I’ve been testing and testing site stats ever since Mint 2 came out. I didn’t really want to pay for the upgrade so I ran though a few different services and put them though the tests. I was looking for a quick way to access my visitor stats and in the end, Mint is the best stats program I can find.

Mint
This has to be one of the best stats programs out there. For $30 you get the code and install it on your own server. It’s no harder than installing WordPress which means it’s quite easy. It comes with the basic functionality and you get to choose what elements you’d like to install to customize your own stats look and feel. It’s kind of like Firefox and having the ability to add extensions/functionality as you wish. Very easy to use and you have all your stats information at your fingertips, on your own site.

Google Analytics
A must install for any website. Sure, it may give you more data that you know what your looking at, but you should at least have it for the future. Google Analytics is 100% free and very in-depth. It’s great for those who want details and like digging into every aspect. I do like this information, but feel it’s a bit much to look at on a daily basis.

Clicky (aka Performancing Stats)
I liked the interface and it seemed to work quite well. However, it is a work in progress and is getting better all the time. They recently added the ability to report on blocks of time (like the past month) so it’s starting to rank higher in my book. It’ll be interesting to see where this one goes. The free version maxes out at 1000 visitors a day though so it doesn’t work for this site without paying.

FeedBurner StandardStats
I like FeedBurner’s StandardStats too. Simple and easy to use. All the basics are there; incoming traffic, outgoing traffic, pages and visitors. Another nice, and free, basic stats program. However, now that Google purchased it, I wouldn’t be surprised if the stats all rolled into Google Analytics.

103Bees
I’m not sure if it’s the bland interface or the odd usability but I’m not overjoyed about this one. It seems like it should be nice but I just can’t myself to use it.

WordPress.com Stats (blog only)
I’m getting mixed signals with this one. With one site, it worked for a few days, then didn’t work for many more afterwards . I about gave up when it started working again. With other sites, it just works. Overall, it is a nice and simple interface that anyone can adapt to. Plus it’s free. It’s not that indepth, but is great for those that just want a quick overview of the past day or two.

Webalizer/AWStats
Ok, I’m really just putting this on the list so that people know that they are not the best stats programs. They usually come installed by default on most web servers and are better than nothing. However, they have a tendency to track things like css files and javascript files. In reality, we only want to track what pages visitors go to. If you just run Webalizer or AWStats, it’s time to look into something more indepth.

Now I know there are lots more stats programs out there. Some cost money, others are free and not all are worth the time and effort. Those above are a mix of free and low cost stats programs that all work well and they are a great addition to any site.

What stats program have you found that you like?