Web Site Counters
Page contents
Introduction
Web site counters allow you to find out the number of visitors to each page.
This list deliberately concentrates on free site counters or commercial counters that also provide a free service. In general this page does not include commercial counters that provide a free but time limited trial.
The emphasis is also on counters and not trackers. A counter provides an indication of the number of visitors to a particular page, whereas a tracker also gives a indication of how visitors navigate through your site. A comprehensive list of trackers is also available on this site (click here to view).
Generally, each counter will require you to insert a small block of HTML or JavaScript into each page to be tracked. Some counter sites also make reports available with their counter, such as where visitors come from or the type of browser being used.
The information provided on this page is believed to be accurate, and is based on the information published on each counters website. Please check with each company before signing up. If you find any errors or omissions please report these via e-mail to: feedback@cryer.co.uk.
Feature summary comparison
The following table provides summary information on each tracker included in this comparison. More details on each tracker are included via the links in the table.
| Page Counters | Free service | Paid service | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max counters | Visible counter | Page views/m | Reports | e-mail stats | Max counters | Invisible counters | Page views/m | |
| A-Counters | no limit | 20x20 | no limit |  |
 |
3 | no limit | |
| GemStats | 1 | optional | 10,000 | |
|
no paid service | ||
| SiteMeter | 1 | 20x20 | 25,000 | |
|
no limit | none | more |
| StatCounter | no limit | optional | 250,000 | |
|
no limit | optional | more |
| StatsQuick | 1 | 110x35 | no limit | |
|
no paid service | ||
| StatsSheet | 1 | optional | 10,000 | |
|
1 | |
up to 50,000 |
Terms:
- Max counters
- The maximum number of different counters that you can create or the limit on the number of pages that the counter will distinguish between.
- Visible counter
- A guide to the size of the counter as it appears on a web page, and whether an option is provided for a counter to be invisible - all of the counters provide the option for visible counters.
- Page views/m
- Whether there is a limit on the number of page views that may be tracked. Some sites limit page views for their free service or charge according to the number of paid views (commercial version). Figure given is per month unless otherwise stated.
- Reports
- Whether the counter site provides any form of visit reports.
- e-mail stats
- Whether the counter service provides the facility to e-mail statistics.
Page Counters
http://statssheet.com
StatsSheet.com provides a well laid out and easy to use site, giving a range of statistics from a single page counter.
As well as providing a count of visitor numbers they also provide a service to display an estimate of the number of visitors currently active on a site.
| http://statssheet.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Max counters: | One | One |
| Counter size: | invisible or 88x31 pixels | |
| Example: |
|
|
| Limit on page views: | 10,000 per month then need to upgrade. |
25,000 or 50,000 hits depending on subscription level. |
| Reports: | various. Providing both plain text and charts. | |
| Stats by e-mail: | No | |
www.a-counters.com
Free site counter. Provides a number of different counter styles and allows you to keep your counter stats private or to make them publicly accessible to everyone.
| www.a-counters.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Max counters: | no obvious limit | No paid service |
| Counter size: | 20x20 or 88x20 | |
| Example: | ||
| Limit on page views: | No apparent limit | |
| Reports: | various | |
| Stats by e-mail: | No |
Click on the counter to see the information available.
www.gemstats.com
Free basic counter.
| www.gemstats.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Max counters: | 1 | No paid service |
| Counter size: | hidden or 110x23 pixels | |
| Example: | ||
| Limit on page views: | 10,000 hits/month | |
| Reports: | Various | |
| Stats by e-mail: | No |
www.sitemeter.com
Provides both a free and paid service. It displays 'visits' rather than page views, so an individual reloading a page will not count as a second page hit. The free version must display a small graphic (20x20 pixel) on each page to be tracked. You can use a larger and more informative graphic if you so wish. The free version does not appear to allow visitor movement between pages to be tracked, this information may be available with the paid version. The paid version also allows provides access to the IP addresses of visitors as well as showing where those visitors came from.
| www.sitemeter.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Max counters: | 1 may be placed on more than one page and gives a total count. Not possible to distinguish visitor counts for different pages. |
not known |
| Counter size: | 20x20 pixels (smallest) 200x40 (largest) |
None |
| Example: |
|
|
| Limit on page views: | Up to 25,000 per month | more |
| Reports: | Various | Various, generally more useful ones than with the free service. |
| Stats by e-mail: | No | not known |
www.statcounter.com
StatCounter provides a free invisible web site tracking service complete with the option to display a site counter. The counter (which is optional and can be turned invisible) can be set to count unique visitors or page views.
| www.statcounter.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Max counters: | no limit - but see note below | no limit - but see note below |
| Counter size: | invisible or customisable | invisible or customisable |
| Example: |
|
|
| Limit on page views: | 250,000 per month or 8,000 a day |
more |
| Reports: | Various | Various, generally more useful ones than with the free service. |
| Stats by e-mail: | No | No |
Note:
- They recommend using one counter for the entire website. Visitor tracking reports are tied to the counter and you can therefore get a better information about the visitors to your site if you use a single counter (per site).
- For the free service detailed logs on only the last 100 visitors is available.
www.statsquick.com
Free site counter. Appears to count unique visitors and not simply page views (so if a visitor looks at five pages this will be counted as one hit not five).
| www.statsquick.com | Free service | Paid service |
|---|---|---|
| Max counters: | 1 | No paid service |
| Counter size: | invisible or 110x35 pixels | |
| Example: | ||
| Limit on page views: | No apparent limit | |
| Reports: | various | |
| Stats by e-mail: | No |
Other Lists of Counters
There are a number of lists of counters on the net. If looking for other counters or counters of a purely commercial nature then consider the following sites:
- www.counterguide.com
Covers web counters and trackers, both free and commercial. - www.neatsite.com/wa-count.htm
List of counters and trackers.
Many hosting companies will also provide options for giving you visitor statistics as part of the hosting package. Whilst it is less likely that these can be made public on your site, and even more unlikely that these will give you a page counter, it is nevertheless worth investigating what your host might provide.
If you know of other web site counters that you would like to see listed on this page or wish to report any errors on this page then please e-mail: feedback@cryer.co.uk.
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