mlr3mbo
mlr3mbo picked its defaults from a benchmark study, not from taste
Comparison · Analytics
cmdstanr vs crosstalk
A side-by-side editorial comparison of cmdstanr and crosstalk — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
cmdstanr vs crosstalk: at a glance
What is cmdstanr?
cmdstanr keeps adding fast approximations beside full HMC, and fighting Windows toolchains.
cmdstanr is the lightweight R interface to CmdStan, shelling out to the Stan binary rather than embedding it. The visible releases pair inference-method expansion, with laplace and pathfinder arriving in 0.7.0, against a continuous effort to make installation work on Windows. The most recent releases are dominated by CmdStan version compatibility and numerical fixes in the loo path.
What is crosstalk?
crosstalk is frozen infrastructure: four releases in five years, mostly CRAN upkeep.
crosstalk provides the shared-selection and filtering layer that lets independent htmlwidgets communicate on a page without Shiny. Its visible history is four releases across five years, one of which made a substantive change and three of which were fixes. The most recent exists only to clear an R CMD check NOTE.
cmdstanr vs crosstalk: editorial side-by-side
cmdstanr
0.0ANALYTICS
cmdstanr keeps adding fast approximations beside full HMC, and fighting Windows toolchains.
◆ Current state
cmdstanr is the lightweight R interface to CmdStan, shelling out to the Stan binary rather than embedding it. The visible releases pair inference-method expansion, with laplace and pathfinder arriving in 0.7.0, against a continuous effort to make installation work on Windows. The most recent releases are dominated by CmdStan version compatibility and numerical fixes in the loo path.
◆ Where it's heading
The package tracks CmdStan closely, and its own work concentrates in two places. One is broadening the method surface so approximate inference sits beside sampling on the same object, extended in 0.8.0 by letting a completed fit supply initial values for the next run. The other is cutting installation friction, which reaches its conclusion in 0.9.0 with RTools45 supported and no additional toolchain setup needed on Windows. Dependency trimming, such as dropping RcppEigen for direct Eigen interop, runs alongside both.
◆ Prediction
The cadence is a CmdStan release followed by a compatibility release here, so expect the next to track a newer CmdStan and continue the effective-sample-size numerical work in the loo method.
crosstalk
0.0ANALYTICS
crosstalk is frozen infrastructure: four releases in five years, mostly CRAN upkeep.
◆ Current state
crosstalk provides the shared-selection and filtering layer that lets independent htmlwidgets communicate on a page without Shiny. Its visible history is four releases across five years, one of which made a substantive change and three of which were fixes. The most recent exists only to clear an R CMD check NOTE.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is finished in the sense that matters: it does one thing, widget authors depend on it, and it changes when R or CRAN forces it to. The single directional move here is 1.2.0 dropping the bundled Bootstrap dependency so crosstalk stops imposing a CSS framework on the pages that embed it. Nothing since suggests further design work.
◆ Prediction
The next release is most likely another CRAN-compliance fix; the entries show no feature work in progress.
Alternatives to cmdstanr and crosstalk
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 cmdstanr or crosstalk.
loo
loo keeps rewriting the diagnostics Bayesian modellers read off model comparison
mlr3fselect
mlr3fselect turned feature selection into an asynchronous, distributable job
lime
lime survives on compatibility patches years after its research moment
mlr3measures
mlr3measures is systematically retrofitting sample weights across every metric
mlr3cluster
mlr3cluster went from a handful of clusterers to covering the field
See all cmdstanr alternatives → · See all crosstalk alternatives →
Recent activity from cmdstanr and crosstalk
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4mo agocmdstanrRTools45 support; Windows needs no extra toolchain setup
- 4mo agocmdstanrBugfix release: SUNDIALS linking, Windows paths, RTools
- 4mo agocmdstanrCmdStanFit objects usable as initial values; RcppEigen dropped
- 11mo agocrosstalkRd link anchors fixed for R CMD check
- 2y agocmdstanrBugfix release with dedicated hpp generation step
- 2y agocmdstanrLaplace and Pathfinder inference methods added ⚡
- 2y agocrosstalkFixes for SharedData in Shiny modules and filter escaping
- 2y agocmdstanrjacobian argument enabled for optimization; assorted fixes
- 4y agocrosstalkBootstrap dependency dropped from filter and layout helpers
- 6y agocrosstalkClearer error when Shiny is not installed
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between cmdstanr and crosstalk?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. cmdstanr and crosstalk 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 cmdstanr better than crosstalk?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. cmdstanr and crosstalk 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 cmdstanr?
Top cmdstanr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "cmdstanr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/cmdstanr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to crosstalk?
Top crosstalk alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "crosstalk alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/crosstalk for the full list with editorial commentary on each.