In January of 2012, Google announced development of Urchin Software would be discontinued. We were disappointed to say the least, although we can’t say we’re overly surprised. Google’s focus on Urchin dwindled in 2011, coinciding with the launch of a paid version of Google Analytics.

We’ve been contacted by a variety of customers ever since – the most popular questions and answers are below. Feel free to contact us if you’d like us to clarify anything further.

Can I still get support for Urchin?

Of course – Actual Metrics will continue to provide support for Urchin. Please contact us for details.

Why did Google decide to retire Urchin?

Google began making efforts to put more wood behind fewer arrows in 2011, and Urchin seems to be a casualty of this initiative. We understand the decision but we think there’s still a market for standalone stats software, so…

Is there an alternative software product?

Yes! We developed our own web analytics software product, called Angelfish. With Angelfish, we bundled all of our experience, best practices, overlooked feature requests, and homegrown utilities into a standalone software product. Angelfish gives us a chance to develop all the new features we’ve been requesting – things like nested segments, full db access from the API, cluster & cloud support, bulk updates, automated notifications / emails, and a long list of other improvements. If you like Urchin, you’ll love Angelfish.

Will my Urchin installation stop working?

Urchin isn’t going to turn into a pumpkin at midnight – it will continue working as long as you don’t change any of the hardware specs. You can continue using Urchin but there won’t be any further updates. When you’re ready to move to another product, you can migrate your Urchin data to Angelfish.

Learn more about replacing Urchin with Angelfish.