A web counter is an image or text that indicates the number of visitors to or views of a web page. There are hundreds available, some perhaps better than others for one reason or another. The purpose of this site is to present as many of these hit counters and stats packages as possible to you, along with enough information about each one for you to make an informed decision as to which you should use on your site. In the case of simple hit counters, the selection, reliability, and speed of the counter on your page are the only variables available.

This site is not concerned with log file based analysis, although there is one product that uses a hybrid of real time and log file processing (Site Analytics).

I compiled most of this information while studying the performance and features of various real-time web statistics packages. It is continually updated, since the stats and counter providers come and go. I have tried to understand the business model that allows them to offer you something for free that costs them bandwidth and hosting money. I have found four different models so far.

1. Advertising supported. There is an ad accompanying the counter. They get paid a flat rate for your site.
2. Search engine spamming. The counter ad URL creates back-links to their advertisers, increasing their page rank.
3. They get you to try a limited free version in the hope that you will upgrade to a "pro" version.
4. The stats link on the counter takes you to a "buy these other products" page, typically hosting or web design.

Most of the free counters appear to sell your counter ad for some flat rate, and as long as you have the counter, they have the ad. When you cancel the counter, their ad goes away. It is a gamble on the part of the advertiser, since he has no way of knowing how long his ad will be up, or how many impressions it will get while it is up. It isn't difficult to provide a counter. If you do the math... 10,000 users at 100 hits per day with a 1kB returned image is 11.5 hits per second, and 29 GB bandwidth per month. Very doable with a virtual dedicated host for US$30.00 per month. 30,000,000 impressions per month at a cost of US$1 per million impressions. The amount of maintenance on these things can't be too great, since some of these web sites have not been updated since 2002.

You may wonder why Google Analytics isn't on the list. The answer is two-fold. First, they are not real time. It takes some hours before their stats update. I don't know if they are behind, or are batched. Second, their business model. Every time I hit any site that has Google, I send my IP address to Google. Since every site has Google Analytics, I can't go anywhere without Google knowing I've been there. "They don't send any personally identifiable information, though", you say. Well, I have a Google AdWords account, and a Google WebMaster account. And a GMail account. They know that IP address is mine. They use it to track click fraud. They know my name, my web sites, my email addresses. And now with Analytics, they know everywhere I've been. I am not a black helicopter nut, and I'm not paranoid. I just don't like being watched.

If you know of a counter that I don't have on this site, and you would like to see it here, please tell me, and I will update the appropriate page(s).

Thank you,
Dave

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