Web Site Trackers
Page Contents
Introduction
Web site tracking tools enable you to find out a variety of information about your visitors. Typically for instance, the number of visitors to a page, where they came from and possibly which search engine query they used to find your site.
This list deliberately concentrates on free site trackers or commercial trackers that also provide a free service. In general this page does not include commercial trackers that provide a free but time limited trial. The emphasis is also on trackers and not counters. A counter simply provides an indication of the number of visitors to a particular page, whereas a tracker gives some indication of how visitors navigate through your site. A comprehensive list of counters is also available on this site (click here to view counters list).
Remember that most sites that offer a free service also offer a paid service. The free service is almost guaranteed to be inferior in some way to their paid service, and they will hope that you will ultimately upgrade to their paid service.
Generally, each tracker will require you to insert a small block of HTML or JavaScript into each page to be tracked.
The information provided on this page is believed to be accurate, and is based on the information published on each trackers website. For your own benefit please check with each company before signing up and perform your own evaluation to ensure that the services offered by a company meet your requirements. If you find any errors or omissions on this page then please report these via e-mail to: feedback@cryer.co.uk.
Feature summary comparison
The following table provides summary information on each tracker included in this comparison. More details on each tracker are included via the links in the table.
| Site Trackers | Free service | Paid service | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max pages | Banner | Page views/m | Log file | Max pages | Banner | Page views/m | Log file | |
| AddFreeStats | 120 | 88x31 | no limit |  |
no limit | none | no limit | |
| BenchMarkTracking | None. Free 30 day trial available. | no limit | non | varies | |
|||
| Extreme-Dm | 1 | 41x38 | no limit | |
no limit | none | no limit | |
| FreeStats | no limit | 400x60 | no limit |  |
no limit | none | no limit | |
| GoldStats | no limit | 400x60 | yes | |
no limit | 88x31 | yes | |
| GoStats | no limit | yes | no limit | |
no limit | optional | no limit | |
| IndexTools | None. Free 15 day trial available. | no limit | none | varies | |
|||
| OpenTracker | None. Free 4 week trial available. | no limit | none | varies | |
|||
| SiteTracker | no limit | yes | no limit | |
no limit | none | no limit | |
| SiteTrafficStats | no free service | no limit | none | 10,000/day | |
|||
| Stats4you | 3 | yes | no limit | |
no limit | none | no limit | |
| StatSession | no limit | none | no limit | |
no limit | none | no limit | |
| VisiStat | None. Free 7 day trial available. | no limit | none | varies | |
|||
| WebSiteTrafficReport | no limit | yes | no limit | |
no limit | none | no limit | |
| WebStat | no limit | 88x30 or 468x60 |
20,000 or 2,000,000 |
|
no limit | none | no limit | |
| WebTracker | no limit | 88x31 | 500/day | |
No paid service | |||
| WhzOn | no limit | 120x33 | 300,000 | |
no limit | none | varies | |
| WunderCounter | No free service. 14 day trial. | 250 | none | 5,000/day | |
|||
Terms:
- Max pages
- The maximum number of pages on a website that the service will track.
- Banner
- Whether the tracker requires a banner, button or advert to be displayed on each page to be tracked, in which case the size of the image is shown.
- Page views/m
- Whether there is a limit on the number of page views that the tracker will track. Some sites limit page views for their free service or charge according to the number of paid views (commercial version). Figure given is per month unless otherwise stated.
- Log file
- Whether the tracker provides access to 'raw server logs' (or the equivalent).
- Most trackers provide a range of reports. So even if a tracker does not provide raw server logs (or the equivalent) the reports they provide may make access to the raw logs unnecessary.
