paleobuddy
paleobuddy can now simulate trait-dependent diversification, not just birth-death.
Comparison · Analytics
hstats vs SimInf
A side-by-side editorial comparison of hstats and SimInf — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
hstats vs SimInf: at a glance
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.
What is SimInf?
SimInf 10.0 turns an epidemic simulator into a tool that fits models to real time series
SimInf simulates stochastic disease spread over networks of nodes, with a model parser that compiles user-specified transitions to C. Version 10.0.0 was a deliberate major break: the SimInf_pfilter S4 class and the bootstrap filtering interface were redesigned, a replicates slot was added to SimInf_model, a multi-particle variant of the split-step solver arrived, and the package gained Particle Markov Chain Monte Carlo fitting against observed time series. The follow-up 10.1.0 is a single zero-length memcpy fix found by CRAN's M1 checks.
hstats vs SimInf: editorial side-by-side
hstats
0.0ANALYTICS
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.
SimInf
0.0ANALYTICS
SimInf 10.0 turns an epidemic simulator into a tool that fits models to real time series
◆ Current state
SimInf simulates stochastic disease spread over networks of nodes, with a model parser that compiles user-specified transitions to C. Version 10.0.0 was a deliberate major break: the SimInf_pfilter S4 class and the bootstrap filtering interface were redesigned, a replicates slot was added to SimInf_model, a multi-particle variant of the split-step solver arrived, and the package gained Particle Markov Chain Monte Carlo fitting against observed time series. The follow-up 10.1.0 is a single zero-length memcpy fix found by CRAN's M1 checks.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has been moving from simulation toward inference for several releases. The 9.x line built the input side — utilities for cleaning raw individual event data, variables and enumeration constants in the model parser — and 10.0.0 closed the loop by making the simulator fittable to data through PMCMC. The version number was incremented precisely because that required breaking the particle filter interface.
◆ Prediction
Fitting machinery this new usually needs a second pass on usability, so the next releases most likely focus on diagnostics and documentation around PMCMC rather than on the simulation core, which has been stable across the whole 9.x and 10.x history.
Alternatives to hstats and SimInf
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 hstats or SimInf.
geodist
geodist stays dependency-free and fast, and warns you when 'cheap' distances stop being honest.
errors
errors keeps making uncertainty print the way each scientific field expects.
CMAQ
CMAQ went global in v5.5, and has been patching that surface ever since.
enpls
enpls has not changed its statistics since 2016 — only its website, twice.
grex
grex is a lookup table with a version number — it ships when the annotation moves.
See all hstats alternatives → · See all SimInf alternatives →
Recent activity from hstats and SimInf
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 9mo agoSimInfAvoid memcpy on zero-length continuous state vector
- 9mo agoSimInfPMCMC fitting arrives; particle filter interface redesigned ⚡
- 10mo agohstatsggplot 4.0 compatibility and test coverage
- 1y agohstatsranger survival models supported out of the box
- 2y agohstatsMoves to ModelOriented; factor predictions removed
- 2y agoSimInfDocumentation link anchors; parser dependency fix
- 2y agoSimInfModel parser gains variables and enumeration constants
- 2y agohstatsICE facets for multioutput models; mlr3 fixes
- 2y agoSimInfindividual_events() added for raw event data cleaning
- 2y agohstatsFaster data.frame paths; NaN H-statistics fixed
- 2y agohstatsFactor predictions and line-style 2D partial dependence
- 3y agoSimInfConfigure script uses R to locate the compiler
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between hstats and SimInf?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. hstats and SimInf 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 hstats better than SimInf?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. hstats and SimInf 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 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.
What are the best alternatives to SimInf?
Top SimInf alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "SimInf alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/siminf-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.