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Comparison · Analytics
kernelshap vs stockplotr
A side-by-side editorial comparison of kernelshap and stockplotr — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
kernelshap vs stockplotr: at a glance
What is kernelshap?
kernelshap makes permutation SHAP practical past eight features, then fixes the kernel weights it had wrong.
kernelshap computes model-agnostic SHAP values in R through Kernel SHAP, permutation SHAP and an exact additive explainer. Version 0.8.0 added a sampling permutation-SHAP algorithm with standard errors and early stopping, lifting the practical feature ceiling past what the exact method allows. Version 0.9.0 then corrected a bug in how kernel weights were computed — exact Kernel SHAP now agrees with exact permutation SHAP — and moved parallelism from foreach to doFuture.
What is stockplotr?
A stock-assessment plotting package is growing a table engine to match its figures.
stockplotr generates the figures and, since 0.8.0-beta, the tables that go into NOAA fisheries stock assessment reports. The 0.8.0 release swapped the table backend from flextable to gt and shipped table_landings() as the first table function; 0.9.0 exported it with an interface deliberately mirroring the plot functions. Alongside that, convert_output() moved in from the sister package asar so model output is standardized here rather than upstream.
kernelshap vs stockplotr: editorial side-by-side
kernelshap
0.0ANALYTICS
kernelshap makes permutation SHAP practical past eight features, then fixes the kernel weights it had wrong.
◆ Current state
kernelshap computes model-agnostic SHAP values in R through Kernel SHAP, permutation SHAP and an exact additive explainer. Version 0.8.0 added a sampling permutation-SHAP algorithm with standard errors and early stopping, lifting the practical feature ceiling past what the exact method allows. Version 0.9.0 then corrected a bug in how kernel weights were computed — exact Kernel SHAP now agrees with exact permutation SHAP — and moved parallelism from foreach to doFuture.
◆ Where it's heading
Two concerns drive this package: making exact methods reach further, and being demonstrably right. The first shows in the additive explainer, the optional background dataset and the sampling permutation algorithm; the second in unit tests written against Python's shap, credited fixes from outside contributors, and a willingness to ship a correctness fix that changes numbers people have already published. Speed work runs continuously underneath — direct solves replacing the Moore-Penrose pseudo-inverse, roughly 10% less memory.
◆ Prediction
The 0.6.0 and 0.7.0 notes each promised a stable 1.0.0 that has not arrived; with the weighting bug fixed and parallelism reworked, a 1.0 release is the most plausible next step.
stockplotr
0.0ANALYTICS
A stock-assessment plotting package is growing a table engine to match its figures.
◆ Current state
stockplotr generates the figures and, since 0.8.0-beta, the tables that go into NOAA fisheries stock assessment reports. The 0.8.0 release swapped the table backend from flextable to gt and shipped table_landings() as the first table function; 0.9.0 exported it with an interface deliberately mirroring the plot functions. Alongside that, convert_output() moved in from the sister package asar so model output is standardized here rather than upstream.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is consolidating the whole report-artifact pipeline in one place: standardize model output, then emit both figures and tables from the same long-format frame. Pulling convert_output() out of asar because stockplotr depended on it more heavily is the clearest signal of where the center of gravity now sits. Everything is still tagged beta, and the plot function count is growing faster than the table one.
◆ Prediction
More table_* functions built on the gt foundation are the obvious next step, matching the existing plot_* set; the 0.9.0 notes describe table_landings() as the first of a revamped family rather than a one-off.
Alternatives to kernelshap and stockplotr
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 kernelshap or stockplotr.
tidytransit
tidytransit tracks the GTFS spec as it grows, one reader and one router feature at a time.
oblicubes
A tiny grid renderer for oblique-projection cubes, complete since its first release.
biocro
BioCro swapped an unstable iteration for real root finders, changing what its crop models compute.
redist
redist keeps rewriting the sampler underneath a district-drawing API it has held stable since 4.0.
epiflows
epiflows has shipped four releases in eight years, none of which changed the code.
See all kernelshap alternatives → · See all stockplotr alternatives →
Recent activity from kernelshap and stockplotr
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5mo agostockplotrtable_landings() exported with a plot-like interface
- 6mo agostockplotrTable engine moved to gt; first table function ships ⚡
- 7mo agostockplotrconvert_output() migrated in from asar
- 8mo agostockplotrFour new assessment figures; process_data() auto-indexing
- 1y agokernelshapKernel weight bug fixed; parallelism moves to doFuture
- 1y agokernelshapSampling permutation SHAP with standard errors ⚡
- 1y agokernelshapBackground data now optional; ranger survival support
- 2y agokernelshapFactor-valued predictions dropped
- 2y agokernelshapadditive_shap() explains additive models exactly
- 2y agokernelshapFaster on plain data.frames
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between kernelshap and stockplotr?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. kernelshap and stockplotr 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 kernelshap better than stockplotr?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. kernelshap and stockplotr 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 kernelshap?
Top kernelshap alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "kernelshap alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/kernelshap for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to stockplotr?
Top stockplotr alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "stockplotr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/stockplotr-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.