How accurate is awstat?

[shahab6]

it shows I get 200 visit perday but google anayltic shows 50visit perday

[thewebhostingdir]

Are those visitors are unique or the number that you have given are just page loads? Both software have different cookie expiration time so the number of unique visitors may differ.

[shahab6]

Are those visitors are unique or the number that you have given are just page loads? Both software have different cookie expiration time so the number of unique visitors may differ.

there suppose to be unique

[Sales Training]

I have been wondering the same thing since my Aweber stats are 3-4X my google analytics, active meter, and wordpress stats page results. Anyone know what I can trust?

[arowana]

nice stats they displayed

[Bohol]

You better trust Google Analytics because its technology is far more advanced than any tool in the industry today. Google itself is relying on its analytics software when it is doing market research and product development.

[shahab6]

You better trust Google Analytics because its technology is far more advanced than any tool in the industry today. Google itself is relying on its analytics software when it is doing market research and product development.

this is 3-4x defference, thats a lot. So basically awstat is not accurate at all. If it shows 400perday then its actually 100

[abercrombie]

i personally think google analytics is more accurate. i do like to check awstats to boost my ego but i believe it counts a lot of bots and web crawlers while GA does not.

[shahab6]

i personally think google analytics is more accurate. i do like to check awstats to boost my ego but i believe it counts a lot of bots and web crawlers while GA does not.

but my affialte stat is closer to awstat than analytic.

[daelin]

I think that awstat is more reliable in this case. The script is installed in the server where your page is hosted. On the other hand Google Analytics is a code installed in the page, so if the visitor comes but the page has a problem loading the code, it will not count as a visit for Google but it will be a visit for Awstat.

[shahab6]

I think google doesn't count secondary pages, so if some one lands on some other page its not counted.

[terrymason]

I believe that if you have javascript off then google won't count it.

Also, GA doesn't count spiders.

[cklords]

What about off-site services like Web-Stat, Stat-Counter or Host-Tracker? I've actually used Web stat and it seems to mirror the results I get from GA. I also like it's detailed visitor report. It's strange that something like statistics could be so across the board, I mean, the actual stat-log is the same isn't it?

[Lerris]

I would trust awstats. It reads directly from your web logs while Google relies on JS. What happens if the visitor has JS disabled, or is using a hosts file that blocks analytics? They do not get tracked.

These same visitors, though, do get tracked by Awstats as they appear in the server logs.

I personally use awstats for all of my sites for this reason.

[jamesinngram]

awstat is more accurate that google analytics. Google analytics always shows half of the traffic in awstats.

[shahab6]

awstat is more accurate that google analytics. Google analytics always shows half of the traffic in awstats.

I'm coming to this conclustion too, I ran a yahoo ppc, and it shows 10 click ppc and on anaytic it shows 6

[gingimaster]

I think google doesn't count secondary pages, so if some one lands on some other page its not counted.

that's why you're supposed to place the code on every page

[mester]

i am using statcounter and google analytics, and I also have differences between the two numbers.

[Sales Training]

So I made some changes in analytics and where my link is placed on my blog and site. My numbers exploded. It is still lower than awstats, probably the google thing, but it will be interesting to track this now that the change is made. Play with where your code is on the pages, may help you too.

[ninjacluster]

awstats uses your server logs, something concrete. I bet it would be more accurate.

[A.G]

I don't think it's accurate because they count hot linking as traffic
I suggest using only StatCounter.com or HisStats.com

[Trusted Writer]

I'm not sure how accurate Awstats could be, but I would always suggest run your own stats scripts after testing and finding the right one.

Awstats is usually attached to Cpanel and, if you switch to a host without it, you will not be able to keep a coherent analysis of your charts flow, as per Google Anayltics and others, they might be or might not accurate, but I don't see the point of using third party providers when you can run it on your own.

Unless, of course, you are short in webspace, bandwidth or perhaps not enough PHP knowledge to install it and keep it running.

[Dreads]

i would believe Awstats is mroe accurate as sometimes you might have the ga code on the bottom of your page, and people might leave before it loads.

[rohan_shenoy]

Awstats is accurate in what it does. But its definitions are not as you expect.
For eg:

1. A same person who visits your site with two different IP addresses is counted as two unique visitors where as cookie trackers will count him as only 1.

2. A hit is not same as a pageload or visit. Hits are the no. of files requested from the server. Eg: If your homepage has 9 images, then a single visit generates 10 hits.

3. An IP address whose visits are not apart than 12 hrs are taken as the same visit(I am not sure about this one though).

http://www.totalchoicehosting.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=4639

http://www.webmasterstop.com/47.html [This one seems down, but I had it bookmarked earlier]