silx
silx settles into maintenance a release after its PySide6 migration
Comparison · Analytics
ggraph vs Holistics
A side-by-side editorial comparison of ggraph and Holistics — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
ggraph vs Holistics: at a glance
What is ggraph?
ggraph has settled into ggplot2 compatibility duty
ggraph provides the grammar of graphics for network and tree data. Its recent releases are compatibility and bug-fix work — a collapse fix in get_edges() alongside ggplot2 v4.0.0 upkeep, and before that a pipe rollback. The last release with real content was 2.2.0, a long list of layout and edge-geom corrections.
What is Holistics?
Holistics is adding governance to the AI layer it spent the summer building.
Holistics ships small, frequent notes - often one or two sentences - covering three strands at once: AI features in Explore and Chat, as-code control over presentation through AML, and workspace hygiene like file history and dark mode. The August entries turn to the AI layer's edges rather than its capabilities, with an AI user attribute for restricting what the assistant can reach. Several entries are barely a line long, so scope frequently has to be read from the headline.
ggraph vs Holistics: editorial side-by-side
ggraph
0.0ANALYTICS
ggraph has settled into ggplot2 compatibility duty
◆ Current state
ggraph provides the grammar of graphics for network and tree data. Its recent releases are compatibility and bug-fix work — a collapse fix in get_edges() alongside ggplot2 v4.0.0 upkeep, and before that a pipe rollback. The last release with real content was 2.2.0, a long list of layout and edge-geom corrections.
◆ Where it's heading
The feature surface looks finished and the maintenance is about keeping it working under a moving ggplot2. The one architectural move in this window — pushing dendrogram layout into compiled code to escape R's recursion limits, back in 2.1.0 — was about scaling existing features, not adding new ones.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next release to follow ggplot2 4.0.0 rather than introduce layouts or edge geoms.
Holistics
5.0ANALYTICS
Holistics is adding governance to the AI layer it spent the summer building.
◆ Current state
Holistics ships small, frequent notes - often one or two sentences - covering three strands at once: AI features in Explore and Chat, as-code control over presentation through AML, and workspace hygiene like file history and dark mode. The August entries turn to the AI layer's edges rather than its capabilities, with an AI user attribute for restricting what the assistant can reach. Several entries are barely a line long, so scope frequently has to be read from the headline.
◆ Where it's heading
The AI work has moved through a recognizable sequence: capability first with chart suggestions, then observability with AI Chat Insights for admins, and now access control with an AI-specific user attribute. Alongside it, Holistics keeps pulling presentation into AML - custom charts, theme palettes, currency formats - so the things analysts used to click are versioned as code. File history is the join between the two threads, giving every dashboard, model, and dataset its own restorable timeline.
◆ Prediction
With capability, visibility, and access control now in place for the AI layer, the next step is likely audit or policy depth - logging what the assistant answered against which data - rather than new AI surfaces.
Alternatives to ggraph and Holistics
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 ggraph or Holistics.
Plotly
Plotly is turning its cloud into a metered compute platform with an enterprise on-ramp.
aniread
aniread stops asking you to know which tracker wrote the file
Rho
Rho's release machinery finally produced a stable build — and it shipped no new product.
Usermaven
Usermaven closed the loop: data comes in from anywhere, and now it goes back out.
OpenCTI
OpenCTI spends a release unblocking queues and hardening upserts
See all ggraph alternatives → · See all Holistics alternatives →
Recent activity from ggraph and Holistics
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 2d agoHolisticsAI user attribute restricts AI access to sensitive data
- 16d agoHolisticsCustom currency and unit formats, per field
- 19d agoHolisticsFile history: per-file version timeline and restore
- 22d agoHolisticsCustom charts become AML code with GUI authoring
- 23d agoHolisticsColor palettes can be assigned at the theme level
- 27d agoHolisticsDate-range presets and typed shorthands
- 11mo agoggraphget_edges() collapse fix and ggplot2 v4 upkeep
- 2y agoggraphNative pipe usage rolled back
- 2y agoggraphLayout precision and edge geom fixes across the package
- 3y agoggraphBinned edge scales and compiled dendrogram layouts
- 5y agoggraphC++11 pinned to fix std::random_shuffle deprecation
- 5y agoggraphFaceting and edge geom bug fixes
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between ggraph and Holistics?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Holistics is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 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 ggraph better than Holistics?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Holistics is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 5.0 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to ggraph?
Top ggraph alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ggraph alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ggraph for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Holistics?
Top Holistics alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Holistics alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/holistics for the full list with editorial commentary on each.