rnaturalearth
rnaturalearth finished its sp exit and is now optimising how the data actually arrives.
Comparison · Analytics
mlr3mbo vs stacks
A side-by-side editorial comparison of mlr3mbo and stacks — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
mlr3mbo vs stacks: at a glance
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.
What is stacks?
Model stacking in tidymodels, quietly migrating off foreach and onto future
stacks builds ensembles from tidymodels tuning results, and its release history is dominated by one long project: replacing foreach-based parallelism with the future framework. That transition completed in 1.1.0, where foreach backends began being ignored with a warning and the minimum R version rose to 4.1. Releases are infrequent and small, with the most recent being a CRAN re-submission rather than a change.
mlr3mbo vs stacks: editorial side-by-side
mlr3mbo
2.5ANALYTICS
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.
stacks
0.0ANALYTICS
Model stacking in tidymodels, quietly migrating off foreach and onto future
◆ Current state
stacks builds ensembles from tidymodels tuning results, and its release history is dominated by one long project: replacing foreach-based parallelism with the future framework. That transition completed in 1.1.0, where foreach backends began being ignored with a warning and the minimum R version rose to 4.1. Releases are infrequent and small, with the most recent being a CRAN re-submission rather than a change.
◆ Where it's heading
The package is mature and its remaining work is compatibility rather than capability — tracking the parallelism story across tidymodels, keeping object sizes sane after butchering and reloading, and staying aligned with recipes deprecations. The augment() method added for vetiver compatibility shows the same instinct: fit into the surrounding ecosystem rather than grow independently of it. Nothing in the visible history suggests new ensembling methods are being pursued.
◆ Prediction
With the future migration finished, the next release is most likely maintenance keeping pace with tune and recipes rather than anything users would notice.
Alternatives to mlr3mbo and stacks
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 mlr3mbo or stacks.
writexl
writexl spent nine years refusing to do formatting, then shipped all of it in 2.0.0.
rgbif
rgbif is steadily pushing users off paged searching and onto real downloads.
rstanarm
rstanarm is community-maintained now, tracking Stan and lme4 rather than adding models.
taxa
taxa started a ground-up rewrite in 2021 and has published almost nothing since.
rotl
rotl's whole release history is keeping name matching honest against a moving taxonomy.
See all mlr3mbo alternatives → · See all stacks alternatives →
Recent activity from mlr3mbo and stacks
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 23d agomlr3mboAcquisition optimiser fixes for warm starts and archives
- 3mo agomlr3mboDictionary lookup and restart-limit fixes
- 4mo agomlr3mborush 1.0.0 compatibility and Surrogate$check()
- 5mo agomlr3mbomlr3mbo 1.0.0 ships benchmark-derived default settings ⚡
- 10mo agomlr3mbomlr3learners 0.13.0 compatibility
- 11mo agomlr3mboMaintainer change and mlr3pipelines 0.9.0 upkeep
- 1y agostacksstacks 1.1.1 re-released to clear a CRAN check note
- 1y agostacksstacks 1.1.0 completes the move to future-based parallelism
- 2y agostacksstacks 1.0.5 fixes butchered stack size inflation
- 2y agostacksstacks 1.0.4 introduces future-based parallel processing
- 2y agostacksstacks 1.0.3 clears recipes deprecations and a type-check bug
- 3y agostacksstacks 1.0.2 adds an augment() method for vetiver compatibility
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between mlr3mbo and stacks?
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 mlr3mbo better than stacks?
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 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.
What are the best alternatives to stacks?
Top stacks alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "stacks alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/stacks for the full list with editorial commentary on each.