STACAS
Single-cell batch correction that learned to use cell labels, then spent three releases chasing Seurat.
Comparison · Analytics
eulerr vs flashlight
A side-by-side editorial comparison of eulerr and flashlight — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:r-package
eulerr vs flashlight: at a glance
What is eulerr?
The area-proportional Euler diagram package is finished software, and maintained like it.
eulerr generates area-proportional Euler and Venn diagrams by numerically optimizing shape positions and sizes to match set relationships, with the fitting done in C++. The last feature release was 7.0.0 in December 2022, which made the optimization's loss function user-selectable. Everything since has been maintenance: documentation URL corrections, a strip-layout fix when grouping, an Armadillo deprecation, and an R CMD check warning about an unignored config file.
What is flashlight?
flashlight hit 1.0 by giving away its SHAP feature and making most of its API internal.
flashlight computes model-agnostic interpretability output — variable importance, partial dependence and effect profiles, breakdown plots — for fitted models in R. Version 1.0.0 in October 2025 executed a contraction announced two years earlier: add_shap() is deprecated in favour of the separate kernelshap and fastshap packages, type = "shap" is gone from every light_* function that accepted it, and eight previously exported helpers became internal. The release also restored compatibility with ggplot2 v4.
eulerr vs flashlight: editorial side-by-side
eulerr
0.0ANALYTICS
The area-proportional Euler diagram package is finished software, and maintained like it.
◆ Current state
eulerr generates area-proportional Euler and Venn diagrams by numerically optimizing shape positions and sizes to match set relationships, with the fitting done in C++. The last feature release was 7.0.0 in December 2022, which made the optimization's loss function user-selectable. Everything since has been maintenance: documentation URL corrections, a strip-layout fix when grouping, an Armadillo deprecation, and an R CMD check warning about an unignored config file.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a mature package whose problem is solved, and the release pattern reflects that — three of the last four releases changed nothing a user would see. What activity remains is tracking its dependencies rather than its own roadmap: keeping up with Armadillo's deprecations and R CMD check policy is the whole of recent work. The two September 2025 releases an hour apart are a fix and its follow-up, not a development cycle restarting.
◆ Prediction
The pattern points to continued upkeep triggered by upstream C++ and CRAN check changes rather than new capability. If anything does move, the configurable loss function added in 7.0.0 is the surface with room left in it.
flashlight
0.0ANALYTICS
flashlight hit 1.0 by giving away its SHAP feature and making most of its API internal.
◆ Current state
flashlight computes model-agnostic interpretability output — variable importance, partial dependence and effect profiles, breakdown plots — for fitted models in R. Version 1.0.0 in October 2025 executed a contraction announced two years earlier: add_shap() is deprecated in favour of the separate kernelshap and fastshap packages, type = "shap" is gone from every light_* function that accepted it, and eight previously exported helpers became internal. The release also restored compatibility with ggplot2 v4.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is narrowing rather than growing, and doing it on a published schedule — 0.9.0 listed the breaking changes, 1.0.0 applied them essentially unchanged. Handing SHAP computation to dedicated packages leaves flashlight as an effects-and-profiles visualization layer rather than an all-purpose interpretability toolkit. Removing the ability to rename result columns via options() points the same way: fewer configuration surfaces, a smaller contract to maintain.
◆ Prediction
With the deprecation list from 0.9.0 now fully applied, the next releases most likely remove the functions currently deprecated rather than adding capability, and continue tracking ggplot2. The entries show no new analysis method in progress.
Alternatives to eulerr and flashlight
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 eulerr or flashlight.
ggtrace
A debugger for ggplot2's internals, hardening its grip as the internals it traces keep moving.
kde1d
A univariate density estimator that added zero-inflated data and reopened its C++ API to do it.
svines
Stationary vine copulas for time series, released in lockstep with the rest of Nagler's vine stack.
gghighlight
A single-purpose ggplot2 extension that has spent six years tracking ggplot2 instead of growing.
rtrek
A Star Trek data package that became a Memory Alpha web client and has been patching scrapers ever since.
See all eulerr alternatives → · See all flashlight alternatives →
Recent activity from eulerr and flashlight
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 10mo agoflashlightSHAP handed off to kernelshap as the public API shrinks ⚡
- 10mo agoeulerrConfig file added to Rbuildignore to clear a check warning
- 10mo agoeulerrDeprecated Armadillo call replaced and doc links repaired
- 2y agoeulerrStrip order and layout corrected for grouped diagrams
- 2y agoeulerrInternal documentation and a stale link corrected
- 3y agoflashlightBreaking changes for 1.0.0 announced two years ahead
- 3y agoeulerrLayout optimization gains a selectable loss function
- 4y agoflashlightMaintenance release covering package generation
- 4y agoeulerrCitation added and error messages improved
- 5y agoflashlightggpubr dependency removed
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between eulerr and flashlight?
Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. eulerr and flashlight 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 eulerr better than flashlight?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. eulerr and flashlight 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 eulerr?
Top eulerr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "eulerr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/eulerr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to flashlight?
Top flashlight alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "flashlight alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/flashlight for the full list with editorial commentary on each.