Compare · GoAccess
Skald vs GoAccess: two log readers, two different jobs
Skald vs GoAccess starts from the same file. GoAccess turns an access log into a fast report, live in the terminal or a browser. Skald reads the same log every day, checks who each crawler really is, and joins leads to the visits before them.
Skald vs GoAccess compares two tools that read a web server's access log. GoAccess is an MIT-licensed log analyzer that shows requests, visitors, crawlers and errors in panels, by user agent. Skald sorts every line into five groups that add up to the log, checks crawler addresses against their owners' lists, keeps checked history, and counts every figure twice.
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- report requests, visitors, crawlers, 404s, status codesGoAccess
- live panels updated every secondGoAccess
- sorted people · AI · search · bots · ours, adding upSkald
- checked "GPTBot" from 192.0.2.200: not OpenAI'sSkald
- joined lead on Wed ← first came from chatgpt.comSkald
Sample. Both tools only read the log, so they can share one file.
[01] question by question
Skald vs GoAccess, question by question
Pick what you need to know. Both read the same log, so the difference is what each does with it. Every comparison is on Skald alternatives and comparisons.
What do you need to know? pick one
AI and machines: GoAccess answers 3 of these 8 in full and 2 in part. It names crawlers by user agent. Skald answers all 8, and checks each name against its owner's addresses.
| The question | GoAccessreads the access log | Skaldreads the access log |
|---|---|---|
| Which AI training crawlers read your pages? (GPTBot, ClaudeBot) | Yes, its own AI-crawler category | Yes, page by page |
| Did an assistant fetch a page live, for someone? (ChatGPT-User) | Yes, by name | Yes, kept apart from training crawls |
| Which search engine crawlers came? | Yes | Yes, in their own group |
| Who is probing for .env and wp-login? | As requests and 404s, not grouped | Yes, grouped by what they looked for |
| Is that crawler who it claims to be? | No, by user agent only | Yes, its owner's published addresses or DNS |
| Fake crawlers filed apart ("claims to be GPTBot") | No | Yes, under bots |
| Why did the AI come: training, a live question, or a click? | No, one AI category | Yes, three reasons, never added together |
| Crawl health: sitemap coverage and errors per crawler | Not-found requests and crawlers in their own panels; no sitemap beside them | Yes, Google, Bing and each AI crawler |
| Visitors and visits | Yes | Yes, a person only when the browser loaded the page's files |
| Countries | Yes | Yes, and cities from a GeoIP file |
| Referring sites | Yes | Yes, with source types and campaigns |
| People who clicked through from an AI assistant | No, a plain referrer list | Yes, by assistant; a floor, as apps strip referrers |
| Each visit's pages in order | No | Yes |
| Search queries, impressions, position | No | Synced from Search Console and Bing every 6 hours |
| Works where you cannot read the server's log | No | People only, with the script tag; no AI or bots |
| Events inside the page (clicks, sign-ups) | No | Yes, with the optional script tag |
| Funnels | No | Yes, counted every day by source and device |
| Retention cohorts | No | Yes, by week, split by first source |
| Leads by source and AI assistant | No | Yes, first and last touch, from signed webhooks |
| Unsampled | Yes | Yes, every line counted |
| Newest figures | Every second, over a WebSocket | Today every 2 minutes; requests every 15 seconds |
| Runs on your own server | Yes | Yes, free to self-host |
| Totals must add up, or the day is withheld | No | Yes |
| A second, separate recount of every figure | No | Yes, with its own parser |
| Named users and roles | No, a static report; you add the lock | Yes, owner, admin and viewer |
| Email alerts | No | Yes, site, AI and security alerts |
What each tool is built to do, as we read their own docs in October 2026. If we have yours wrong, tell us.
[02] to be fair
Where GoAccess does more than Skald
GoAccess is the quickest way to look inside a log file. Here is where it is the better pick.
A report in seconds
Point it at a log file and read the result. Nothing to set up in the page, no account, no history to keep.
Live, every second
Its live view updates every second over a WebSocket. Skald redraws today every 2 minutes, with requests per minute every 15 seconds.
An MIT licence
GoAccess is MIT. Skald is source-available under the Elastic License 2.0: free to self-host, but hosting it for others needs a licence.
[03] trust the names
Reading a log by user agent, or checking who sent it
A user agent is a claim anyone can make. Flip the switch to see the same four lines read by user agent alone, then checked the way Skald checks them.
- 203.0.113.24 "GET /pricing/" "GPTBot/1.2"GPTBot
- 192.0.2.200 "GET /wp-login.php" "GPTBot/1.2"GPTBot
- 198.51.100.140 "GET /docs/setup/" "ChatGPT-User/1.0"AI crawler
- 198.51.100.61 "GET /blog/" "Mozilla/5.0" · no page filesa browser
Sample lines. Line 2 uses GPTBot's name from an address OpenAI does not use. Line 4 took the page and never loaded its scripts or styles.
[04] use both
Keep GoAccess for a quick look, add Skald for checked figures
Both only read the log, so they can share one file. Many servers already run GoAccess. Skald does not ask you to switch it off.
Keep GoAccess for
A fast report from a log file, a live view in the terminal, and one-off questions about a busy hour.
Add Skald for
Crawler names checked, AI traffic by reason, scanners and attack attempts, leads joined to their visits, and a team with roles.
Keep the history
Skald keeps every day it checked, adds up each one to the log, and withholds a day that does not agree.
[05] choose by the question
GoAccess, Skald, or both
- "What happened in this log file, right now?" GoAccess.
- "Is that GPTBot real?" Skald.
- "Which AI answer sent the visitor who became a lead?" Skald.
- "Did a scanner get a real file back?" Skald's Security view.
What it does not do
- Skald's live view is slower than GoAccess's: today every 2 minutes, requests every 15 seconds.
- A crawler whose owner publishes no addresses is "not verifiable", never called a fake without proof.
- Skald reads nginx and Apache logs (combined or extended), Caddy JSON, and Cloudflare, CloudFront and Fastly logs. Other log formats are not read.
- Skald runs as a service with a history. For one look at one file, GoAccess is simpler.
keep reading
More on Skald vs GoAccess
questions
Skald vs GoAccess FAQ
Straight answers, including what Skald does not do.
Is Skald like GoAccess?
Both read your web server's access log, and neither needs anything in your pages. GoAccess makes a report from a log file, with panels for visitors, requests, crawlers and status codes. Skald keeps a checked daily history, sorts every line into five groups, checks crawler names, and joins leads to their visits.
Does GoAccess show AI crawlers?
Yes. As we read its own docs in October 2026, GoAccess has its own AI-crawler category and names live fetchers such as ChatGPT-User. It goes by the user agent. Skald also checks each crawler's address against the list or DNS its owner publishes, and files a fake as "claims to be GPTBot".
Which one is faster to start with?
GoAccess. Point it at a log file and you have a report in seconds, with nothing to sign up for. Skald takes one command to connect a server, then keeps the history and checks it every day.
Does GoAccess show real-time traffic?
Yes, every second over a WebSocket. Skald redraws today every 2 minutes and shows requests per minute every 15 seconds on Real time, always labelled requests, never people.
Can I run GoAccess and Skald on the same log?
Yes. Both only read the log. Many servers keep GoAccess for a quick look and add Skald for checked figures, AI traffic, security and leads.
What licence does each use?
GoAccess is MIT. Skald is source-available under the Elastic License 2.0: free to use and self-host, for your own sites or your clients' sites.
$ tail -f access.log | skald
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No card. We set up hosted Skald for you within one working day, or you self-host it free. Every line of your log, sorted and added up.