Many times we get asked the questions:

What's the difference between SurfStats Website Traffic (Log) Analyzer and SurfStatsLive

Although both process web server log files to generate website staistics and analytics reports, the main difference between the two products is that:

SurfStats Website Traffic (Log) Analyzer is a Windows based application that generates web site statistics reports on a client or server computer. The log files are parsed to a database and all the reports are generated after parsing. These reports can then be viewed from the program or through a web browser. Note that for SurfStats Website Traffic Analyzer the log parsing, profile database update and report generation are performed in one step.

SurfStatsLive is a server based system with administrative features and web site statistics reports accessible through a web browser. The log files are parsed to a database but the reports are not generated afterwards. The report menu is accessed with a browser and a requested report is generated on demand. Note that for SurfStatsLive the log parsing and profile database update are performed in one step and report generation is a separate step.

In the diagram below the difference in operation between the two products are shown.

Which is the right web site statistics product to use?

The right option would depend on your situation.

SurfStatsLive would be the best suited if you

• are a website host, ISP or organization that have a Windows 2000/2003/2008 web server available,

• need to provide website statistics on multiple websites to multiple users,

• have fairly busy website/s

The main advantages with SurfStatsLive is that

• Any user with a web browser (and the necessary credentials) can access the web site statistics reports by logging onto the service.

• The product requires less processing resources because the log files are continuously parsed in the background and only the requested reports are generated when requested.

SurfStats Website Traffic Analyzer would be the best suited if you

• are hosting your web site at a site host (which does not provide a statistics service, just log files)

• are the only party requiring access to the web site statistics

• have to host the reports on a server other than Windows OS. You would then generate the reports from a Windows machine to a folder on the (Linux, Mac, etc) server.

Please refer to the Differences page for more detail on the differences between the two products.