If you have a website, tracking or measuring the traffic the website receives is an obviously important step to consider. Not only does it give you an idea of what kind of traffic your site receives, but it also helps you plan the future of your site and keeps you motivated. There are a large number of different solutions our there — both self-hosted and SaaS — that let you track and analyse the traffic your website receives. One of the most popular solution is Google’s own Analytics. But I’ve had one major issue with Google Analytics, and I know for a fact that I’m not the only one in this boat, it’s that it is too complicated. Google Analytics throws all kinds of data at you in different forms and factors, so if you’re like me and are only looking for a quick overview of the traffic, Analytics is a little too overwhelming. That’s why I use GAget, Analytiks, and Ego to monitor the traffic Beautiful Pixels receives.
Thankfully, there are alternative solutions out there that are much more elegant, aesthetically pleasing and are spectacularly good at showing you only the relevant data in a clean interface. We have previous taken a look at Observer, but it seems the developer has since abandoned the project. There’s also Mint, but the fact that Shaun refused to add GMT +0530 time-zone in its settings after all these years is nothing short of ridiculous. And then there’s Gauges. And boy is it beautiful!
Gauges has been around for a while now and is a product from the highly talented geniuses at Ordered List. It has one of the most beautiful interfaces I have seen from a service and it presents the data in a very clean and elegant way. One of the most striking features of Gauges is its Live AirTraffic view that shows you the world map and places pins on the map as visitors land up on your website and browse through the pages. Watching this site’s traffic is absolutely fascinating.
Gauges offers a 7-day FREE trial and plans begin at $6 a month. You can track as many websites as you want in every plan as long as the total pageviews do not cross the threshold. While I’d like to start using the service for this site, spending $48/month when I already have a Mint license seems an overkill.
