Looking for a good banner ad tracking software...

[ShackMaster]

I need a good software program to track our banner impressions and CTR.

I've tried Openads, but it is extremely unstable, gives incorrect impression and click data and has terrible support. I would rather pay for a program that works.

I looked at AdvertPRO, but their minimum charge per month is $80, which is a little too rich for us.

Are there any similar companies like AdvertPRO that would be less expensive or a good software program out there that really works?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks!

[DivisionByZero]

wow.. ironic... i actually moved a client from a legacy version of OpenAds to AdvertPRO. Pricey, yes, but he LOVES it!

AdvertPRO is pricey because it's designed for high volume use. It's intended use is for those who intend to make well above $80 per month.

What actually happened with OpenAds? I'm actually quite familiar with it.

[ShackMaster]

I tried javascript tags with openads and it tracked pretty good, but it slowed down page loading. That was with the banner images on the local server, not the database. I changed the tags to HTML, which helped with the page loading, but it gives my banners magical clicks. On just the six banners we have up top, they are at a 1.6% CTR for today... from 75-80 clicks each, which just ain't even close to correct. I changed to iFrame tags and they didn't help.

AdvertPRO is excellent, but they track a lot more than I need tracked and $80 per month is just too much. We knock down some monthly change, but not quite on the level where AdvertPRO is feasible. I would think there is something out there that would work well that is for sale. I hoping anyway.

[mccollin]

If you go with OpenAds, use 2.0 instead of 2.4... I've had major problems trying to get to 2.4. Another good one is AdPeeps... still looking at it. Its $100 and the support is very good.

[ShackMaster]

Openads has crashed MySQL database and shut my forum down for about an hour. Somehow the Openads database got corrupted. It just simply will not track the ads accurately, no matter what I do, but it does give me at least an idea. The support is definitely lacking. Of course it's free, so maybe I shouldn't expect much. They should fix the program, charge for it and provide quality support.

I will look at AdPeeps... thanks!

[mccollin]

Openads 2.0 is pretty solid. To give you an idea about performance though... it can get intense and rival vBulletin.

I have a month old dual dual-core server, 4G RAM, etc. running a forum with about 1000 online users most of the time. Without OpenAds, the server load hovers around 2 under load. With OpenAds 2.4 running with 3 zones, the server load went to over 30. I rolled back to OpenAds 2.0 and it brought it down to around 10, which the server could handle, but I wanted to expand the use and speed up my page loads. So I just got another server just to run OpenAds... wish I could swap them, because its a dual quad-core and seems to be idling most of the time. It maxes out around 1.5 under load, and my main server is now staying around 2. So OpenAds 2.4 is not something you want to do unless you put it on a sizable server if you are planning on loading it up pretty heavy.