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haven vs mlr3mbo

A side-by-side editorial comparison of haven and mlr3mbo — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

haven vs mlr3mbo: at a glance

Featurehavenmlr3mbo
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.02.5
Sparks · 30d00
Top themesr, data-import, spss-stata-sas, readstatbayesian-optimization, mlr3, hyperparameter-tuning, r-stats
Last editorial update5h ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is haven?

haven's release cadence has narrowed to compiler and R-devel upkeep.

haven is the tidyverse's bridge to SPSS, Stata and SAS files, wrapping the C ReadStat library. The last several releases are almost entirely maintenance: syncing vendored ReadStat and patching ahead of R-devel changes. The most recent substantive user-facing work landed in 2.5.2 and earlier.

Read the full haven trajectory →

What is mlr3mbo?

mlr3mbo picked its defaults from a benchmark study, not from taste

mlr3mbo does model-based and Bayesian optimisation for mlr3. Its 1.0.0 release added a dictionary of pre-built acquisition-function optimisers and, more consequentially, replaced the default surrogate, acquisition function and optimiser settings with values derived from a large-scale benchmark study. The releases since are corrections to the acquisition-optimiser path exposed by that new default configuration.

Read the full mlr3mbo trajectory →

haven vs mlr3mbo: editorial side-by-side

H
haven
ANALYTICS
0.0

haven's release cadence has narrowed to compiler and R-devel upkeep.

◆ Current state

haven is the tidyverse's bridge to SPSS, Stata and SAS files, wrapping the C ReadStat library. The last several releases are almost entirely maintenance: syncing vendored ReadStat and patching ahead of R-devel changes. The most recent substantive user-facing work landed in 2.5.2 and earlier.

◆ Where it's heading

Development has shifted from extending the file-format surface to keeping a C dependency compiling against newer toolchains. The deprecation of write_sas() narrowed that surface deliberately, steering users to write_xpt() because the sas7bdat format is undocumented and unsupported upstream.

◆ Prediction

Expect further ReadStat sync releases triggered by compiler or R-devel breakage rather than new format support or writing features.

M
mlr3mbo
ANALYTICS
2.5

mlr3mbo picked its defaults from a benchmark study, not from taste

◆ Current state

mlr3mbo does model-based and Bayesian optimisation for mlr3. Its 1.0.0 release added a dictionary of pre-built acquisition-function optimisers and, more consequentially, replaced the default surrogate, acquisition function and optimiser settings with values derived from a large-scale benchmark study. The releases since are corrections to the acquisition-optimiser path exposed by that new default configuration.

◆ Where it's heading

The package has moved from a toolkit that expected users to assemble a Bayesian optimisation loop into one with a defensible default loop, and the recent fixes — warm-start sizing on multi-objective archives, silently discarded terminators, stale x_domain values — are the consequences of more people running the default path.

◆ Prediction

Expect continued hardening of the acquisition-optimiser classes rather than new acquisition functions.

Alternatives to haven and mlr3mbo

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 haven or mlr3mbo.

See all haven alternatives → · See all mlr3mbo alternatives →

Recent activity from haven and mlr3mbo

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

  1. 23d agomlr3mboAcquisition optimiser fixes for warm starts and archives
  2. 3mo agomlr3mboDictionary lookup and restart-limit fixes
  3. 4mo agomlr3mborush 1.0.0 compatibility and Surrogate$check()
  4. 5mo agomlr3mbomlr3mbo 1.0.0 ships benchmark-derived default settings
  5. 10mo agomlr3mbomlr3learners 0.13.0 compatibility
  6. 11mo agomlr3mboMaintainer change and mlr3pipelines 0.9.0 upkeep
  7. 1y agohavenhaven 2.5.5 syncs ReadStat for stricter gcc diagnostics
  8. 2y agohavenhaven 2.5.4 patches for an upcoming R-devel change
  9. 3y agohavenhaven 2.5.3 patches for an upcoming R-devel change
  10. 3y agohavenhaven 2.5.2 fixes SAS catalog reads and deprecates write_sas()
  11. 3y agohavenhaven 2.5.1 aligns labelled headers and fixes name repair
  12. 4y agohavenhaven 2.5.0 adds custom variable widths when writing files

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between haven and mlr3mbo?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. mlr3mbo is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is haven better than mlr3mbo?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. mlr3mbo is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 2.5 vs 0.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Analytics products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to haven?

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

What are the best alternatives to mlr3mbo?

Top mlr3mbo alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "mlr3mbo alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/mlr3mbo for the full list with editorial commentary on each.