r2rtf
The clinical-report table engine learned Chinese, then learned to leave RTF entirely
Comparison · Analytics
simtrial vs ymlthis
A side-by-side editorial comparison of simtrial and ymlthis — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
simtrial vs ymlthis: at a glance
What is simtrial?
A fixed-design trial simulator grew a pluggable test framework, then spent a year proving the numbers
simtrial simulates time-to-event clinical trials and applies the tests used to analyse them — logrank, weighted logrank, MaxCombo, RMST, milestone. The 0.4.0 release turned it from a fixed-sample simulator into a group sequential one and standardised every test behind a common output contract, and the releases since have been about making that machinery correct and fast enough to run at scale. Version 1.0.0 arrived in June 2025 with the API settled and three vignettes explaining both the one-call and build-it-yourself paths.
What is ymlthis?
ymlthis retired itself, naming Quarto as the reason it no longer needs to exist.
ymlthis built R Markdown YAML front matter programmatically — a fluent `yml_*()` interface plus RStudio add-ins, so users did not have to hand-write metadata blocks whose valid fields were scattered across output-format documentation. Version 1.0.0 declares the package retired, with only CRAN-preserving changes to follow, and states the reason plainly: Quarto now provides good YAML support.
simtrial vs ymlthis: editorial side-by-side
simtrial
0.0ANALYTICS
A fixed-design trial simulator grew a pluggable test framework, then spent a year proving the numbers
◆ Current state
simtrial simulates time-to-event clinical trials and applies the tests used to analyse them — logrank, weighted logrank, MaxCombo, RMST, milestone. The 0.4.0 release turned it from a fixed-sample simulator into a group sequential one and standardised every test behind a common output contract, and the releases since have been about making that machinery correct and fast enough to run at scale. Version 1.0.0 arrived in June 2025 with the API settled and three vignettes explaining both the one-call and build-it-yourself paths.
◆ Where it's heading
Post-1.0 the work is almost entirely statistical correctness and speed, and it is concentrated in sim_gs_n(): one-sided efficacy bounds, stratified targeted-event cut dates, a helper that derives cuttings straight from the design object. Performance moves in one direction throughout — dplyr replaced by data.table, foreach combination replaced by manual assembly, parallelisation added to sim_fixed_n() — because simulation-based operating characteristics are only useful if you can afford enough replications.
◆ Prediction
The recent fixes cluster on stratified and group sequential paths, so the next release most likely continues there rather than adding a new test type. The cut_from_design() helper suggests tighter coupling to gsDesign2 design objects is the direction of travel.
ymlthis
0.0ANALYTICS
ymlthis retired itself, naming Quarto as the reason it no longer needs to exist.
◆ Current state
ymlthis built R Markdown YAML front matter programmatically — a fluent `yml_*()` interface plus RStudio add-ins, so users did not have to hand-write metadata blocks whose valid fields were scattered across output-format documentation. Version 1.0.0 declares the package retired, with only CRAN-preserving changes to follow, and states the reason plainly: Quarto now provides good YAML support.
◆ Where it's heading
The retirement is the endpoint of a long drift. Between 2020 and 2022 every release was reactive — patching around a crayon update that mangled rendered YAML, tracking shiny 1.6, following roxygen2 7.0.0, fixing a typo in an add-in. No new capability has landed in six years, and the four-year gap before 1.0.0 had already answered the question the release note finally makes explicit.
◆ Prediction
Nothing further of substance is expected — the stated policy is changes only where CRAN requires them, so the next release, if any, will be a compatibility patch.
Alternatives to simtrial and ymlthis
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 simtrial or ymlthis.
DoseFinding
New stewardship at openpharma, then two releases adding the methods MCP-Mod was missing
webmockr
The stubbing library added httr2 support, then spent a year cutting itself free of everything else
crul
crul took mocking back from webmockr and made it a property of the client itself
dendroNetwork
Six releases, six identical bodies — the feed carries the package abstract instead of release notes
chattr
chattr deleted every LLM integration it had written and outsourced the lot to ellmer
See all simtrial alternatives → · See all ymlthis alternatives →
Recent activity from simtrial and ymlthis
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5mo agoymlthisymlthis retired; Quarto covers the need ⚡
- 8mo agosimtrialOne-sided efficacy bound and stratified cut date corrected
- 11mo agosimtrialsim_gs_n moved to data.table; stratified design example added
- 1y agosimtrial1.0.0 settles the wlr interface and documents both simulation paths
- 1y agosimtrialMilestone Z-score denominator corrected; parallel sim_fixed_n arrives
- 2y agosimtrialChecks pass without Suggests dependencies
- 2y agosimtrialRMST and milestone tests, plus a user-definable cut and test framework ⚡
- 4y agoymlthisTypo fixed in the miniUI add-in check
- 4y agoymlthisyml_author() accepts yml_blank(); shiny fixes
- 4y agoymlthisciteproc handling moved to newer rmarkdown functions
- 5y agoymlthisPatched a crayon update that mangled rendered YAML
- 5y agoymlthisAdjustments for shiny 1.6
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between simtrial and ymlthis?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. simtrial and ymlthis 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 simtrial better than ymlthis?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. simtrial and ymlthis 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 simtrial?
Top simtrial alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "simtrial alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/simtrial for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to ymlthis?
Top ymlthis alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ymlthis alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ymlthis for the full list with editorial commentary on each.