Site Trackers
www.addfreestats.com, www.3dstats.com
The addfreestats site provides a free service, whereas the 3dstats site is the corresponding paid service. It also provides you with the facility to display the number of visitors that they believe are currently on your site.
| www.addfreestats.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | 120. Can track more but can only distinguish 120 unique pages or groupings of pages. | No apparent limit |
| Banner display: | 88x31 image | None |
| Limit on page views: | None apparent | None apparent |
| Provides log file: | No; does provide listing for the last 40 visitors. | No; does provide listing for the last 40 visitors. |
benchmarktracking.com - Real time Web Visitor Service
Their service provides real time web visitor tracking. Also, extensive analysis of your visitors, both returning and unique visitors. Over 90 reports on tracking and trends of website visitors
| www.benchmarktracking.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | No free service.
Free 30 day / 100,000 page view trial available. |
No apparent limit |
| Banner display: | None | |
| Limit on page views: | Depends on subscription. Starts at 25,000/month for the lowest subscription and raises to 500,000/month for the highest standard package. You can track more than 500,000 page views, but you would then end up paying an additional fee according to the number of page views. | |
| Provides log file: | No. |
www.extreme-dm.com
Free tracker. The page to be tracked must display a small (41x38) image. The free service is limited to one page per site.
| www.extreme-dm.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | 1 | No apparent limit |
| Banner display: | 41x38 image | No |
| Limit on page views: | No | No |
| Provides log file: | No | No |
www.freestats.com
Free web site tracking - but each page that is tracked must display a large (i.e. 400x60) banner advertisement.
| www.freestats.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | No apparent limit | No apparent limit |
| Banner display: | 400x60 advertisement | No |
| Limit on page views: | No | No |
| Provides log file: | Yes | Yes |
www.goldstats.com
Provides both free and paid for web tracking. The free version requires a large banner ad (i.e. 400x60) to be displayed. The commercial version requires either a small icon (88x31) to be displayed or no icon according to the subscription paid. No limit on the number of pages that can be tracked, but there is a limit on the number of page hits that it will track per month.
| www.goldstats.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | no limit | no limit |
| Banner display: | 400x60 advertisement | 88x31 icon or no icon according to subscription |
| Limit on page views: | Yes | Yes |
| Provides log file: | Yes | Yes |
http://gostats.com
Provides live web-site usage tracking, reporting and web-hit counters. The free service provides a web counter for each page, plus some report information on those visitors.
| http://gostats.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | No limit | No limit |
| Banner display: | Yes (counter) | No (optional) |
| Limit on page views: | No limit | No limit |
| Provides log file: | Yes | Yes |
The log file is available under the "last guests" sections.
www.indextools.com
| www.indextools.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | No free service.
Provide a free 15 day trial. |
no limit up to 3 web sites according to subscription per account |
| Banner display: | No | |
| Limit on page views: | Cost varies according to the number of hits. | |
| Provides log file: | Unclear. Probably no. |
www.opentracker.net
A commercial tracker offering a range of impressive features. Unique or interesting features:
- only 1 line of JavaScript code to paste in a page
- works with dynamically generated pages (.asp, .jsp, .php) and designed to integrate with other systems
- allows you to see your who is on their site right now
- time zone independent, allowing you to view statistics according to the date/ time settings on your computer
- allows you to add multiple users to share statistics
- allows you to track multiple sites
| www.opentracker.net | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | No free service
Free 4 week trial available |
No limit |
| Banner display: | No | |
| Limit on page views: | 100,000 or more according to subscription. | |
| Provides log file: | No |
www.sitetracker.com
Free trial provides details over the last 7 days. Paid service provides information going back further.
| www.sitetracker.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | No apparent limit | No apparent limit |
| Banner display: | Yes | No |
| Limit on page views: | None apparent | None apparent |
| Provides log file: | Yes | Yes |
www.sitetrafficstats.com
SiteTrafficStats is a real-time traffic tracking service which gives you valuable statistics about your website visitors, referrers, keywords, top pages and many other advanced stats.
