Ask HN: Which analytics solution do you recommend?

[karthikm]

Am trying to decide the analytics solution (client side) I should use for my startup thats about to be launched. A bunch of options seem to be available - Clicky, Mixpanel, Crazyegg, Google Analytics, Chartbeat, reinvigorate.net.

Which one would you recommend and why? Should I use just one solution or a combination? Any other solution(s) I should consider?

Can you also recommend best practices for a key-value store based server side analytics platform?

[revorad]

I highly recommend Avinash Kaushik's blog - http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/ and mixergy interview - http://mixergy.com/analytics-avinash-kaushik-interview/.

A key point he made in his interview was that tools should just be 10% of the cost of your analytics, the people should be 90%. He might help you make a more informed decision.

[herewego]

Google Analytics, Quantcast, and Chartbeat are a good start.

Google Analytics gives you the ability to slice and dice your visitors. Quantcast gives you demographics. And Chartbeat gives you real-time tracking with historical playback.

Between the three of them, you can discern almost any information you'd want to know about your visitors short of business logic tracking.

[Luecke]

Observer offers real time analytics as well as the most important parts of the any analytics solution.

http://observerapp.com/

That's what I use for my sites now