First Impression

[scion]

Well, I have used StatCounter for about an hour now and it seems to be working great. My site gets a bit of traffic, so I will be upgrading my plan very soon. The layout and usability of the site is great.

My main questions is other than the upgrade payment plans, what does the author of this site get out of it? I mean, if 99% of the users are on the free plan then how are you profiting?

I want to use this for a long time. The alternatives aren't all that great. server logs are hard to use. Local scripts can be great, but eventually the logs start filling up the server. This seems to be the BEST alternative to those.

Thanks!

Darren

[webmoriar]

I don't know all the details but the ads on the site are a large part from what I understand.

[scion]

But if you are using an invisible counter... then how would the traffic get from my site to the ads?

...unless he were to eliminate the invisible ads in the future forcing everyone to run advertising on their sites.

I don't expect something for free, that is all I am saying. I would like to know what I am getting into if I convert all of my stats to this system.

Darren

Hi scion,

I'm glad you enjoy the service. Please recommend us to your friends. And if you can afford it I would highly recommend the upgrade.

Why is the service free? From the homepage of the site.

Completely Free Service

We're free, we always have been, and we fully intend to stay free. We keep our overheads to a minimum - then make our money from advertising when you log onto StatCounter to see the latest visitors to your website. If your website is getting more than 250,000 pageloads a month, then you are outside this free model. Get in touch with us before adding the code to your website and we'll be able to offer you better stats for an excellent price. You'll get real value for money.

We're currently testing even more advanced tracking services, which won't be commercially viable as a free service. These new tracking services will be offered on top of the free service. We still plan to keep adding as many features to the free service that can be sustained.

We are not going to put ads on your website, but we do get a link back from the counter, and you can customise exactly how you want it to appear, including invisible. The margins are certainly very tight for the free service but it is just about profitable because we keep our costs so low and make money from advertising on OUR website. Not yours.

But we certainly aren't doing it for the money. That's for sure. I do it because I want to provide the best easy to use and most insightful web stats, to as many site owners across this world as possible.

[scion]

Well that satisfies me. I was actually more interested to see if you would personally respond to my post. The fact that you did makes me feel a lot better.

I will be upgrading my membership now...

Darren

[scion]

...upgraded. Thanks guys!

Darren