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gtfstools vs hstats

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

gtfstools vs hstats: at a glance

Featuregtfstoolshstats
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesgtfs, public-transport, geospatial, r-packageinteraction statistics, partial dependence, model explainability, r package
Last editorial update1h ago10h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is gtfstools?

gtfstools stopped guarding its own object model and started accepting everyone else's.

gtfstools reads, edits, filters and validates GTFS public transport feeds in R on a data.table backend. Since 1.3.0 it accepts GTFS objects produced by other packages such as gtfsio and tidytransit, converting them through an as_dt_gtfs() generic. Validation runs MobilityData's canonical validator, now supported through v6.0.0.

Read the full gtfstools trajectory →

What is hstats?

hstats settled into maintenance after its 1.0 restructuring, with model coverage the only thing still growing.

hstats computes Friedman's H-statistics, partial dependence, ICE curves and permutation importance for any model exposing a prediction function. The releases in view are consolidation: performance work on plain data.frames, ICE facetting for multioutput models, ranger survival support, and a ggplot 4.0 compatibility pass in 2025. The package moved to the ModelOriented organisation in 1.2.0.

Read the full hstats trajectory →

gtfstools vs hstats: editorial side-by-side

G
gtfstools
ANALYTICS
0.0

gtfstools stopped guarding its own object model and started accepting everyone else's.

◆ Current state

gtfstools reads, edits, filters and validates GTFS public transport feeds in R on a data.table backend. Since 1.3.0 it accepts GTFS objects produced by other packages such as gtfsio and tidytransit, converting them through an as_dt_gtfs() generic. Validation runs MobilityData's canonical validator, now supported through v6.0.0.

◆ Where it's heading

The package built out a wide function surface first — filters, geometry conversion, speed and duration calculations — then turned outward. Delegating validation to MobilityData's validator and accepting other packages' objects both trade self-sufficiency for a position inside the wider GTFS ecosystem. Deprecations are handled slowly, with old behaviour left as the default for a release or more.

◆ Prediction

Expect continued validator version tracking and further completion of the deprecation cycle around filter_by_stop_id()'s full_trips behaviour.

H
hstats
ANALYTICS
0.0

hstats settled into maintenance after its 1.0 restructuring, with model coverage the only thing still growing.

◆ Current state

hstats computes Friedman's H-statistics, partial dependence, ICE curves and permutation importance for any model exposing a prediction function. The releases in view are consolidation: performance work on plain data.frames, ICE facetting for multioutput models, ranger survival support, and a ggplot 4.0 compatibility pass in 2025. The package moved to the ModelOriented organisation in 1.2.0.

◆ Where it's heading

The structural work — the hstats_matrix object, quantile approximation, revised plotting — landed in 1.0.0 just outside this window, and nothing since has changed the package's shape. What continues is model-coverage plumbing: mlr3 classification modes, ranger survival behind a survival argument, and factor predictions added in 1.1.0 then removed again in 1.2.0. The most recent releases are compatibility-driven, tracking ggplot2 rather than the interaction statistics.

◆ Prediction

Expect the next release to be another dependency-compatibility pass or a new model backend working out of the box, rather than new interaction statistics.

Alternatives to gtfstools and hstats

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 gtfstools or hstats.

See all gtfstools alternatives → · See all hstats alternatives →

Recent activity from gtfstools and hstats

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

  1. 10mo agohstatsggplot 4.0 compatibility and test coverage
  2. 1y agogtfstoolsSupports canonical GTFS validator v5 and v6
  3. 1y agogtfstoolsAccepts GTFS objects from gtfsio and tidytransit
  4. 1y agohstatsranger survival models supported out of the box
  5. 2y agohstatsMoves to ModelOriented; factor predictions removed
  6. 2y agohstatsICE facets for multioutput models; mlr3 fixes
  7. 2y agohstatsFaster data.frame paths; NaN H-statistics fixed
  8. 2y agohstatsFactor predictions and line-style 2D partial dependence
  9. 3y agogtfstoolsValidation delegated to MobilityData's canonical validator
  10. 4y agogtfstoolsAdds time-of-day, weekday and frequency filtering functions
  11. 4y agogtfstoolsEstablishes the core GTFS filtering and sf conversion family

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between gtfstools and hstats?

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

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

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

What are the best alternatives to hstats?

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