Running HonestTag alongside your current tracker

By the HonestTag team · Published July 16, 2026

You already pay for a tracking tool, and it already has months of your data. Ripping it out to try something new feels risky, because it is. So do not rip it out. Trackers are one of the few kinds of software you can genuinely test side by side: both watch the same store, both describe the same orders, and at the end of a month you can put their answers next to each other and see which one you trust. This page walks through how to do that cleanly, and it is honest about the one place where a side-by-side test can mislead you if nobody warns you first.

Keep the tool you already have

HonestTag is built to run alongside other trackers. Our numbers come from your store's own orders and from the clicks HonestTag itself records. Nothing another tracking app installs changes what we measure, and nothing we install changes what it measures. The two tools do not fight, overwrite each other, or share storage. They simply each keep their own books about the same store.

Most stores evaluate trackers exactly this way, and plenty keep more than one permanently. That is an expected setup, not a problem to fix. We say this plainly because some tools in this market treat "uninstall your old tracker" as step one of onboarding. We do not, and we never will: if our numbers cannot win a fair comparison while the other tool is still running, they do not deserve your subscription.

If you are comparing us to a named tool, read HonestTag vs Triple Whale, HonestTag vs Elevar, HonestTag vs Littledata, or HonestTag vs Lebesgue.

Choose one optimization feed

There is one choice to make: which purchase source the ad platform should use for optimization. When two tools both report the same purchase, do not assume the platform will merge their signals. Configure one optimization source and keep the other for comparison where the platform supports that separation:

• Google Ads. Go to Goals, then Conversions. Keep the purchase action you want the campaign to optimize toward as primary, and make sure the campaign uses its standard goal. Set comparison actions to secondary; Google reports them in "All conversions" and does not use them for bidding. Check custom goals too: Google says a secondary action in a custom goal is still used for bidding.
• Meta. Meta's documented event-ID method pairs a browser Pixel event with a Conversions API event. Their event names and IDs must match, both must go to the same pixel, and both must arrive within 48 hours. Meta says this method does not deduplicate two server events. Since HonestTag sends server events and does not coordinate event IDs with other tools, keep one server-side Purchase source per dataset.
• Either way, point the account's optimization at one purchase source. Let the platform learn from a single clean feed while the other source keeps reporting for your comparison.

That is the whole setup. Nothing about your current tool needs to be changed, downgraded, or removed, and your store's checkout is not involved at all.

Your first 30 days, honestly

Here is the part most vendors skip, and it matters: HonestTag starts measuring on the day you install, and we never invent history. Your current tool may have months of your click records. We have none of them on day one, and we will not pretend otherwise or backfill guesses to look better.

That has a visible consequence. A purchase today often comes from an ad click days or even weeks ago. In your first week, many orders will trace back to clicks that happened before HonestTag existed on your store, clicks we never saw and refuse to guess about. So in week one, our numbers will look thin next to a tool with months of history. That is not HonestTag missing sales. That is HonestTag declining to make things up.

The comparison becomes fair on its own as our records build. Each week, more of your orders trace back to clicks that happened after install, and by around 30 days most stores have enough measured ground for an honest side-by-side. Judging the race in week one hands the older tool a head start it did not earn. Give the test the full month.

What to compare after 30 days

When the month is up, put the two sets of numbers next to each other and ask a simple question of each: can I check this?

• Their claimed results vs our delivery record. 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.
• Open a few orders. For any number you doubt, HonestTag lets you open the order behind it: which click, which timestamps, how the match was made. If your other tool cannot show its work on the same order, that difference tells you more than any total.
• Check refunds. Refund an order and watch both tools. HonestTag reduces store-level revenue metrics for the refund. Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising receive the available retraction or restatement, and Klaviyo and Google Analytics 4 receive a refund event. HonestTag does not send Meta, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat, Reddit or OpenAI Ads a refund or retraction event; the refund is recorded in order proof.
• New customers vs returning. Ask each tool how it decided a buyer was new. We classify against your store's order history, and the answer is in the order's record.

And compare the bills while you are at it. HonestTag's pricing is a flat monthly price with no per-order fees, so the comparison month will not cost you more just because you had a good month.

Frequently asked questions