Facebook Sales Channel vs Elevar
Is Facebook Sales Channel or Elevar a better data solution for Shopify brands?
What is Facebook Sales Channel?
Shopify has a built in free connector for Meta Ads as part of the Facebook Sales Channel. This was built in 2021 and is maintained by Shopify.
What is Elevar?
Elevar ensures that 100% of your conversions are tracked and delivered to your marketing channels using Google Tag Manager and server-side tracking. Since the company was acquired by Buxton (now Audiense) the product has been merged into a wider analytics and segmentation tool.
Switching from Elevar? Get 50% off your first year with Littledata
Talk to usFacebook Sales Channel vs Elevar comparison
| Feature | Facebook Sales Channel | Elevar | Littledata |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer data to marketing platforms | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| 30 day free trial | ✔️ |  | ✔️ |
| Fully automatic, no code setup | ✔️ | | ✔️ |
| Identity resolution to boost audiences | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Direct from Shopify's servers | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Via server-side Google Tag Manager | | ✔️ | |
| Founder owned and led | | | ✔️ |
| Natively supports Shopify Markets | | | ✔️ |
| Automatic tracking of checkout steps | | | ✔️ |
Facebook Sales Channel is Shopify's free, built-in Meta connector — simple and no-code, but it's a basic 2021 integration with limited tracking depth. It lacks server-side data collection, meaning browser-side limitations (ad blockers, iOS restrictions) will cause data loss.
Elevar offers stronger identity resolution and server-side tracking via Google Tag Manager, improving audience quality. However, GTM still relies on browser-based tags for implementation, limiting its ability to capture events the browser doesn't see. Post-acquisition by Audiense, Elevar has shifted focus toward broader analytics/segmentation rather than pure conversion tracking.
Littledata wins by combining the best of both: no-code simplicity like Facebook Sales Channel, but with true server-side tracking direct from Shopify's servers — not browser-dependent like Elevar's GTM approach. This means complete customer journey visibility, richer event data, and stronger audience building. Native Shopify Markets support and automatic checkout tracking make it the most complete solution for a Shopify Plus brand.
Reviews comparison
Facebook Sales Channel vs Elevar's customer reviews
| Facebook Sales Channel | Elevar | Littledata | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example product review | "Tracking is inaccurate, ad spend wasted, and support is unhelpful...data doesn’t match up, making it impossible to optimize campaigns." | "They continue to charge you after uninstalling and cancelling your plan...made absolutely 0 impact to my tracking." | "We were having difficulties with accurate and consistent revenue attribution...With Littledata implemented, we now get consistent and accurate revenue attribution." |
| Example support review | "Cannot get anyone to follow through and help me... I get bounced around from tech support person to another." | "Awful support. I am now $700 in charges without even using the stupid thing because it made absolutely 0 impact." | "Customer support is absolutely amazing... you can never go wrong when an app does what it says and tacks on great service!" |
| Link | Read more reviews |
Cost comparison
Facebook Sales Channel vs Elevar's monthly subscription cost
| Store size | Facebook Sales Channel | Elevar | Littledata |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 orders / month | $0 | $200 | $39 |
| 500 orders / month | $0 | $200 | $199 |
| 5,000 orders / month | $0 | $450 | $449 |
| 20,000 orders / month | $0 | $850 | $1390 |
For an online store with 50 orders, Elevar is 1000% more expensive than Littledata. At 500 orders, Elevar is 0% (free) while Littledata is 375% more expensive. With 5000 orders, Elevar is 29% more expensive than Littledata. At 20000 orders, Elevar is 6% more expensive than Littledata. Overall, Facebook Sales Channel remains free across all order volumes, while Elevar's costs increase significantly with order volume, contrasting with Littledata's relatively stable pricing.
Supported data destinations
| Destination | Facebook Sales Channel | Elevar | Littledata |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Ads | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Google Analytics | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| ✔️ | ✔️ | |
| TikTok | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Klaviyo | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Attentive | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Google Ads | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Microsoft Ads | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Segment | | | ✔️ |
Facebook Sales Channel / Meta Ads is a native Shopify integration limited exclusively to Meta's ecosystem — no flexibility beyond that.
Elevar and Littledata are dedicated server-side tracking platforms supporting multiple ad and analytics destinations simultaneously.
The key differences between the two:
- Littledata includes Segment as a destination, making it stronger for data warehouse/CDP use cases
- Elevar and Littledata cover nearly identical destinations otherwise
- Elevar is generally favored for its consent mode handling and data layer customization
- Littledata leans on a more plug-and-play setup
If multi-destination server-side tracking is your goal, both Elevar and Littledata far outperform the native Facebook Sales Channel.
Meta Ads comparison
Facebook Sales Channel vs Elevar's solution for Meta Ads
| Feature | Facebook Sales Channel | Elevar | Littledata |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key benefits | |||
| Fully automatic setup | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| 100% accurate revenue in Meta | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Boost to Event Match Quality Score | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Pre-purchase audiences based on first-party data | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Target subscriptions vs one-time purchases | | | ✔️ |
| AddToCart | |||
| Via Conversions API | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| InitiateCheckout | |||
| Via Conversions API | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Includes all checkout steps | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Purchase | |||
| Via Conversions API | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Includes post-purchase upsells | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Filters to exclude orders from some channels | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| New vs Returning customer conversions | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Includes recurring orders | | | ✔️ |
