PyPI vs R-universe

PyPI is a repository for software written in Python, available through its website and APIs. It helps users find and install packages shared by the Python community, while package authors publish projects and releases. A release may include source archives and binary wheels for different hardware, operating systems, and formats. APIs include RSS feeds for new packages and releases. PyPI is maintained by the Python Software Foundation and the Python community. Accounts require two-factor authentication, and a verified email address is needed to register a project or upload a release file. Trusted Publishing uses OpenID Connect short-lived identity tokens, with PyPI API tokens valid for 15 minutes. Default limits are 100 MB per file and 10 GB per project. Organizations provide shared profiles, teams, permissions, trusted publishing, and history. Community organizations are free; Company organizations cost $5 a month.

R-universe is rOpenSci’s platform for publishing and discovering research software in R. Its searchable catalogue covers R software, articles, and datasets, using R-specific indexing and ranking. Package and universe pages provide detailed information and rendered material. Users and developers can run personal CRAN-like package repositories whether or not they publish packages on CRAN; R-universe builds and deploys packages from Git repositories into installation repositories. It also provides a continuous integration development environment without configuration to help identify potential breakage before release. WebAssembly binary support is experimental. Publishing a packages.json registry requires a GitHub account and the R-universe GitHub app, although package repositories may be hosted on other public Git servers such as GitLab. Unauthenticated APIs support listing universes and packages, retrieving package information, and searching. The service is free at free and is available through web, API, Linux, macOS, and Windows. rOpenSci initiated and governs the platform. R-universe does not vet packages; each universe owner is responsible for policies and quality control.