Can I import my existing AWStats data or history into Matomo?

Matomo cannot directly read AWStats’ internal data files or static HTML reports, but it can import your historical logs. This means that if you have the raw web server log files (which AWStats used as input), Matomo can process those to recreate the history.

For example, if you have Apache access logs for the last two years, you can run Matomo’s importer on all those log files and you’ll end up with two years of data in Matomo (with all the visits, page views, etc., recorded on the correct dates). The key requirement is that you still have the log files available.

AWStats does not store all visit details on its own (it generates summaries), so Matomo needs the original logs to build the full data history. If you did not keep old log files, you won’t be able to recover that historical visit data in Matomo (just as you wouldn’t be able to re-process it in AWStats either). In that case, you can start using Matomo from now on, and perhaps keep AWStats’ last reports as an archive of past data.

But ideally, if possible, try to obtain any available logs (maybe your server or hosting has archives) so you can import and have continuity.
To reiterate: Matomo’s “AWStats migration” is done via log import, not via importing AWStats output. This approach has the benefit of full fidelity (every hit is imported as if Matomo was tracking it live) but does depend on log availability.