It’s finally here. After almost 3 years there is a new version of Urchin. For those of you that do not know what Urchin is, it is a log processing web analytics tool and the predecessor to Google Analytics. Urchin 6 will be released as a beta product on October 22 to existing Urchin customers only. If you are not an Urchin customer then you will have to wait until the beta period expires.
This is a true beta. I’ve been testing Urchin 6 for a few weeks and it looks very promising. However, there are a couple of ‘kinks’ and I would not make any business decisions based on the data. However, if you’re an Urchin 5 owner, and you will never move to GA, I suggest you get a copy of the beta and test it out. The usability is much better than Urchin 5.
Getting Urchin 6
To get a copy of the beta software contact EpikOne (or one of the other resellers). I’m partial to EpikOne. Be sure to have the following information ready when you contact your reseller:
- Name
- Website URL
- Google Account ID (e.g. gmail address)
- Urchin serial code
- Reason for using Urchin Software instead of Google Analytic
Pricing
The pricing for Urchin 6 is pretty straight forward. The complete product will be $2,995 US and there will be discounts for some existing users. The price includes the full functionality. You no longer need to worry about purchasing different modules. Urchin 6 includes everything, you can run Urchin 6 with e-commerce and campaign tracking functionality on lots of servers with no extra cost.
Urchin 5 owners who previously purchased an Advanced Support contract with Urchin directly will get Urchin Software for free. This is an important point. Free is a pretty good cost.
If you are a regular Urchin 5 owner then the price of Urchin 6 will be discounted based on the price you paid for Urchin 5. So, if you purchased Urchin 5 for $895 US then the price of Urchin for you will be $2,100 US ($2,995 US – $895 US).
Front End Changes
The front end of Urchin has been completely updated. In fact, Urchin 6 has the old Google Analytics interface. That means that features like cross segmentation have been added to the product. They’ve also removed the custom old SVG graphics and added Flash graphs. I did not have a chance to take any screenshots, but the interface is a tremendous improvement, both in usability and functionality, over the old Urchin 5.
Back End Changes
Urchin’s back end has been completely re-written to accommodate the new front end. The processing engine has been changed, the database structure has been expanded and a new MySQL database has been added to manage users. I want to stress this last point, that MySQL is now used to store Urchin 6 user data and not visitor data.
General Thoughts
I really like the new Urchin 6… but I really like Google Analytics. For the past few years I’ve been suggesting to clients that they migrate to GA. It’s easier to setup and the reporting is far superior. With that said, some organizations can not use GA. If you’re one of them I would strongly recommend taking a look at Urchin 6. For the price, it is a robust tool with lots of features.
> They’ve also removed the custom old SVG graphics and added Flash graphs.
They should have just fixed the SVG content. Flash can look smooth, but is an accessibility disaster to start with.
Can Urchin 6 measure outbound links such as Banner clicks like GA?
Hi Daniel,
Urchin can measure outbound clicks, but you must modify those links using urchinTracker(). It’s essentially the same ‘hack’ that we have to currently use with Google Analytics.
The next set of GA updates will automate the outbound link tracking. Also, the new event tracking model appears to be a promising way to measure banners impressions and clicks (if you’re trying to do that sort of thing).
Thanks for the question and I hope that helps.
Justin
Does Urchin 6 use the same URL tracking variables as Google Analytics to set campaign, source, and medium? For example, we’ve set the utm_source parameter, but our Urchin 6 beta installation doesn’t seem to pick it up. Thanks a lot…
Is Urchin 6 still in beta or is it available yet? We currently use Urchin 5. Thanks.
Hi Diana,
Urchin 6 is still in a closed beta. If you want to get into the beta you can contact info@epikone.com and we can add you.
David,
Yes, Urchin 6 does work with the same campaign tracking parameters that GA uses.
Thanks for reading and thanks for the comments!
Justin
Any idea when Urchin 6 might support tracking Chrome based visitors?
Thanks!
Dan
Hi Dan,
Hmmm, I think you should start to see it automatically. I think Urchin pulls the browser value from the user agent field in a log file (if you’re using an IP based tracking method) or from the DOM of the browser (if you’re using a javascript based tracking). Both are independent of updates to Urchin so you should see some data soon.
Justin
hi Justin,
2 questions:
1. in the urchin website they mention “Raw data accessible for custom report-building”. how can i access the raw data? does that mean i can do multi dimensional segmentation? more then what the reporting interface offers ?
2. i cant find any report on user-defined, is it not accessible through the reporting interface like in GA?
Thanks
Hi Zvika,
1. The raw data is stored in your log files.
2. The user defined segment in GA is visible in the User Defined report or you can segment data using user defined in the Dimension drop down.
Thanks for the question,
Justin