easystats
The easystats meta-package is install tooling wrapped around a relicensed ecosystem.
Comparison · Analytics
bayesplot vs see
A side-by-side editorial comparison of bayesplot and see — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
bayesplot vs see: at a glance
What is bayesplot?
bayesplot keeps widening its posterior-check catalogue while absorbing each ggplot2 break.
bayesplot supplies the plotting layer for Stan-adjacent Bayesian workflows: posterior predictive checks, MCMC diagnostics and LOO diagnostics. Releases through 2025 alternate between new plot families and keeping pace with ggplot2, which changed behavior twice in the visible window. Contributions increasingly arrive from outside the core Stan team.
What is see?
see grows wherever easystats adds a diagnostic, one plot method at a time.
see is the visualization layer for the easystats ecosystem, supplying plot() methods for performance, parameters and datawizard objects. Each release adds methods for whatever those packages shipped — prior predictive checks, DAG diagrams, factor-analysis graphs — alongside steady theme and geom refinement.
bayesplot vs see: editorial side-by-side
bayesplot
0.0ANALYTICS
bayesplot keeps widening its posterior-check catalogue while absorbing each ggplot2 break.
◆ Current state
bayesplot supplies the plotting layer for Stan-adjacent Bayesian workflows: posterior predictive checks, MCMC diagnostics and LOO diagnostics. Releases through 2025 alternate between new plot families and keeping pace with ggplot2, which changed behavior twice in the visible window. Contributions increasingly arrive from outside the core Stan team.
◆ Where it's heading
Two forces drive the release line: expanding what can be checked visually, and absorbing upstream ggplot2 churn. The 1.13-1.14 pair shows the first, adding LOO-PIT ECDF plots, quantile dot plots and discrete-data handling across the stat family, while 1.12 and 1.15 are largely spent on ggplot2 3.6 and 4.0 compatibility. The recurring new-contributor lists suggest maintenance load is being spread rather than concentrated.
◆ Prediction
Discrete-data support has rolled out plot family by plot family across three releases; the next release most likely continues that sweep and finishes the ggplot2 v4 adaptation.
see
0.0ANALYTICS
see grows wherever easystats adds a diagnostic, one plot method at a time.
◆ Current state
see is the visualization layer for the easystats ecosystem, supplying plot() methods for performance, parameters and datawizard objects. Each release adds methods for whatever those packages shipped — prior predictive checks, DAG diagrams, factor-analysis graphs — alongside steady theme and geom refinement.
◆ Where it's heading
Growth here is downstream-driven rather than self-directed: see expands to cover new diagnostics as easystats produces them. Running alongside that is a sustained investment in presentation control — theme arguments on plot methods, elements that scale with base_size — which suits users embedding these plots in documents rather than glancing at them interactively.
◆ Prediction
Expect new plot methods to keep arriving in step with performance and parameters releases, with continued theming work rather than any change in the package's scope.
Alternatives to bayesplot and see
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 bayesplot or see.
discrim
discrim settled into a thin engine shim after handing its model definitions to parsnip.
dbparser
dbparser shed its database and CSV writers to become just a DrugBank parser.
desirability2
desirability2 is making multi-metric model selection a first-class tidymodels step.
crosstalk
crosstalk is frozen infrastructure: four releases in five years, mostly CRAN upkeep.
cmdstanr
cmdstanr keeps adding fast approximations beside full HMC, and fighting Windows toolchains.
See all bayesplot alternatives → · See all see alternatives →
Recent activity from bayesplot and see
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agoseesee 0.14.1 adds plots for prior checks and grouped means
- 2mo agoseesee 0.14.0 renders factor loadings as node-edge graphs
- 6mo agoseesee 0.13.0 fixes reversed plot sorting, adds theme arguments
- 8mo agobayesplotmcmc_scatter gains shape; pre-ggplot2 v4 theme behavior restored
- 11mo agoseesee 0.12.0 extends normality checks to psych factor models
- 11mo agobayesplotQuantile dot plots and broader discrete-data support
- 1y agobayesplotppc_loo_pit_ecdf() added; KM overlays gain truncation control
- 1y agobayesplotggplot2 3.6 compatibility and a run of plot-data fixes
- 1y agoseesee 0.11.0 scales theme elements with base_size
- 1y agoseesee 0.10.0 plots random-effect group levels for mixed models
- 2y agobayesplotPatch caps ppc_pit_ecdf evaluation points at 1000
- 2y agobayesplotbins/breaks across histograms; all LOO plots accept psis_object
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between bayesplot and see?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. bayesplot and see 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 bayesplot better than see?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. bayesplot and see 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 bayesplot?
Top bayesplot alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "bayesplot alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/bayesplot for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to see?
Top see alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "see alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/see-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.