Overview

Follow this guide for a detailed comparison of Meta’s Signals Gateway and Elevar. While both platforms serve a similar purpose, Elevar offers additional features that address many of the limitations found with Signals Gateway. Due to this fact, users should not expect significant performance gains when switching from one to the other but rather that Elevar provides more streamlined and comprehensive tracking.

Understanding Signals Gateway:

Meta's Signals Gateway functions similarly to a Google Tag Manager (GTM) server-side container, meaning it loads on the server rather than in the browser. This setup helps improve data accuracy, enhance privacy compliance, and reduce reliance on third-party cookies.

Comparison of Features, Platform, and Support

Destinations and Integrations:

Signals Gateway comes with limited out-of-the-box destination support and currently only offers integrations with Meta’s Conversions API (CAPI) and Google BigQuery. Any additional destinations require custom code and ongoing updates.

Elevar provides a thorough set of server-side destinations, including integrations with major marketing platforms like Facebook, Google Ads, TikTok, Snapchat, Klaviyo, and an upcoming BigQuery integration. With Elevar's features, you have full control over the data flow between your store and marketing tools.

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Learn More: Elevar Destinations

Read this guide to learn more about the Elevar supported server-side destinations along with the destinations available in Beta.

Session Enrichment:

Signals Gateway does not support any session enrichment features. This means that returning customers can often be misidentified as new users due to browser and iOS restrictions on cookies.

Elevar solves this issue with a server-set first-party cookie that remains active for up to a year that provides accurate user identification even when browser cookies expire. This feature significantly increases the number of identifiable events, which is a key factor for optimizing marketing efforts like cart abandonment emails and retargeting campaigns.

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Learn More: Elevar's Session Enrichment

Read this guide to learn more about Elevar's Session Enrichment.

Consent Management:

Signals Gateway does not include built-in consent management. This means that you must manually configure and manage user permissions for data tracking.

Elevar integrates with Google’s Consent Mode and leading consent providers to ensure that all tracking activities respect user preferences. Our approach ensures that marketing destinations process only the data permitted by the user while still allowing for some level of tracking even when consent is denied. Elevar also provides expert support for setting up Consent Mode to help ensure that your business can remain compliant without compromising tracking capabilities.

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Learn More: Elevar's Consent Management

Read this guide to learn more about Elevar's consent management integrations. Additionally, read this guide more about Elevar's compatible consent providers.

Event Tracking:

The Signals Gateway does not automatically detect or track events and requires you to manually send all events.

Elevar offers automatic tracking for a wide range of eCommerce events, including page views, product clicks, add-to-cart actions, checkout steps, purchases, and user signups. Additionally, Elevar allows for custom event tracking through Google Tag Manager, making it easy to tailor event tracking to your needs.

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Learn More: Elevar's Event Tracking

Read this guide to learn more about the events that Elevar tracks.

Server-Side Data and Accuracy:

In its standard setup for Shopify, Signals Gateway does not provide full server-side data collection. To enable server-side tracking, you must implement Shopify webhooks and manually append click IDs and UTM parameters.

Elevar simplifies this process by offering a direct integration with Shopify that connects to over 40 marketing tools. This setup ensures 10-20% more purchases are accurately attributed in platforms like Facebook and GA4, improving ad targeting and ROI.

Elevar also guarantees 99%+ accuracy in purchase event tracking to help you reduce lost conversions from incomplete data collection. With Elevar’s no-code data control features, you can decide what data to capture and which platforms receive it.

Customer Support:

Signals Gateway does not come with dedicated support, unless you use a third-party hosting service that offers assistance.

Elevar provides end-to-end support with a team of analysts who can troubleshoot issues, gain access to Shopify and marketing destination accounts, and even make configuration adjustments if needed. Our support team prioritizes open communication by providing updates every 48 hours until your issues are fully resolved.