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stacks vs timetk

A side-by-side editorial comparison of stacks and timetk — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Shared themes:r-package

stacks vs timetk: at a glance

Featurestackstimetk
SectorAnalyticsAnalytics
Velocity score0.00.0
Sparks · 30d00
Top themestidymodels, ensembling, parallel-processing, future-frameworktime-series, anomaly-detection, visualization, feature-engineering
Last editorial update1h ago1h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

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.

Read the full stacks trajectory →

What is timetk?

timetk swallowed anomalize whole, then went quiet for two years

timetk handles time series wrangling, visualization, and feature engineering in a tidyverse idiom. Its defining recent move was absorbing the anomalize package outright in 2.9.0, bringing anomaly detection, cleaning, and the associated plots inside timetk rather than leaving them in a sibling package. Development then paused for nearly two years before 2.9.1, a robustness and documentation release.

Read the full timetk trajectory →

stacks vs timetk: editorial side-by-side

S
stacks
ANALYTICS
0.0

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.

T
timetk
ANALYTICS
0.0

timetk swallowed anomalize whole, then went quiet for two years

◆ Current state

timetk handles time series wrangling, visualization, and feature engineering in a tidyverse idiom. Its defining recent move was absorbing the anomalize package outright in 2.9.0, bringing anomaly detection, cleaning, and the associated plots inside timetk rather than leaving them in a sibling package. Development then paused for nearly two years before 2.9.1, a robustness and documentation release.

◆ Where it's heading

The trajectory before the pause was consolidation: fold in adjacent functionality, then make the visualization layer handle many series at once via trelliscopejs, then broaden feature generation with tk_tsfeatures(). The recent release works on the least glamorous layer — internal generics so date parsing and sequence generation behave consistently across Date, POSIXct, hms, yearmon, and yearqtr — which is the kind of foundation work a package does when it has accumulated too many special cases. The long gap and the CI-refresh content suggest maintenance attention rather than a new direction.

◆ Prediction

The stated gap is the unimplemented twitter method for anomalize(), which is the one concrete outstanding item the release notes name; beyond that the recent work points to consolidation rather than expansion.

Alternatives to stacks and timetk

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 stacks or timetk.

See all stacks alternatives → · See all timetk alternatives →

Recent activity from stacks and timetk

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 11mo agotimetktimetk 2.9.1 makes date parsing consistent across time classes
  2. 1y agostacksstacks 1.1.1 re-released to clear a CRAN check note
  3. 1y agostacksstacks 1.1.0 completes the move to future-based parallelism
  4. 2y agostacksstacks 1.0.5 fixes butchered stack size inflation
  5. 2y agostacksstacks 1.0.4 introduces future-based parallel processing
  6. 2y agostacksstacks 1.0.3 clears recipes deprecations and a type-check bug
  7. 2y agotimetktimetk 2.9.0 absorbs the anomalize package
  8. 3y agostacksstacks 1.0.2 adds an augment() method for vetiver compatibility
  9. 4y agotimetktimetk 2.8.1 exposes trelliscope plotting parameters
  10. 4y agotimetktimetk 2.8.0 adds trelliscopejs support for many-series plots
  11. 4y agotimetktimetk 2.7.0 adds tk_tsfeatures() for grouped feature matrices
  12. 4y agotimetktimetk 2.6.2 adds .week_start and facet direction controls

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between stacks and timetk?

Both compete on the same themes — r-package — within Analytics. stacks and timetk 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 stacks better than timetk?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. stacks and timetk 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 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.

What are the best alternatives to timetk?

Top timetk alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "timetk alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/timetk for the full list with editorial commentary on each.