ANALYTICS
Licensing settled, ApexCharts is back to changing what a chart can take as input.
Alternatives · analytics tools
gghighlight alternatives
The best gghighlight alternatives in analytics tools, ranked by Sparkpulse's velocity_score.
Updated Aug 19, 2026
Looking for the best alternatives to gghighlight? Sparkpulse tracks and ranks 12 alternatives in analytics tools by shipping velocity — how frequently each ships meaningful updates, verified from official changelogs. For reference, gghighlight shipped 0 meaningful updates in the last 30 days and carries a velocity score of 0.0 out of 10 in 2026. The alternatives below are ranked the same way, so you're comparing real release momentum, not marketing claims.
About gghighlight
A single-purpose ggplot2 extension that has spent six years tracking ggplot2 instead of growing.
gghighlight adds one verb to ggplot2: highlight the series matching a predicate and grey out the rest, with unhighlighted_params controlling how the shadowed layer renders and calculate_per_facet deciding whether the predicate evaluates within facets. The API settled at 0.2.0; the 0.5.0 release supports ggplot2 v4.0 including its ink and paper theme elements, and finally deletes gghighlight_point() and gghighlight_line().
Velocity 0.0 · Last update 1d ago
Top 12 alternatives to gghighlight
Ranked by recent ship velocity. Tap any card for the full editorial breakdown, or pivot to a head-to-head.
ANALYTICS
Usermaven closed the loop: data comes in from anywhere, and now it goes back out.
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Omni ships weekly, and almost every week the headline item is an AI feature.
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Plotly is turning its cloud into a metered compute platform with an enterprise on-ramp.
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Rho's release machinery finally produced a stable build — and it shipped no new product.
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OpenCTI spends a release unblocking queues and hardening upserts
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After its largest release, OpenObserve is patching the seams.
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AgencyAnalytics is turning its assistant into scheduled agency staff work, not a chat box.
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silx settles into maintenance a release after its PySide6 migration
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Mimir's feed is a weekly Helm bot, with the 3.2 candidate the only real release in months
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Dovetail spent July opening doors to other tools; August is spent making its own rooms easier to enter.
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TimescaleDB is paying down correctness debt in its columnstore query paths.
gghighlight vs alternatives — shipping velocity at a glance
Velocity score (0–10) and meaningful releases shipped in the last 30 days, from official changelogs. Higher = shipping faster.
| Product | Velocity | Sparks · 30d | Focus areas | Latest release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| gghighlight (baseline) | 0.0 | 0 | ggplot2data-visualisationggplot-extension | — |
| ApexCharts | 10.0 | 3 | chartingraw-data-inputchart-morphing | Histogram bins raw samples; charts morph between types |
| Usermaven | 8.8 | 3 | product-analyticsreverse-etlmcp | 🔌 Salesforce, Reverse ETL, and connectors: your stack, connected |
| Omni | 6.3 | 1 | business-intelligencesemantic-modelai-routines | AI semantic model generation goes generally available in Omni |
| Plotly | 6.3 | 1 | ai-app-buildingplotly-cloudmetered-billing | Custom Domains in Plotly Cloud |
| Rho | 6.3 | 1 | r-ideai-agentsmodel-routing | Agent conversations and provider-routed models land in Rho |
| OpenCTI | 6.3 | 0 | threat-intelligencestixdata-model | — |
| OpenObserve | 6.3 | 1 | observabilitysynthetic-monitoringmcp | v0.92.0 adds synthetic monitoring, workflows, and AI observability |
| AgencyAnalytics | 6.3 | 1 | agency-reportingai-assistantscheduling | Skills in AgencyAI |
| silx | 5.0 | 0 | scientific-computingdata-visualizationsynchrotron | 3.0.0: PySide6 becomes the default Qt binding, Python 3.10 required |
| Grafana Mimir | 5.0 | 0 | metricsprometheus-compatiblehelm | — |
| Dovetail | 5.0 | 0 | digital twinschatagents | — |
| TimescaleDB | 5.0 | 0 | time-seriespostgresqlcolumnstore | — |
The 12 best gghighlight alternatives, in depth
1. ApexCharts · velocity 10.0
Licensing settled, ApexCharts is back to changing what a chart can take as input.
Over the last 30 days ApexCharts shipped 3 meaningful updates vs gghighlight's 0, most recently “Histogram bins raw samples; charts morph between types”. Its velocity score of 10.0/10 blends that with longer-term release cadence.
Where gghighlight leans on ggplot2, data visualisation and ggplot extension, ApexCharts focuses on charting, raw data input and chart morphing.
Over the last 30 days ApexCharts has been shipping faster than gghighlight — a point in its favour if release momentum matters to you.
Full ApexCharts trajectory → · Compare gghighlight vs ApexCharts →
2. Usermaven · velocity 8.8
Usermaven closed the loop: data comes in from anywhere, and now it goes back out.
Over the last 30 days Usermaven shipped 3 meaningful updates vs gghighlight's 0, most recently “🔌 Salesforce, Reverse ETL, and connectors: your stack, connected”. Its velocity score of 8.8/10 blends that with longer-term release cadence.
Where gghighlight leans on ggplot2, data visualisation and ggplot extension, Usermaven focuses on product analytics, reverse etl and mcp.
Over the last 30 days Usermaven has been shipping faster than gghighlight — a point in its favour if release momentum matters to you.
Full Usermaven trajectory → · Compare gghighlight vs Usermaven →
3. Omni · velocity 6.3
Omni ships weekly, and almost every week the headline item is an AI feature.
