Ever since eCommerce has started to expand there have been various website analytics tools released for public use by a large number of enterprises. While it is true that most of them are available to be used for free, the question still remains as to which one of them offers the better service and the more accurate data analysis.
Even though you are in no way forced to make use of one service over another, using them all is going to take up far too much of your valuable time; considering that there are only 24 hours in a single day. So here is a little guide which gives an overview of the main website analytics service providers out there
Google Analytics
Ever since being implemented in 2006 Google Analytics has quickly become a crowd favorite with the ability to keep track of multiple websites, monitor social network activity, the ability to track mobile phone users, not to mention the ability to measure video traffic. The tool itself is free and can be accessed online.
Clicky Analytics
Even though they may have had some performance problems in the past, Clicky Analytics has evolved to become one of the most comprehensive offerings on the web. It basically measures everything you would expect such a tool to measure, with the best part being that it tracks everything in real-time, rather than providing statistics, which are a day old. There are both free and paid plans available.
The paid option provides incredible value for money. This, incidentally is the analytics package we are happy using for our invoice software website.
Statcounter
Just like the previous website described, StatCounter’s main strength is the fact that it allows the user to actually take advantage of seeing statistics in real time. There is a free service although it only allows 500 log-sizes and 250,000 pageloads. Naturally, there are paid plans in order to lift the bar on those restrictions.
Piwik
Piwik is an open source analytics package, meaning that you will have to install it on a server to use it. It is an excellent website analytics tool as it is extremely easy to set up and provides a very extensive analysis of anything related to your subject. In addition to that, there is a very strong community behind it which means the tool will keep on growing and improving. Piwik is free and can be downloaded.
Woopra
Going the extra mile, Woopra’s website analytics tool offers real-time analysis, the ability to instantly chat with visitors that are online, extensive data reports that can be customized, a very user-friendly interface, not to mention that it is easy to install and comes with a very helpful guide. While there is a free plan, it is somewhat limited and most people will probably want to go for a paid option.
Yahoo! Web Analytics
Quite recently launching the version 9.5, the Yahoo! Web Analytics tool has made a name for itself mainly because of the precision of its analysis as well as how nicely everything is laid out. You have the ability to customize the reports and everything is analyzed with real-time reporting.
Mint Analytics
Finally there is Mint Analytics, a self-hosted analytics application which is somewhat complicated to install for those who don’t know how to set up a database for it. Coming at a price of $30 per website it isn’t cheap, but Mint Analytics offers a very smooth interface as well as the ability to do things such as focus on individual visitors. However, it is not the most practical solution for monitoring traffic through multiple websites.
Which analytic tools do you use for your website ?
Image Credit: utcl95
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