

Ask HN: What website analytics do you use? - kngspook

I have 3-5 domains with fairly low traffic that I'm looking to put analytics on.<p>I've done some research of my own, and am playing with Google Analytics (which seems to be where everyone starts), but I'm curious about what everyone here uses, since I find news.yc to generally have good taste in technology.
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deltasquare4
I have tried many of them on my blog, including MixPanel, Google Analytics,
Clicky and Lijit. They all have their pros and cons, but they also require you
to include a script on your pages, which can be slow at times.

I'm currently fairly happy with Google Analytics, but I'd move to a better
server-based log analysis tool (AWStats on steroids, maybe?), if I found one.

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yorhel
I personally prefer to use HTTP log analysis software. Gives more power to me
and doesn't contribute to large companies tracking everything.

Unfortunately, though, finding a good log analysis tool is very hard. Finding
one that can beat Google Analytics is even harder. I'm still using AWStats
myself, but I can't say I'm really happy with it.

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arn
isn't that because there is inherently less data in http logs? Google
Analytics use cookies and Javascript to track more data on users. There's no
session data in http logs.

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yorhel
You're partially right. Log analysis will require some more tricks to get the
relevant data, but there's still a _LOT_ more that a log analyzer can do than
AWStats or similar projects do. I believe it's perfectly possible create a log
analyzer that can compete with GA.

(Then there's also another trick used by some log analyzers: Putting a bit of
Javascript code on each page to request an empty image or AJAX call that
generates a log entry with tracking info. But I'm sure that there's a lot that
can be figured out even without something like that.)

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huhtenberg
<http://haveamint.com> is great if all you need is a high-level overview of
site activity (i.e. no drill-downs).

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cdvonstinkpot
I got a lifetime subscription to Mixpanel a couple years ago, although I'm
just getting my first site together right now- so I haven't used it yet.

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zeynalov
I really love Woopra. I also use Google analytics.

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kngspook
I've looked at Google Analytics, Chartbeat, and Clicky so far.

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PonyGumbo
Google Analytics, and Reinvigorate for real-time info.

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Mizza
Great question - would love to get more data on this..

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mindcrime
Google Analytics

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tnorthcutt
Google Analytics.

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mcrider
Piwik offers as much as GA IMO and its your data.

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true_religion
It barely scratches the surface. There's no event tracking or visitor flow
tracking, not any of the deeper analysis that Google does with its data.

IMO, Piwik is something akin to what you could build for your own site with an
internal team.

