Site Stats
One thing I get asked a lot about at work is site stats. Usually, the client wants to know how many visitors they get on any other day along with other data such as where the visitors came from and which search terms they may have used.
So far, I've used Google Analytics and PHPMyVisites JS based logging along with Analog on the logs themselves. I've also experimented with Mint on one site.
Generally, I've found that Analytics requires lots of drilling down to find anything, PHPMyVisites can be a little simplistic (though it is getting more features with each release) and Mint doesn't provide enough history.
Are there better solutions out that that are cost-effective for relatively small clients?
March 9th, 2008 at 17:48 #
I have always used Awstats. It doesn't allow you to drill down, but does provide a good overview of all website activity.
March 9th, 2008 at 22:33 #
I'm with Adam there; Awstats has enough coverage for all the needs I've dealt with. Rob, have you noticed page lag using Google Analytics? It was significant enough in all the sites we used it on to warrant instant removal.
March 9th, 2008 at 22:34 #
You could have a look at http://getclicky.com/#theotherguys
March 10th, 2008 at 08:19 #
Nick,
Yeah - I've seen up to 1s delay with some GoogleAnalytics yes. It's only on sites where the customer wants it for that reason.
I'll have a look at awstats and getclicky.
Regards,
Rob..
March 10th, 2008 at 22:42 #
I'm in agreement over the analytics lag, I've noticed it in a number of sites as an 'end user' (I've not looked at how Analytics does it's stuff to be in a position to say "why hasn't the browser cached it to avoid $lag" or is the lag from analytics "doing it's stuff" and not actually downloading?).
March 11th, 2008 at 20:41 #
Agree about google analytics, what I don't like is that he never gives the IP addresses which are important for me!
Awstats is a good one, I enjoy using it, the problem is that it's not realTime :( I can only increase the frequency of log parsing…
March 12th, 2008 at 18:09 #
Consider Piwik - http://piwik.org/blog/piwik-open-source-web-analytics/
It may have a bit of evolving to do before it can take on Google Analytics, but I see no reason why it won't eventually.
A good free Google Analytics competitor that you can run on your own server is a great idea.
March 13th, 2008 at 08:05 #
Hi,
Piwik is from the phpmyvisites guys and looks very interesting.
Rob…
March 26th, 2008 at 14:10 #
I use Summary — http://summary.net/
March 26th, 2008 at 20:26 #
Thanks,
I'm going to have a look at Summary too!
Regards,
Rob…
April 4th, 2008 at 12:02 #
http://www.statcounter.com
April 4th, 2008 at 15:52 #
statcounter looks interesting.
Thanks Sinnut.
Regards,
Rob…
April 24th, 2008 at 09:57 #
Rob, have you looked at the code for piwik? Or are you already aware of what highly extensible framework that it's using parts of? ;)
April 24th, 2008 at 14:42 #
Scott,
Yeah I saw that piwiki uses some Zend Framework bits :)
It's still got a way to go before it's finished though.
Regards,
Rob…
July 16th, 2008 at 14:36 #
Sawmill - http://sawmill.net/
Lets you set up custom views on a per user basis. Give them as much or as little that they need.