Since you asked: Compete vs Alexa
Written by TJ Mahony (contact - e-mail) -- December 11th, 2006 | Share - Save - E-mail“Finally, Competition for Alexa.”
– Liz Gannes, GigaOm.com
“I find them more accurate for US sites than Alexa, and a lot easier to read.”
- Howard Morgan, WayTooEarly – First Round Capital
“New FREE ranking system better then Alexa by far.”
- Markus Frind, CEO of Plentyoffish.com
“The accuracy of Compete vs Alexa has convinced me to switch.”
- Rogelio Choy, Let me be blunt
Many people have cheered Compete’s decision to open its data to the world. We love it! Opening access to the competitive site metrics has driven people to compare Compete against Alexa, which is great, but has also caused a few points of confusion. We wanted to take the time to clarify a few points so that you have a better informed view of who Compete is and where Compete’s analysis / metrics come from.
- Compete data is not based solely on Compete Toolbar users. Compete balances multiple data sources, including ISPs, ASPs, Opt-In Panels and the Compete Toolbar. We strongly believe in our multiple data source strategy and its ability to detect and correct for bias across diverse data sources to ensure accurate projections.
- Compete, Inc – the company – was founded over five years ago and we have over 70 employees! Yep, that’s 70+ people working day and night to make sure the infrastructure is always up, data is being normalized, analyzing the data, continually tweaking projection algorithms, etc. We have been doing this for a while, we’re serious about what we do, and we’re here to do more of it.
- Compete.com – the website you see today – was launched November 1st, 2006.
- We created Compete.com because we know that people will find our data useful and valuable (bloggers, marketers, moms, dads, ninjas), just like the leading brands that leverage Compete’s commercial services.
Since many people have asked, the table below shows how we think we compare with Alexa. Make your own comparison and let us know your thoughts. We will post replies within the comment forum.
| Compete | Alexa | |
| Precise Unique Visitor Estimates | Yes | No |
| Site Rankings | Yes | Yes |
| Active Monthly Panel Size | 2,000,000+ | Not Disclosed |
| Normalization Methodology | Multi-dimensional scaling (Age, Income, Gender, Location) | Not Normalized |
| Clickstream Sources | ISPs, Compete Toolbar Users, Opt-In Panels, ASPs | Alexa Toolbar Users |
| Geographic Focus | U.S. | International |
| Reporting Timeframe | Monthly | Daily |
For more details check the links below:
About the Alexa Traffic Rankings
How does Compete estimate site traffic and Internet rank?
Did you like that post? You'll love these.
Done reading? subscribe: To get an automatic feed of all future posts subscribe here, or to receive them via email enter your email address in the box in the right column.
Link to This Post:
Get the 
December 11th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
Great post. I submitted it to Digg, hopefully it will get some attention. Some bozo had already submitted a link to his site basically copying your post: http://adcentered.typepad.com/adcentered/2006/11/competecom.html
Hopefully his does not make it on the front page.
December 12th, 2006 at 1:49 am
Compete Confronts Alexa Head On…
Are you a web metrics junkie? If so you probably have been using Alexa to access public site rankings and metrics. Alexa now has a legitimate contender in the space in Compete, a subsidiary of the online market research firm…
January 27th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Answers for “Compete toolbar vs. Alexa on Yedda – People. Sharing. Knowledge.
September 24th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Does it make any difference in rankings installing compete toolbar? As I have read somewhere it makes difference for alexa. Just curious to know. Thanks
November 17th, 2007 at 5:44 am
I installed alexa toolbar & widegt but no result see http://www.alexa.com/data/details/main?url=www.fortunehotels.in ranking of my website here.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:35 am
I have found a great way to check Alexa vs Compete
Visit http://www.hit360.com/toptravelsites/ to view top sites from Greece by Alexa rankings and compare them with compete
August 12th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Great information, thanks for sharing it with us. i will try it out for my newly kids portal http://www.buzziboy.com
August 23rd, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Great posts..
http://onlinemutualfund.wordpress.com
ONlineMF.
October 13th, 2008 at 4:44 am
My website Nosle ranks ok in alexa but not in compete.
what should I do?
November 25th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
i think compete should focus on International like alexa do
April 14th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
thank you sharing
April 14th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
ELD Danışmanlık İnternet Yazılım Tekstil San. Ltd. Şti Türkiye’nin her noktasına hizmet verebilen bağımsız bir kuruluştur. 2004 yılında firmaların internet sitesi ve yazılımları geliştirmek üzere iş dünyasına atılan firmamız, bugün, ELD Danışmanlık adı altında, internet sitesi ve yazılımlarının yanı sıra ISO9001:2000 Kalite Yönetim Sistemi, ISO22000 (HACCP), OHSAS, CE, TSE, Marka Patent, Logo Tasarım, Grafik Çalışmaları ve ayrıca Tekstil (Rivet Baskı) konularında aktif olarak hizmet veren bir firma haline gelmiştir.
ELD Danışmanlık 80 ‘den fazla referansıyla müşterilerine güven vermektedir
May 19th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
hi, msj 295 wonderful blog 295 share
August 26th, 2009 at 9:33 am
hi, my name is basan.com.tr BASSAN loadcell.your wonderful blog, 203 blog. tnx. Msj number . 203
August 30th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Hi, We have been manufacturing stair. 193 merdivenci 193
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:30 am
What makes me wonder about Alexa is their Way Back Machine. Its amazing to see how a site transformed from nothingness to something to unique.
Whether or not Alexa ranking is going to rake up ad revenues, surely it would help the webmaster & the user.
I appreciate Ken & Aaron for their worthy discussion about Alexa
regards
prasad
http://www.tendertiger.com
September 22nd, 2009 at 11:01 am
Hello Webmaster Very nice article! Thanks for this!..
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Compete information for http://www.schoolofmusic.com missed our documented traffic by 94% in September, 2009. For more information, please visit http://www.ripoffs.org/competecomaccuracy.html. It is pretty typical
December 12th, 2009 at 8:07 am
hello webm. ver nice blog page. 193 merdiven fiyatları ve merdiven modelleri
December 12th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
hi, blog vey nice stair and trappen193 merdivenler ahsap merdiven
December 13th, 2009 at 11:22 am
merdivenciler STAIR Treppen Merdiven 193 ATILIM Merdiven sistemleri
December 14th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Hi.!
very nice article.