AWStats

AWStats (Advanced Web Statistics) is a free, open-source web analytics tool that generates graphical reports from web server, FTP, and email server log files. It has been a standard feature on shared hosting platforms for over two decades and remains included with cPanel, Plesk, and DirectAdmin installations.

The tool processes server access logs (Apache, Nginx, IIS) and generates HTML reports covering visitors, page views, hits, bandwidth, referring sites, search engine keywords, browser types, operating systems, geographic location, and HTTP error codes. Reports are generated statically on a schedule (typically daily) and accessed through the hosting control panel.

AWStats differs from JavaScript-based analytics (like Google Analytics) in a fundamental way: it analyzes raw server logs, so it captures every request including bot traffic, direct file downloads, API calls, and visitors who block JavaScript. This provides a complete picture of server resource usage, which is more relevant for hosting purposes than marketing-focused analytics.

For hosting providers, AWStats is essentially a maintenance-free analytics feature. It is pre-configured on cPanel and runs automatically via cron. Customers access their stats through cPanel without any setup required. The bandwidth tracking is particularly useful since it shows customers exactly how much transfer their sites are using.

The interface is dated by modern standards and lacks the interactive charts and real-time data that newer tools provide. Many hosting providers are supplementing or replacing AWStats with GoAccess for more modern reports. However, AWStats remains widely deployed due to its reliability, minimal resource usage, and the fact that it comes pre-installed on major hosting panels.