(NOTE: this is part of the “Software I like” series)

Web site statistics. Boring, right? Not necessarily, looking at them can even be fun (no, really!) - and they’re quite important if you want to know your users, and optimize your site.
Among all the free statistics software I’ve tried, I really like AWStats. It’s easy to install, written in Perl, has a ton of features, and really shows everything I want (including stuff like search engine bots, search terms, etc.). Some other (paid) software may have more features, but AWStats does, so far, everything I want.
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Once again (i’ve done it before), i’ll say that there’s a good free solution by Shaun Inman (creator of the US$30 Mint ( http://www.haveamint.com ) called ShortStat.
have a look:
http://www.shauninman.com/plete/2004/03/shortstat-beta-3
But yes, AWstats seem like the best free solution. As far as paid solutions go, i’ve never find anything better than Urchin. It just tells you everything you ever wanted to know about the visits to your site. The license is a bit expensive, but i’ve had that installed on one of my hosts. pretty cool stuff.