paleobuddy
paleobuddy can now simulate trait-dependent diversification, not just birth-death.
Comparison · Analytics
survminer vs TAF
A side-by-side editorial comparison of survminer and TAF — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
survminer vs TAF: at a glance
What is survminer?
survminer is back after a five-year gap, and spending it cutting dependencies loose.
survminer draws Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox diagnostics on top of ggplot2, and it sits under a large share of published survival figures. After a long dormancy it has shipped three releases since late 2024, and all of them are about staying compatible: with ggplot2 3.5, then 4.0, and now without survMisc, whose weighted log-rank tests are computed internally in base R as of 0.5.2. The plotting API itself has not changed.
What is TAF?
TAF keeps turning ICES stock assessments into reproducible, dependency-pinned projects.
TAF is the R tooling behind the ICES Transparent Assessment Framework, which standardizes how fish stock assessments are laid out, sourced and rerun. The 4.3.0 release is the largest in years, adding roughly ten functions covering dependency installation and analysis, software version checks, directory inspection and README drafting. The package has carried zero non-base dependencies since 4.0.0, and the new work is careful not to break that.
survminer vs TAF: editorial side-by-side
survminer
0.0ANALYTICS
survminer is back after a five-year gap, and spending it cutting dependencies loose.
◆ Current state
survminer draws Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox diagnostics on top of ggplot2, and it sits under a large share of published survival figures. After a long dormancy it has shipped three releases since late 2024, and all of them are about staying compatible: with ggplot2 3.5, then 4.0, and now without survMisc, whose weighted log-rank tests are computed internally in base R as of 0.5.2. The plotting API itself has not changed.
◆ Where it's heading
This is a revival by maintenance, not by feature work — the same pattern as its sibling packages from the same author. The dependency surface is being reduced rather than extended, and each release absorbs a breaking change from ggplot2 that would otherwise leave existing scripts producing errors or misaligned risk tables. Compatibility fixes now arrive within months of the upstream change rather than years.
◆ Prediction
Continued ggplot2 4.x tracking is the most likely next release content, since 0.5.2 already carries fixes for 4.0.x aesthetics and the GeomConfint stairstep problem.
TAF
0.0ANALYTICS
TAF keeps turning ICES stock assessments into reproducible, dependency-pinned projects.
◆ Current state
TAF is the R tooling behind the ICES Transparent Assessment Framework, which standardizes how fish stock assessments are laid out, sourced and rerun. The 4.3.0 release is the largest in years, adding roughly ten functions covering dependency installation and analysis, software version checks, directory inspection and README drafting. The package has carried zero non-base dependencies since 4.0.0, and the new work is careful not to break that.
◆ Where it's heading
The arc runs from analysis runner to project toolkit. Early 3.x releases built out the bootstrap and metadata machinery; 4.0.0 renamed the package and stripped every external dependency; 4.2.0 cleaned up vocabulary that confused users. 4.3.0 turns outward to the people running assessments — install.deps(), pdeps() and check.software() address reproducing someone else's environment, while draft.readme(), taf.example() and dir.tree() address understanding an unfamiliar project.
◆ Prediction
Expect the follow-up work to harden the new dependency functions rather than add more surface, since 4.3.1 arrived immediately to fix wide2long() compatibility with older R and that batch of ten functions has had little field exposure.
Alternatives to survminer and TAF
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 survminer or TAF.
geodist
geodist stays dependency-free and fast, and warns you when 'cheap' distances stop being honest.
errors
errors keeps making uncertainty print the way each scientific field expects.
CMAQ
CMAQ went global in v5.5, and has been patching that surface ever since.
enpls
enpls has not changed its statistics since 2016 — only its website, twice.
grex
grex is a lookup table with a version number — it ships when the annotation moves.
See all survminer alternatives → · See all TAF alternatives →
Recent activity from survminer and TAF
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 5mo agosurvminersurvMisc dependency removed; weighted log-rank tests moved in-house
- 10mo agoTAFTAF 4.3.1 reworks wide2long() for older R
- 10mo agoTAFTAF 4.3.0 adds dependency and project-scaffolding tooling
- 11mo agosurvminerRisk-table misalignment fixed via dynamic panel detection
- 1y agosurvminerggcoxzph() sd scaling corrected; tidyverse deprecations cleared
- 3y agoTAFTAF 4.2.0 renames 'bootstrap' to 'boot', keeps back-compat
- 3y agoTAFTAF 4.1.0 adds taf2html() and dot.case function aliases
- 5y agoTAFTAF 4.0.0 refocuses on ICES and drops every external dependency ⚡
- 5y agoTAFTAF 3.6.0 adds metadata tooling and drops the bibtex dependency
- 5y agosurvminerGehan-Breslow p-value corrected for log.rank.weights = n
- 6y agosurvminerbroom 0.7.0 compatibility fix in ggforest()
- 6y agosurvminersurv_adjustedcurves() separates computation from plotting
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between survminer and TAF?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. survminer and TAF 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 survminer better than TAF?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. survminer and TAF 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 survminer?
Top survminer alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "survminer alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/survminer for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to TAF?
Top TAF alternatives in Analytics are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "TAF alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/taf-r for the full list with editorial commentary on each.