HonestTag vs Stape

By the HonestTag team · Published October 12, 2026

Prices read on October 12, 2026 from stape.io/price and apps.shopify.com/server-gtm.

The honest split

Stape is not expensive. Its Shopify app, Stape Conversion Tracking, is free, and its hosting starts at $0 for up to 10K requests a month. Pro is $20 a month, or $17 a month billed annually, for up to 500K requests. That is less than HonestTag Starter at $49.

What the price buys is hosting and tools for your container. The app "makes it easy for stores to set up Google Tag Manager with server-side tracking": it installs GTM, generates data layer events and can "Send purchase and refund webhooks to the server-side GTM container". Stape's own Shopify guide says its Setup Assistant "sets up server-side GTM, creates key eCommerce events automatically, and loads ready-made tags for Google, Meta, TikTok, and more." It also says the setup involves "configuring server-side GTM and ensuring proper formatting, deduplication, and consistency of the data." The app asks for your web Google Tag Manager container ID, and its webhooks ask for your server container URL. The containers are yours, and so is keeping their tags working when something changes.

Most of the app's reviews are five stars (32 of 42). Several of the 1-star reviews and the 2-star reviews are about setup and upkeep. One says "the Stape system is not really user friendly unless you are a web developer." Another says it "is difficult to configure without technical expertise". A January 2026 review says the Custom Loader injected the web container 5 to 8 seconds after page load; Stape replied that "there was a bug affecting Custom Loader on checkout pages, and we've already fixed it." A review warning that billing continued after canceling got the reply that "the application itself is free" and that the subscription "can be canceled at any time in your account on stape.io".

Stape also has things HonestTag does not: request logs, Cookie Keeper, a Custom Loader, Google Ads Customer Match lists from Shopify, and apps for WordPress, Magento, Wix, BigCommerce and other platforms. Because the tags are yours, so is the choice of where events go.

HonestTag has no container to host and no tags to write. It collects storefront events with a Shopify Web Pixel, with no theme edit, and you connect each destination in the app.

HonestTag reads Shopify orders, matches each order to the first recorded ad click and classifies the buyer as new or returning. On paid plans it stores order proof you can open for each attributed order and delivers every verified purchase to your configured destinations among Google Ads, Meta, Klaviyo, Microsoft Advertising, TikTok, Google Analytics 4, Pinterest, Snapchat, Reddit and OpenAI Ads, within your plan's simultaneous-delivery limit, marked new or returning. The free Mirror sends nothing and keeps no per-order proof.

Two things differ in kind. HonestTag's free Mirror compares each platform's claims with the first-click new customers your store recorded from it and sends nothing, so it can run before you choose any delivery tool. And on paid plans, a refunded order sends a conversion adjustment to Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising where that platform accepts one (Google takes none on a wbraid click). Stape's app can send a refund webhook to your server container, and Stape publishes a Google Ads Conversion Adjustments tag for server-side GTM that can "Retract: negate the conversion" or "Restate: change the value of the conversion." Whether a refund reaches Google Ads depends on you building and configuring that tag.

A send is counted after platform acknowledgement. Meta reports an accepted count for each batch. Google accepts a request first and reports row-level results later, so HonestTag keeps each accepted request open for up to 26 hours and corrects the record after Google reports those results. TikTok acknowledges a batch without confirming each event. HonestTag counts a batch as delivered only on TikTok's documented success code, return code 0. Any other response is marked partial or handled as an error, and is not counted as delivered.

Side by side

When Stape fits

You or your agency already work in Google Tag Manager and want to own every tag. You want hosting at $20 a month, request logs, or a setup that also covers a WordPress or Magento site. Stape is built for that.

When HonestTag adds a different job

You do not want a container to maintain. You want to see how Google Ads, Meta, Microsoft Advertising, TikTok and Criteo claims compare with the first-click new customers your store recorded from each, before you pay for delivery. You want refund adjustments in Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising without writing the tags for them. You want to open a Shopify order and see the click, match method, customer classification and delivery outcome behind it, which Starter and up keep.

Different meters

Stape meters requests to your server container. Its pricing page says "A request means every incoming hit your Google Tag Manager server container receives. That includes tracking hits and also script loads like gtm.js, gtag.js, analytics.js." One incoming event that fires several tags "still counts as one request," and outgoing calls are not counted. Free covers up to 10K requests a month, Pro ($20) up to 500K, Business ($100) up to 5M, Enterprise ($200) up to 20M, and Custom is unlimited. Annual billing lowers each price. Each site needs its own plan: "one container equals one site."

HonestTag paid plans follow your trailing 30-day sales. $5K-$50K: Starter, $49. $50K-$250K: Truth, $99. $250K-$1M: Truth+, $199. $1M-$3M: Scale, $499. $3M+: Scale+, $999. The Mirror is free at any size.

Starter delivers to 2 destinations at once, Truth to 3, Truth+ to 4, and Scale and Scale+ to as many as you connect. No paid plan has a per-order fee or an overage charge. Sales or traffic past a plan's band or pageview allowance ask for the plan that covers it. If that plan is not approved, delivery pauses after a 5-day grace period and the free Mirror remains. A store's first paid plan starts with a 21-day free trial. Current terms live on the pricing page.

Run both

Keep one purchase source for each pixel and ad account. If your Stape container already sends purchases to Meta and Google Ads, do not point HonestTag at the same pixel or conversion action. Read duplicate purchase events and the alongside guide first.

Frequently asked questions