I know there is nothing like Google Analytics but believe me StateCounter showed me more hits than Google Analytics.. why it is so? Any Idea, do they work differently for hits?
Google has always taken a conservative figure. I have found that they don't count every hit. It may be for a number of reasons 1) Technical glitch 2) Because they don't count duplicate clicks from the same IP address. (for example if you click on a website 5 times from the same page) I like Google for that reason because they don't inflate your links, although if you are trying to sell your site then another service may make your site appear to be receiving more visitors than it actually is and therefore increases it value
StatCounter is better for a "young" website: It allows you to see the behavor of each visitor, and once you get high traffic add Google Analytics (you can use both)
I think google analytics is a better tool to check your traffic. It shows figures which are generally less than that given by cpanel stats and stat counter. Further, the brand name google gives its stamp over the accuracy of the data.
I use both and have noticed the same thing, I tend to lean more to google I think that stat counter counts bots as well as visitors. I prefer GA just because of the extensive reports I can figure out exactly what is working and what is not.
I think sitemeter is better than all the tracking tools... Even better that Google. As per u r que..I will prefer Google ana.
Why would you pay for statcounter when GA is free? It is amazingly detailed, no question it is the better choice.