For their commercial/paid service they require only a one-time fee - something which sets them apart from other services where the norm is to charge a monthly fee. They do impose a limit of 10,000 page views a day for this. If you have more than 10,000 page views then you will need to contact them directly.
| www.sitetrafficstats.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | No free service | No limit |
| Banner display: | No | |
| Limit on page views: | 10,000 a day | |
| Provides log file: | No |
www.stats4you.com
Site provides both professional and free web site visitor tracking. The free version requires a small icon to be displayed on the page to be tracked and can be used for no more than 3 pages. The paid versions allow for more pages to be tracked and does not require an icon to be displayed on each page.
| www.stats4you.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | 3 pages | No apparent limit |
| Banner display: | small icon | None |
| Limit on page views: | None apparent | None apparent |
| Provides log file: | No | No |
www.statsession.com
The free service does not require any banner or logo to be displayed. The paid version allows you to track numbers of downloads from a site or clicks on banners.
| www.statsession.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | Unknown | Unknown |
| Banner display: | No | No |
| Limit on page views: | none | none |
| Provides log file: | No | No |
www.visistat.com
VisiStat provide a easy to use and very informative commercial web site tracking service. Its worth taking the time to work through the different reports they provide because they provide a large number of different reports - ranging from the simple page views over time to (for example) reports on geographic location of visitors and which ISP visitors were using (although this is limited to US based ISPs). They also provide live real-time visitor information.
Conclusion: A good all round commercial web tracker.
| www.visistat.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | No free service. 7 day free trial available. |
No limit. |
| Banner display: | None | |
| Limit on page views: | No limit, but subscription cost varies according to the number of page views per month. | |
| Provides log file: | No, but with the range of reports they provide you probably won't need access to the log file. |
For more information:
- VisiStat provide a very lengthy FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
- www.visistat.com/faqs.php.
- To view their features at a glance: www.visistat.com/features.php
www.websitetrafficreport.com
Each day they email a traffic report. This report contains summary statistics, but can optionally contain detailed information for each visitor.
| www.websitetrafficreport.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | No apparent limit | No apparent limit |
| Banner display: | Icon. Possibly also a banner or pop-up ad. |
No ads or icons |
| Limit on page views: | None apparent. | None apparent |
| Provides log file: | Yes | Yes |
www.webstat.com
Provides both free and commercial web tracking services. Provides two free versions - "Free" and "Free Plus", both of which require the display of a banner. With "Free Plus" the banner is quite large (468x60 pixels) but you get a much wider range of reports than with the simple "Free" one.
| www.webstat.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | No apparent limit | No apparent limit |
| Banner display: | Yes 88x30 logo for "Free" service or 468x60 for "Free Plus". |
No |
| Limit on page views: | 20,000 per month "Free" or 3 million per month "Free Plus". | Cost increases after 20,000 page views a month. |
| Provides log file: | No | No |
http://whzon.com/
Provides individual reports for each page tracked and for the website as a whole. Each page to be tracked must be individually registered. Free version requires small banner on each page.
| WhzOn.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | No limit | No limit |
| Banner display: | Yes, (small) 120x33 pixel image must appear on each page tracked. | No |
| Limit on page views: | 300,000 per month and 10,000 per day will be changed if more than 10,000 per day |
No, but cost varies according to the number of page views, |
| Provides log file: | No | No |
www.wundercounter.com
Provides different tiers of service, the lowest being free.
| www.wundercounter.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum pages tracked: | No free service.
Provides a 14 day free trial. |
250 |
| Banner display: | No | |
| Limit on page views: | 1000 a day for the basic package. Higher premium for more page views. | |
| Provides log file: | Yes |
Other lists of trackers
There are a number of lists of trackers on the net. If looking for other trackers or trackers of a purely commercial nature then consider the following sites:
- www.counterguide.com
Covers web counters and trackers, both free and commercial. - www.neatsite.com/wa-count.htm
List of counters and trackers.
If you know of other web site trackers that you would like to see listed on this page or wish to report any errors on this page then please e-mail: feedback@cryer.co.uk.