web analytics with path click analysis

Question

trying to look for an web analytics service(preferably free) which gets the usual stuff, browser, hits, OS, etc.

in addition, it needs be able to track user click paths, and some how be able to tie in with my own database, maybe perhaps pass in JSON objects similar to PIWIK. i am tracking user click paths strictly for debugging purposes so i can figure out what a user was doing to get particular errors etc.

i've searched for quite a few tools and have not been able to find any, or perhaps someone can recommend that there are other better ways i can use to debug what a user has done.

basically i'm looking for a web analytics tool which does what i have just described. Clicky seems to be rather good, any other better alternatives?

Answer 1

Take a look at Google Analytics.

Answer 2

I would go with clicky.

Tracking my authenticated visitors (knowing their username, e-mail etc) is a piece of cake:

<script type="text/javascript">
  var clicky_custom = {};
  clicky_custom.session = {
      name: '[+fullname+]',
      email: '[+email+]',
      username: '[+username+]'
  };
  clicky_custom.timer = 250;
</script>

<script src="https://static.getclicky.com/js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">try{ clicky.init(mySiteId); }catch(err){}</script>
<noscript><p><img alt="Clicky" width="1" height="1" src="https://in.getclicky.com/mySiteIdns.gif" /></p></noscript>

Quoting from their site:

The session property allows you to add your own data to a visitor session. This data will be stored in our database and accessible whenever you request the details of this session, whether that's through the web site itself, the API, third party widgets, or otherwise. When viewing a session on our web site, each custom value will have an icon next to it to easily distinguish your data from the standard data that we already track.

More details on: http://getclicky.com/forums/?id=6092#session

Answer 3

Google analytics sucks, IMHO, at click paths. Click paths are necessary for optimizing navigation and seeing where people are "hanging up" and either leaving the site or returning to the home page. I'm looking for something myself to track click paths.