ggfootball
A football-viz package just swapped scraping for an API and broke its own output to do it.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
slendr vs stochvol
A side-by-side editorial comparison of slendr and stochvol — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
slendr vs stochvol: at a glance
What is slendr?
Population-genetic simulation in R, opened up to selection and finally easier to install.
slendr specifies spatial and non-spatial population-genetic models in R and simulates them through SLiM or msprime, returning tree sequences that tskit then analyses. Two threads dominate the current releases: keeping in step with fast-moving backends, with SLiM 5.1, pyslim 1.1.0 and Python 3.13 now required, and reducing the setup burden that its Python dependency imposes. Version 1.5.0 adds ephemeral uv-based virtual environments, so init_env(uv = TRUE) can stand in for creating a permanent environment with setup_env().
What is stochvol?
A Bayesian volatility sampler in its maintenance decade, paying for its own speed
stochvol runs MCMC for stochastic volatility models, with a C++ sampler underneath an R interface. Five years of releases in this window contain no new models: the work is compiler and dependency compatibility, CRAN check notes, and a steady trickle of corrections to the sampler itself. Its methodological milestone, the Journal of Statistical Software paper, is recorded in a 2021 tag.
slendr vs stochvol: editorial side-by-side
slendr
0.0INFRA · APIS
Population-genetic simulation in R, opened up to selection and finally easier to install.
◆ Current state
slendr specifies spatial and non-spatial population-genetic models in R and simulates them through SLiM or msprime, returning tree sequences that tskit then analyses. Two threads dominate the current releases: keeping in step with fast-moving backends, with SLiM 5.1, pyslim 1.1.0 and Python 3.13 now required, and reducing the setup burden that its Python dependency imposes. Version 1.5.0 adds ephemeral uv-based virtual environments, so init_env(uv = TRUE) can stand in for creating a permanent environment with setup_env().
◆ Where it's heading
Since the 1.0.0 release added non-neutral simulation, the work has shifted from capability to friction. A large share of recent notes concerns Python environment handling, conda activation races on Windows, dependency pruning that made shiny optional, and argument names that misled users, as when gene_flow()'s rate argument turned out to mean total ancestry proportion rather than a rate. That is the profile of a package whose scientific surface is settled and whose remaining problems are the ones users actually hit.
◆ Prediction
Expect the uv-based environment path to move from fallback to default once it has proven itself, given the notes already describe an environment variable for making it so. The deprecated rate argument in gene_flow() is explicitly slated for removal in a future major release, which is the clearest signal here of what a 2.0 would contain.
stochvol
0.0INFRA · APIS
A Bayesian volatility sampler in its maintenance decade, paying for its own speed
◆ Current state
stochvol runs MCMC for stochastic volatility models, with a C++ sampler underneath an R interface. Five years of releases in this window contain no new models: the work is compiler and dependency compatibility, CRAN check notes, and a steady trickle of corrections to the sampler itself. Its methodological milestone, the Journal of Statistical Software paper, is recorded in a 2021 tag.
◆ Where it's heading
This is what a finished computational package looks like. The formula interface arrived at 3.1.0 and nothing has been added since; what changes is the ground underneath — RcppArmadillo major versions, UBSan checks, error-handling conventions moving from Rf_error to Rcpp::stop for correct memory management. The recurring pattern worth watching is that several releases fix real errors in the sampler's proposal distributions, found by users and by CRAN's own instrumented checks rather than by the maintainer.
◆ Prediction
Nothing in these notes suggests new methodology. Expect the next release when RcppArmadillo or a CRAN check flavour forces one, and treat any bug report against the samplers as the more consequential event.
Alternatives to slendr and stochvol
Other Infra & APIs 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 slendr or stochvol.
goat
A gene-set enrichment package that outgrew its human-only origins, then went quiet.
rollupTree
The recursive-computation engine under massProps grows the accessors its consumer needed
massProps
A mass-properties rollup spends a year on documentation and follows its sibling's API
writeAlizer
Six months of releases and not one of them touched the scoring models
samplr
A cognitive-science sampling package ships once, then goes quiet for eighteen months
See all slendr alternatives → · See all stochvol alternatives →
Recent activity from slendr and stochvol
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1mo agoslendrEphemeral uv Python environments remove the setup step
- 5mo agostochvolSampler crash with constant parameters fixed, plus RcppArmadillo 15
- 7mo agoslendrgene_flow() separates migration rate from ancestry proportion
- 9mo agoslendrshiny made optional; SLiM 5.1 and Python 3.13 required
- 1y agoslendrconda activation reverted to a slower but reliable path
- 1y agostochvolTwo CRAN check notes cleared
- 1y agoslendrBackends raised to SLiM 5.0, tskit 0.6.4 and msprime 1.3.4
- 1y agoslendrNon-neutral models arrive; slim() interface simplified ⚡
- 1y agostochvolProposal variance corrected in the centered parameterisation
- 2y agostochvolCRAN stochvol 3.2.4
- 2y agostochvolRolling-window indexing and inverse gamma prior validation fixed
- 3y agostochvolCore C++ sampler routines exported for reuse
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between slendr and stochvol?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. slendr and stochvol 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 slendr better than stochvol?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. slendr and stochvol 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 Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to slendr?
Top slendr alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "slendr alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/slendr for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to stochvol?
Top stochvol alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "stochvol alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/stochvol for the full list with editorial commentary on each.