Log file analysis and log analyzer tools

[Fat_Albert]

hello every1,
i am completely new to this; i'll be grateful to u people if u can help me out

i searched the net (and read thru this forum) for log file analyzer and came up with many. These include awstats, webtrends, analog, webalizer, sawmill, hitbox, urchin, faststats and livestats.

i dont know which is the most popular, so i really need need your input on these.

Also, is there any main issues i have to consider when when analyzing log files?

[positionleap]

What type of information are you trying to track? What are your needs? What type of tracking/reporting features are you looking for?

If you are looking for real-time log file analysis, I would suggest going with indextools

If you have larger log files, you might want to check out mach5

[edited by: Receptional at 2:57 pm (utc) on June 27, 2005]
[edit reason] no affiliate links [/edit]

[Matt Probert]

Be aware of the limitations of log files. They do NOT tell you how many visitors your web site has received, rather they report requests made to your http server. This can be useful in tracking request trends, but can also be highly deceitful! Be especially wary of programs that claim to track visitor paths through your site, this cannot be done through log files alone - despite what you may be told.

Personally, I use Analog, which is free and customisable.

Matt

[Receptional]

Hi,

The most popular tools and the best are very different animals. Sounds like you already have seen plenty on the market. Most of these have free trials. I would try a few and check the data over the same period, to get a feel of the ridiculous variations between different analyzer results data - then take your pick.

For my money, tracking is not the place to scrimp if you can help it. Good tracking - when analyzed - will continually improve your conversion rates, which is worth gold. If you won't find the time to analyze though, then take the free trials, work out what you want to know, then just use a free tool other times.

[raboof]

Be especially wary of programs that claim to track visitor paths through your site, this cannot be done through log files alone - despite what you may be told.

Of course path analysis based on logging is not totally reliable: caching and the back-button are obvious examples.

However, in practice *most* path data is correct, so when analysing reasonable amounts of data the cumulative results do give valuable insights imho.

It's not a replacement for conventional stats, but a valuable complement.

(But of course I'm biased, having written a free tool to do path analysis myself ;))

[TonyHodge]

I don't see NetTracker on your list. NetTracker does log files and Page Tagging together in the same reporting. So you get the best of both worlds.