Since I originally started doing client work near the end of 2003, I’ve gone through scores of traffic analysis programs. It wasn’t until the last six months that I finally settled on three separate pieces of software for all my site traffic needs: Mint, SlimStat and Google Analytics. I’ll start with a write up of Mint, but look for more on SlimStat and Google Analytics in the near future.

Mint

http://www.haveamint.com

Mint, written and maintained by Shaun Inman, is the only stats package I use that has any costs associated with it. It sells for $30 per domain and requires PHP and MySQL. Let me tell you right now, Mint is worth every penny for its level of accuracy and incredibly attractive interface.

All of the data Mint collects is available in real-time to you. This leads to a borderline obsession with constantly tracking and watching your site’s traffic throughout the day. Mint uses JavaScript to track visitors instead of the more traditional means of crawling server logs. This eliminates “false” hits from robots and spiders crawling your site. It also eliminates “true” hits from web browsers with JavaScript turned off but I feel this trade off is worth it in the long haul.

Along with the web-based interface, Mint has desktop widgets to help you track your site’s visitors. The last major selling point for Mint is its open API that allows third-party developers to write plugins that expand on Mint’s core functionality and give you even more useful ways to scour your traffic data.

I can’t recommend Mint to you enough. It’s especially useful you’re looking for a solution to traffic analysis that really lets you keep tabs on the pulse of your site. Its real-time tracking can’t be beaten.

In my next installment in this series, I’ll tell you about SlimStat which is a modified version of an older (and free) stat tracker that was originally created by… guess who? Shaun Inman.