How accurate are the stats compared to something like AWStats which is apart of CPanel? There are huge differences when I view both and try to compare stats. Thanks.
Sometimes I find big difference in the stats reported by different services (am using Google analytics and stat counter). But I take Google analytics as my real stats, because Adsense is the only thing am using to monetize my blog and hence it matters what big Google thinks.
i use statcounter and google analytics, but google analytics don't show anything to me. Either i don't know hwo to make it work or its not working...
You have to look at how the different technologies work. Awstats uses the apache log. Analytics uses a bit of javascript. As such this difference of javascript elimintes counting stats like web crawlers, ajax movement and inability to count hits and bandwidth. Analytics is not just about accuracy but also about reporting, it was introduced for those with adwords after all. Pierce
Awstats is rarely accurate, at least on my sites, where typically I have a lot of hits on my images and such. The reason is that it tracks requests, as opposed to actual visits. On another note, my biggest problem with server side stats is that it is quickly becoming a resource hog the larger my sites get. I'm in the process of turning 'off' all my server side stats.