Attn marketers – Google Analytics vs. Statcounter head to head comparison

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The vast majority of web sites rely on Google Analytics (GA) for all their marketing data. So I decided to try a few other sites out and compare head to head. The results may surprise you.

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Today: Google Analytics (GA) vs. Statcounter

Overall Winner: Statcounter.

How they work:
GA: Javascript in footer
Statcounter: Javascript in footer, along with image url for non-script enabled browsers.

My test methodology: I selected random web sites to install both GA and Statcounter code

Cost: GA – Free , Statcounter – Free up to 500 log entries, 1500 costs $9/month, and upward.

Comparison:
GA being only javascript is already at a disadvantage to Statcounter – as anyone with javascript disabled (like myself) will automatically be invisible to GA. This is a huge disadvantage to GA stats. Generally speaking, the more technically savy of your visitors won’t be counted. On average, that works out to anywhere from 5%-10% or more of your visitors!

Let’s take a quick look at the stats.

I compared the same day the same web site with GA and Statcounter. In a full 24 hour day, GA reported 649 page views, and 181 unique visitors. If I didn’t maintain the logs myself, I’d have to simply trust GA on those numbers, as there’s no way in google analytics to drill down and actually look at the logs. Statcounter, on the other hand, reported 736 page views, and 355 unique visitors. That’s a significant difference (Statcounter is more in line with the web logs on the server, by the way).

Features:

Integration with adwords: Google obviously maintains excellent integration with Google Adwords – no question there. Winner: Google.

Personal data – Statcounter offers a lot more personal information – you can drill down and follow a single user’s path through your website, find where they left your site and where they went. This in particular is so valuable to marketing and SEO! Winner: Statcounter

Returning Visitors – GA will tell you how many are return visits, but nothing else. Statcounter adds the ability to drill down, find out who returned, and where they went. Winner: Statcounter

System Stats – both GA and Statcounter offer a breakdown of your visitors by the hardware they use to access your site, screen resolutions (if you’re still designing for 800×600 then you’re outdated!), browser versions, etc. GA seems to have more accurate data on this than statcounter. Winner: Google.

Logs – Statcounter offers the ability to download their logs in csv format. You can see exactly who hit your site when in the raw data form. GA offers no such reporting. This is definitely a feature for the more tech savy or numbers oriented people. Not a show-stopper for most people. Winner: Statcounter

Reports – Both services offer reports by email, scheduled and immediate. Both are quite configurable, but the Statcounter report out of the box is pretty poor. The GA report is quite beautiful with graphs. I’m going to give the win on this to GA. Winner: Google.

Summary!

Every professional web site needs good stats. You simply must know who is visiting your site, where they’re going, and why they’re leaving! Both GA and Statcounter offer excellent real time reporting. Chances are, GA will be on your site, and serves the purposes of most people. However, if you are like me, and want more detailed information – then you really should have Statcounter on your site. Try running both yourself and see which you like better.

In my opinion, having drill down paths of visitors, and more accurate numbers of visitors is more important to me than google adword integration. Of course, your needs may be different! The cost for Statcounter is pretty minor compared to the data, if you even need more than 500 log entries. Additionally, nothing prevents you from having two different services on your site, just don’t go overboard or you’ll slow your site down needlessly!

Disclaimer – I am not paid by either GA or Statcounter to comment on their services. I have no financial interest in either company.

-David Lyle