Retention.com vs Elevar
Is Retention.com or Elevar a better data solution for Shopify brands?
What is Retention.com(formerly GetEmails)?
Retention.com's identity resolution software helps Shopify merchants recover lost shoppers and increase Klaviyo flow revenue.
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 usRetention.com vs Elevar comparison
| Feature | Retention.com | Elevar | Littledata |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity resolution to boost audiences | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Customer data to marketing platforms | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Direct from Shopify's servers |  | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Works with platforms other than Shopify | ✔️ | | |
| Via server-side Google Tag Manager | | ✔️ | |
| 30 day free trial | | | ✔️ |
| Founder owned and led | | | ✔️ |
| Fully automatic, no code setup | | | ✔️ |
| Natively supports Shopify Markets | | | ✔️ |
| Automatic tracking of checkout steps | | | ✔️ |
Retention.com focuses narrowly on identity resolution to recover anonymous shoppers and boost Klaviyo flows — strong for email recovery, but limited to Shopify and doesn't prioritize full conversion tracking across marketing channels.
Elevar offers server-side tracking via Google Tag Manager with identity resolution and multi-platform data delivery. However, GTM still depends on browser-side tags for much of its data collection, meaning events the browser misses go untracked. Its acquisition into Audiense also shifts focus away from pure ecommerce tracking.
Where Littledata wins:
- Tracks directly from Shopify's servers — capturing every event, including those invisible to the browser, for a truly complete customer journey
- Fully automatic, no-code setup — no GTM configuration or developer dependency
- Natively supports Shopify Markets — critical for international Shopify Plus brands
- Automatic checkout step tracking out of the box
- 30-day free trial to validate performance risk-free
Reviews comparison
Retention.com vs Elevar's customer reviews
| Retention.com | Elevar | Littledata | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example product review | "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 | "Unfortunately, the team... very high employee turnover; it can be really frustrating to have to re-explain things to new reps." | "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
Retention.com vs Elevar's monthly subscription cost
| Store size | Retention.com | Elevar | Littledata |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 orders / month | $500 | $225 | $39 |
| 500 orders / month | $500 | $650 | $199 |
| 5,000 orders / month | $2000 | $650 | $449 |
| 20,000 orders / month | $5000 | $1250 | $1390 |
For an online store with 50 orders, Retention.com is 122% more expensive than Elevar and 1185% more than Littledata. At 500 orders, Retention.com and Elevar are equal, while Littledata is 70% cheaper than both. With 5000 orders, Retention.com is 208% more than Elevar and 472% more than Littledata. Finally, at 20000 orders, Retention.com is 300% more than Elevar and 526% more than Littledata. Littledata consistently offers the lowest pricing across all order volumes.
Supported data destinations
| Destination | Retention.com | Elevar | Littledata |
|---|---|---|---|
| Klaviyo | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Google Analytics | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Meta Ads | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| ✔️ | ✔️ | |
| TikTok | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Attentive | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Google Ads | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Microsoft Ads | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Segment | | | ✔️ |
Retention.com focuses solely on Klaviyo as its destination because its core product is identity resolution and abandoned visitor recovery — it's not a broad tracking platform.
Elevar and Littledata are both comprehensive server-side tracking solutions with nearly identical destination lineups. The key difference: Elevar includes Microsoft Ads natively and is heavily Shopify-native with a GTM-based data layer, while Littledata differentiates through native Segment integration, making it stronger for data warehouse/CDP workflows.
Bottom line: If you want GTM flexibility → Elevar. If you're Segment-first or need a CDP pipeline → Littledata. If you only need email/SMS identity resolution → Retention.com.
Klaviyo comparison
Retention.com vs Elevar's solution for Klaviyo
| Feature | Retention.com | Elevar | Littledata |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identity resolution | |||
| Docs on how an end-user can opt out for GDPR / CCPA | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Never adds new emails to your marketing list | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Direct from Shopify's servers | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Uses other marketing channel cookies to boost identity | | | ✔️ |
| Backstitches Klaviyo profile onto previous customer events | | | ✔️ |
| Viewed Product trigger | |||
| Backwards compatible with Klaviyo templates | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Tracked server-side | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Enriched product info (e.g. category) | | | ✔️ |
| Added to Cart trigger | |||
| Backwards compatible with Klaviyo templates | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Reliable via Shopify's servers | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Enriched product info (e.g. category) | | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Unreliable tracking of button clicks | ✔️ | | |
| Target the whole contents of the cart | | | ✔️ |
| Checkout Started trigger | |||
| Backwards compatible with Klaviyo templates | ✔️ | | ✔️ |
| Tracked via the checkout page | ✔️ | | |
| Direct from Shopify's servers | | | ✔️ |
