflated since v0.6.30, and repaired two Rucker functions that were returning malformed objects. Point estimates were not affected by the bootstrap bug.
quantities vs TwoSampleMR: editorial side-by-side
quantities
0.0ANALYTICS
The glue package that makes R carry units and uncertainty through the same calculation.
◆ Current state
quantities combines the units and errors packages into one class so values keep both their measurement units and their uncertainty through arithmetic, subsetting and data frame operations. Recent releases have been narrow: fixes to the covariance and correlation implementations, and performance work on the data.frame methods. Most of the release traffic is coordination with its two parent packages.
◆ Where it's heading
The design settled with 0.2.0, which made uncertainty unit-aware and added correlation and covariance support for quantities objects. Since then the package behaves like the integration layer it is — releasing when units, errors, dplyr or ggplot2 shift underneath it rather than on its own schedule. Several releases consist only of test repairs against upstream changes.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to follow a units or errors change rather than introduce new behaviour of its own.
TwoSampleMR
0.0ANALYTICS
The flagship Mendelian randomization package is auditing its own estimators, one bootstrap at a time.
◆ Current state
TwoSampleMR is the MRC-IEU package for two-sample Mendelian randomization against OpenGWAS. Its 2026 releases are a sustained correctness review rather than feature work: 0.7.9 fixed bootstrap standard errors in mr_mode() and mr_rucker_bootstrap() that had been inflated since v0.6.30, and repaired two Rucker functions that were returning malformed objects. Point estimates were not affected by the bootstrap bug.
◆ Where it's heading
The pattern across these releases is a package being read line by line — a copy-paste weight vector in ldsc_rg(), chunking that produced zero splits for short SNP lists, penalisation recycled across the wrong SNPs, dead code paths removed, and regression tests added behind each fix. Alongside it runs a mechanical modernization pass: seq_len() for loop indices, tidyr in place of reshape2, current ggplot2 idioms, and the OpenGWAS URL migration. Feature work is limited to forest plot presentation.
◆ Prediction
Expect the audit to continue through the remaining bootstrap and jackknife routines, with releases staying in the 0.7.x patch range and each fix arriving with its own regression test.
Alternatives to quantities and TwoSampleMR
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 quantities or TwoSampleMR.
constants
The R package for CODATA constants rebuilt its symbol table on NIST's naming so future updates stop being hand work.
austraits
The R client for AusTraits spends its releases chasing the dataset it reads.
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.rbmi
Reference-based multiple imputation tables, shipping only what CRAN checks demand.
See all quantities alternatives → · See all TwoSampleMR alternatives →
Recent activity from quantities and TwoSampleMR
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agoTwoSampleMRBootstrap standard errors corrected in mode and Rucker estimators
- 2mo agoTwoSampleMRWrong weight vector and chunking fixes across the estimator set
- 2mo agoTwoSampleMRDeprecated ggplot2 idioms and dead code removed
- 3mo agoTwoSampleMROpenGWAS URLs migrated and Wald ratio warnings quieted
- 4mo agoTwoSampleMRCategorized forest plots aligned with the published figures
- 4mo agoTwoSampleMRFurther internal code optimizations
- 1y agoquantitiesFixes covariance and correlation implementations
- 2y agoquantitiesFaster data.frame methods
- 3y agoquantitiesTest fixes for an upstream units change
- 3y agoquantitiesUncertainty becomes unit-aware; adds correlation support
- 5y agoquantitiesCompatibility fix for units 0.7-0
- 6y agoquantitiesFixes uncertainty propagation for offset unit conversions
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between quantities and TwoSampleMR?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. quantities and TwoSampleMR 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 quantities better than TwoSampleMR?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. quantities and TwoSampleMR 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 quantities?
Top quantities alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "quantities alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/quantities for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to TwoSampleMR?
Top TwoSampleMR alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "TwoSampleMR alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/twosamplemr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.