# Website statistics **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 9, 2005, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-statistics/283866 "2005-01-09T07:41:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-statistics/283866/1 "2005-01-09T07:41:48Z")
Is there a FREE service or software package that will allow you to gather statistics about websites? Say for instance I wanted to know how many people visited the [download.com](http://download.com) website today. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-statistics/283866/2 "2005-01-09T07:50:39Z")
Web statistics for your own site may easily be obtained from a number of software applications available, either installed directly on your server or from a third party that does the monitoring for you. However, if you wish to know the stats of a web site not your own, you are SOL. Unless the owner of the site allows you to see their stats, you cannot access them as you see fit. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-statistics/283866/3 "2005-01-09T08:26:26Z")
You can check a site like [Alexa.com](http://Alexa.com) for some basic traffic. These are gathered through their software - which I’ve never used but it is some sort of web search software. Their numbers aren’t real world, but it will give you an idea anyway. This is what they have on [download.com](http://download.com) [http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic\_details?q=&url=download.com](http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=&url=download.com) ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-statistics/283866/4 "2005-01-09T08:40:48Z")
I think the Alexa statistics are only valid for people that have the Alexa toolbar installed. So, their statistics will be biased towards Alexa “users”. I downloaded and installed their toolbar, and then my spyware detector promptly told me to remove it. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2005, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/website-statistics/283866/5 "2005-01-09T08:55:05Z")
I don’t know if it’s spyware proper, but it’s snoopware that’s for sure.