The Best Free Web Log Analysis Tools

Science, Tech, Math

By

Jennifer Kyrnin

Updated on March 07, 2020

There are a lot of web log analysis tools out there, and many are free. This is a list of some of the best.

01

of 05

Deep Log Analyzer

What We Like

Robust platform, frequently updated.
Highly customizable.
Used by several major organizations.

What We Don't Like

This program is free to try for 25 days only; after that, you must pay $200 for a license.
User interface is busy, with a Windows XP look-and-feel to it.

Deep Log Analyzer is the best free web analytics software. It is a local log analysis tool that works on your site logs without requiring any codes or bugs on your site. It's not as fancy as Google Analytics, but it does offer a few extra features. Plus, if you need more features, there is a paid version you can upgrade to.

02

of 05

Google Analytics

What We Like

Cutting-edge tools.
Easy to deploy.
Robust, well-designed metrics and reports.

What We Don't Like

Google's privacy practices are problematic enough that many site visitors run tools that explicitly block Google Analytics tracking scripts.
Requires some degree of site or site-administrator into the Google platform.

Google Analytics is one of the best free web log analysis tools available. There are a few reports that are not included, but the graphs and well-defined reports make it very nice. Some people don't like giving a large corporation like Google such direct access to their site metrics. And other people don't like needing a bug placed on the web pages in order to track them.

AWStats

What We Like

Venerable program widely respected in the open-source community.
Covers FTP and mail stats, too.
Robust reporting framework.

What We Don't Like

Visual appeal of the dashboards are limited — they're solid, but they're not pretty.
Some geolocation features require plug-ins that may or may require special, additional licensing.

AWStats is a free web analysis tool that works as a CGI script on your web server or from the command line. You run it and it evaluates your weblogs with many different reports. You can also use it to analyze FTP and mail logs as well as web log files. Some useful features include the ability to export reports to XML, text, and PDF, a report on 404 pages and the referrers for them, plus all the standard visitor and page view stats.

04

of 05

W3Perl

What We Like

Easy installation through package manager.
Supports many server types beyond IIS and web servers.

What We Don't Like

Organization of dashboards seems chaotic.
Last updated 2015.

W3Perl is a CGI based free web analytics tool. It offers the ability to use a page bug to track page data without looking at log files or the ability to read the log files and report across them.

05

of 05

BBClone

What We Like

Easy integration with common CMS platforms.
Compact, visually appealing dashboards.

What We Don't Like

Last updated 2015.
Most configuration occurs through modifying PHP files.

BBClone is a PHP based web analytics tool or web counter for your web page. It provides information about the last visitors to your site tracking things like IP address, OS, browser, referring URL and more.

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Your Citation

Kyrnin, Jennifer. "The Best Free Web Log Analysis Tools." ThoughtCo, Sep. 2, 2021, thoughtco.com/best-free-web-log-analysis-tools-3468994. Kyrnin, Jennifer. (2021, September 2). The Best Free Web Log Analysis Tools. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/best-free-web-log-analysis-tools-3468994 Kyrnin, Jennifer. "The Best Free Web Log Analysis Tools." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/best-free-web-log-analysis-tools-3468994 (accessed April 19, 2024).