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DoseFinding vs lime

A side-by-side editorial comparison of DoseFinding and lime — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

DoseFinding vs lime: at a glance

FeatureDoseFindinglime
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesdose-response, mcp-mod, clinical-trials, model-averagingexplainability, machine-learning, maintenance-mode, r-packages
Last editorial update1h ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is DoseFinding?

New stewardship at openpharma, then two releases adding the methods MCP-Mod was missing

DoseFinding implements MCP-Mod and related dose-response methodology for clinical trial design and analysis. In 2024 it changed hands — Marius Thomas took over as maintainer, Novartis was recorded as copyright holder and funder, and the package moved to the openpharma GitHub organisation with roxygen documentation and a proper NEWS file. The two releases since have added substantive methodology: model averaging for dose-response fitting in 1.3-1, and conditional and predictive power for interim analyses in 1.4-1.

Read the full DoseFinding trajectory →

What is lime?

The R port of LIME has shipped one commit in three years, and it was an xgboost compatibility patch

lime is the R implementation of local interpretable model-agnostic explanations, and it is effectively in preservation rather than development. Its last substantive feature release was 0.5.0 in 2019; 0.5.3 in 2022 recorded a maintainer handover and general upkeep; 0.5.4 in December 2025 exists solely to keep the package working across xgboost versions. Six releases span eight years, and only two of them contain features.

Read the full lime trajectory →

DoseFinding vs lime: editorial side-by-side

D
DoseFinding
ANALYTICS
0.0

New stewardship at openpharma, then two releases adding the methods MCP-Mod was missing

◆ Current state

DoseFinding implements MCP-Mod and related dose-response methodology for clinical trial design and analysis. In 2024 it changed hands — Marius Thomas took over as maintainer, Novartis was recorded as copyright holder and funder, and the package moved to the openpharma GitHub organisation with roxygen documentation and a proper NEWS file. The two releases since have added substantive methodology: model averaging for dose-response fitting in 1.3-1, and conditional and predictive power for interim analyses in 1.4-1.

◆ Where it's heading

The pattern before the handover was maintenance — R-devel compliance, a bug fix, a link. After it, each release carries a named methodological addition with an acknowledged contributor, plus documentation to match: a longitudinal analysis vignette shipped alongside the interim power work. Housekeeping continues underneath, mostly clearing deprecated ggplot2 interfaces, aes_string in one release and qplot in the next.

◆ Prediction

Given the last two releases each added one method with a supporting vignette, expect the next to follow the same shape. Both additions so far extend the package beyond fixed dose-response fitting, so adaptive and interim methodology is the more likely direction.

L
lime
ANALYTICS
0.0

The R port of LIME has shipped one commit in three years, and it was an xgboost compatibility patch

◆ Current state

lime is the R implementation of local interpretable model-agnostic explanations, and it is effectively in preservation rather than development. Its last substantive feature release was 0.5.0 in 2019; 0.5.3 in 2022 recorded a maintainer handover and general upkeep; 0.5.4 in December 2025 exists solely to keep the package working across xgboost versions. Six releases span eight years, and only two of them contain features.

◆ Where it's heading

The pattern is upstream-driven survival: every release since 0.5.0 responds to a change in something lime depends on — glmnet's namespace, order() semantics on data frames, xgboost's interface. The one deliberate change in that stretch was moving htmlwidgets, shiny and shinythemes to Suggests, which lightens installation for the majority of users who never open the interactive explainer. Nothing in the feed indicates work on the explanation method itself.

◆ Prediction

Expect the next release, whenever it comes, to be another compatibility patch triggered by a dependency change rather than anything touching how explanations are computed. The three-year gaps make timing unpredictable.

Alternatives to DoseFinding and lime

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 DoseFinding or lime.

See all DoseFinding alternatives → · See all lime alternatives →

Recent activity from DoseFinding and lime

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 8mo agolimexgboost compatibility restored across versions
  2. 1y agoDoseFindingConditional and predictive power for interim analyses
  3. 1y agoDoseFindingModel averaging arrives for dose-response fitting
  4. 1y agoDoseFindingPackage moves to openpharma under new maintainership
  5. 2y agoDoseFindingCompliance update for R-devel
  6. 3y agoDoseFindingpowMCTBinCount bug fix
  7. 3y agolimeMaintainer handover and general upkeep
  8. 5y agolimeShiny dependencies moved to Suggests
  9. 6y agolimeNamespace fix for glmnet changes
  10. 7y agolimegower_pow added and lambda aligned with the Python implementation
  11. 8y agolimeh2o support, NA handling, and date columns held during permutation

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between DoseFinding and lime?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. DoseFinding and lime 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 DoseFinding better than lime?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. DoseFinding and lime 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 DoseFinding?

Top DoseFinding alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "DoseFinding alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/dosefinding for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to lime?

Top lime alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "lime alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/lime for the full list with editorial commentary on each.