tidytext
Finished, widely taught, and shipping roxygen fixes.
Comparison · Analytics
loo vs rvest
A side-by-side editorial comparison of loo and rvest — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
loo vs rvest: at a glance
What is loo?
loo keeps rewriting the diagnostics Bayesian modellers read off model comparison
loo computes leave-one-out cross-validation and model comparison for Bayesian models in the Stan ecosystem. Two releases in this window changed what users actually read: 2.7.0 replaced the fixed Pareto-k thresholds with sample-size-dependent ones and dropped the middle category, and 2.10.0 reshaped loo_compare's output into a data.frame with new uncertainty columns. The releases between are diagnostic robustness fixes and moment-matching corrections.
What is rvest?
rvest grew a real browser, turning a static scraper into a dynamic one.
rvest is the tidyverse's HTML scraping package. The 1.0.0 line rebuilt table parsing to mimic how browsers actually read tables, and 1.0.4 added read_html_live(), which drives a headless browser so JavaScript-rendered pages can be scraped at all. 1.0.5 is consolidation on that newer path.
loo vs rvest: editorial side-by-side
loo
2.5ANALYTICS
loo keeps rewriting the diagnostics Bayesian modellers read off model comparison
◆ Current state
loo computes leave-one-out cross-validation and model comparison for Bayesian models in the Stan ecosystem. Two releases in this window changed what users actually read: 2.7.0 replaced the fixed Pareto-k thresholds with sample-size-dependent ones and dropped the middle category, and 2.10.0 reshaped loo_compare's output into a data.frame with new uncertainty columns. The releases between are diagnostic robustness fixes and moment-matching corrections.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is being brought in line with the current PSIS literature rather than extended with new features, and the practical effect is that the numbers practitioners quote in papers keep changing meaning. Work is increasingly delegated to posterior for shared computations, and the project has added contributor process, benchmarks and a published AI contribution policy.
◆ Prediction
Expect further work on comparison diagnostics — the p_worse and diag_* columns are new enough that their defaults and documentation will likely be revised next.
rvest
0.0ANALYTICS
rvest grew a real browser, turning a static scraper into a dynamic one.
◆ Current state
rvest is the tidyverse's HTML scraping package. The 1.0.0 line rebuilt table parsing to mimic how browsers actually read tables, and 1.0.4 added read_html_live(), which drives a headless browser so JavaScript-rendered pages can be scraped at all. 1.0.5 is consolidation on that newer path.
◆ Where it's heading
The package has split into two modes: fast static parsing for ordinary documents, and a live browser session for client-rendered ones. Recent effort concentrates on hardening the live path, where page navigation and interaction bugs surface that never existed in static parsing.
◆ Prediction
Expect further fixes and documentation around read_html_live() as more scraping targets move rendering to the client.
Alternatives to loo and rvest
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 loo or rvest.
textrecipes
Text features finally stay sparse all the way to the model.
probably
The package that made calibration a step instead of an afterthought.
workflowsets
workflowsets keeps widening what counts as a model worth comparing.
workflows
The tidymodels pipeline grew a third stage, and it happens after the model runs.
vetiver
Posit's MLOps package went quiet for two years, then came back to keep up with recipes.
Recent activity from loo and rvest
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 20d agoloopsis_smooth_tail revert and simplify arg restored
- 1mo agolooloo_compare returns a data.frame with new uncertainty columns ⚡
- 7mo agolooStacking overflow fixes and posterior-based ESS
- 11mo agorvestrvest 1.0.5 fixes stale nodes after click navigation in LiveHTML
- 2y agolooMore robust Pareto-k diagnostics and moment matching
- 2y agolooPareto-k thresholds now depend on sample size ⚡
- 2y agorvestrvest 1.0.4 scrapes JavaScript pages via a live browser session ⚡
- 3y agolooLOO predictive metrics and CRPS scoring functions
- 3y agorvestrvest 1.0.3 re-documents to fix .Rd HTML issues
- 4y agorvestrvest 1.0.2 returns empty tibbles for empty tables
- 5y agorvestrvest 1.0.1 parses blank rowspan and colspan as 1
- 5y agorvestrvest 1.0.0 rewrites table parsing to match browser behaviour
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between loo and rvest?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. loo 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 loo better than rvest?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. loo 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 loo?
Top loo alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "loo alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/loo for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to rvest?
Top rvest alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "rvest alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rvest for the full list with editorial commentary on each.