Help me keep my site statistics up.

February 25, 2007 2:51 AM

My Onestat account is dying soon. Please help me find a replacement.

I have a free Onestat account (www.onestat.com) that's due to expire soon. I need a replacement. I've googled, but only seem to find free-to-try accounts, or stuff that contains items on my "do not want" list.

I want: details of country, referring page, total pageviews and the time of "arrival". I want a permanently free account (the page is just a hobby page, so I don't feel like spending money on it).

I don't want: something I have to download. Extremely detailed details of every single visitor. A counter.

What I love about Onestat is the easy to read display - http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/1644/clipboard01ql8.th.jpg (sorry, I don't know how to hide the url behind a word). It provides me with just the info I need, without lot's of stuff that I don't understand/need.

posted by Solomon to computers & internet (11 comments total)

Reinvigorate is great and provides all you require, unfortunately it's still in Beta so invite-only. But for future reference I thought I'd add it anyway.

But if you don't mind having a button/linkback there should be plenty of options - try a google search.
A friend uses Statcounter, however I can't vouch for what it does as she's not currently online to ask. (this does also seem to be invisible though, judging by her site. might just be because I have them blocked through my hosts file tho)
posted by ClarissaWAM at 3:21 AM on February 25, 2007

Can't go wrong with SiteMeter. Basic, simple, free.
posted by davidmsc at 4:09 AM on February 25, 2007

I liked Statcounter, and they allow you to have invisible code (a.k.a. no linkback). I found their data to be pretty inclusive.
posted by Brittanie at 4:23 AM on February 25, 2007

Seconding Statcounter.
posted by limicoline at 4:24 AM on February 25, 2007

Google Analytisc is a possibility. PHPMyvisites is another. If you're prepared to spend a little, Mint is a must.
posted by Baud at 4:37 AM on February 25, 2007

I use StatCounter, it's great.
posted by IndigoRain at 6:32 AM on February 25, 2007

google analytics seriously underreports stats.
posted by SpecialK at 6:52 AM on February 25, 2007

I've used StatCounter, Mint, and Google Analytics, and I've liked StatCounter the best. Mint has a very trendy interface, but the information doesn't seem as useful or intuitive; Google Analytics tracks a metric shit-ton of statistics but I found it overwhelming, occasionally inaccurate (compared to the other two), and a bit clunky.

The downside of StatCounter is that it only gives you the fun in-depth statistics (IP addresses, session history, etc.) for the last 100 visitors, unless you pay. Baud's link to PHPMyvisites looks amazing, though -- very much like StatCounter but residing on your own server. I'm going to try that now.
posted by danb at 6:56 AM on February 25, 2007

We're trying out a new stats site on one of our sites - Get Clicky. It has some cool features like a real-time stats viewer called "spy" (like Digg's spy). There is a free version that might have enough information for you, from their FAQ: "The free plan is limited to 7 days of detailed history and doesn't have access to some our best features, such as RSS and Site Spy."
posted by slactoid at 7:14 AM on February 25, 2007

I'll take a stab at the sub-question:
I don't know how to hide the url behind a word

MetaFilter and its subsites allow html formatting to build links (common terminology for "hide the url behind a word"). html link formatting uses the <a> or anchor tag to surround the word/s you want to make a link. The anchor tag has attributes, the most important of which is href. Using the <a> tag together with the href attribute—and getting a link in result—goes like this:

<a href="URL">link text</a>

Ending the link code with </a> closes the tag and indicates the end of the linked text. In your case, you would have typed:

What I love about Onestat is the <a href="http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/1644/clipboard01ql8.th.jpg">easy to read display</a>

with results like this:

What I love about Onestat is the easy to read display

Here at MetaFilter (again, and most of its subsites) most text input boxes in most browsers provide a button to create links. The easiest way to use this is to highlight text you'd like to be a link, click the button, and then paste the URL into the pop-up prompt. If you do not highlight text before clicking the button, it will insert the html link code surrounding wherever the cursor rests. Then simply type the text you'd like to be the link. This last bit isn't really helpful to you however, because the AskMe New Question page doesn't feature the html formatting buttons.
posted by carsonb at 8:34 AM on February 25, 2007

I use Google Analytics
posted by WizKid at 9:47 AM on February 25, 2007