Over the last 30 days Omni shipped 1 meaningful update vs gghighlight's 0, most recently “AI semantic model generation goes generally available in Omni”. Its velocity score of 6.3/10 blends that with longer-term release cadence.
Where gghighlight leans on ggplot2, data visualisation and ggplot extension, Omni focuses on business intelligence, semantic model and ai routines.
Over the last 30 days Omni has been shipping faster than gghighlight — a point in its favour if release momentum matters to you.
4. Plotly · velocity 6.3
Plotly is turning its cloud into a metered compute platform with an enterprise on-ramp.
Over the last 30 days Plotly shipped 1 meaningful update vs gghighlight's 0, most recently “Custom Domains in Plotly Cloud”. Its velocity score of 6.3/10 blends that with longer-term release cadence.
Where gghighlight leans on ggplot2, data visualisation and ggplot extension, Plotly focuses on ai app building, plotly cloud and metered billing.
Over the last 30 days Plotly has been shipping faster than gghighlight — a point in its favour if release momentum matters to you.
5. Rho · velocity 6.3
Rho's release machinery finally produced a stable build — and it shipped no new product.
Over the last 30 days Rho shipped 1 meaningful update vs gghighlight's 0, most recently “Agent conversations and provider-routed models land in Rho”. Its velocity score of 6.3/10 blends that with longer-term release cadence.
Where gghighlight leans on ggplot2, data visualisation and ggplot extension, Rho focuses on r ide, ai agents and model routing.
Over the last 30 days Rho has been shipping faster than gghighlight — a point in its favour if release momentum matters to you.
6. OpenCTI · velocity 6.3
OpenCTI spends a release unblocking queues and hardening upserts.
Its velocity score of 6.3/10 reflects longer-term release cadence.
Where gghighlight leans on ggplot2, data visualisation and ggplot extension, OpenCTI focuses on threat intelligence, stix and data model.
OpenCTI and gghighlight have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
Full OpenCTI trajectory → · Compare gghighlight vs OpenCTI →
7. OpenObserve · velocity 6.3
After its largest release, OpenObserve is patching the seams.
Over the last 30 days OpenObserve shipped 1 meaningful update vs gghighlight's 0, most recently “v0.92.0 adds synthetic monitoring, workflows, and AI observability”. Its velocity score of 6.3/10 blends that with longer-term release cadence.
Where gghighlight leans on ggplot2, data visualisation and ggplot extension, OpenObserve focuses on observability, synthetic monitoring and mcp.
Over the last 30 days OpenObserve has been shipping faster than gghighlight — a point in its favour if release momentum matters to you.
Full OpenObserve trajectory → · Compare gghighlight vs OpenObserve →
8. AgencyAnalytics · velocity 6.3
AgencyAnalytics is turning its assistant into scheduled agency staff work, not a chat box.
Over the last 30 days AgencyAnalytics shipped 1 meaningful update vs gghighlight's 0, most recently “Skills in AgencyAI”. Its velocity score of 6.3/10 blends that with longer-term release cadence.
Where gghighlight leans on ggplot2, data visualisation and ggplot extension, AgencyAnalytics focuses on agency reporting, ai assistant and scheduling.
Over the last 30 days AgencyAnalytics has been shipping faster than gghighlight — a point in its favour if release momentum matters to you.
Full AgencyAnalytics trajectory → · Compare gghighlight vs AgencyAnalytics →
9. silx · velocity 5.0
Silx settles into maintenance a release after its PySide6 migration.
Its velocity score of 5.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence; its most recent meaningful update was “3.0.0: PySide6 becomes the default Qt binding, Python 3.10 required”.
Where gghighlight leans on ggplot2, data visualisation and ggplot extension, silx focuses on scientific computing, data visualization and synchrotron.
silx and gghighlight have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
10. Grafana Mimir · velocity 5.0
Mimir's feed is a weekly Helm bot, with the 3.2 candidate the only real release in months.
Its velocity score of 5.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence.
Where gghighlight leans on ggplot2, data visualisation and ggplot extension, Grafana Mimir focuses on metrics, prometheus compatible and helm.
Grafana Mimir and gghighlight have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
Full Grafana Mimir trajectory → · Compare gghighlight vs Grafana Mimir →
11. Dovetail · velocity 5.0
Dovetail spent July opening doors to other tools; August is spent making its own rooms easier to enter.
Its velocity score of 5.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence.
Where gghighlight leans on ggplot2, data visualisation and ggplot extension, Dovetail focuses on digital twins, chat and agents.
Dovetail and gghighlight have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
Full Dovetail trajectory → · Compare gghighlight vs Dovetail →
12. TimescaleDB · velocity 5.0
TimescaleDB is paying down correctness debt in its columnstore query paths.
Its velocity score of 5.0/10 reflects longer-term release cadence.
Where gghighlight leans on ggplot2, data visualisation and ggplot extension, TimescaleDB focuses on time series, postgresql and columnstore.
TimescaleDB and gghighlight have shipped at a similar pace over the last 30 days, so the decision comes down to fit and feature depth.
Full TimescaleDB trajectory → · Compare gghighlight vs TimescaleDB →
Frequently asked questions
What are the best alternatives to gghighlight?
The top gghighlight alternatives we currently track in analytics tools are ApexCharts, Usermaven, Omni, Plotly, Rho, ranked by recent ship velocity.
How is this list of gghighlight alternatives ranked?
Alternatives are ranked by Sparkpulse's velocity_score — release cadence + 30-day spark count + sector-relative ship rate.
Can I compare gghighlight directly with one of these alternatives?
Yes — every card has a "Compare with gghighlight" link to a side-by-side /compare page.