Conversions API (CAPI)
Definition: The Conversions API (CAPI) is Meta’s interface through which a shop sends events, such as purchases, from its own server instead of the buyer’s browser. It works alongside the Pixel and fills in what the browser cannot pass on, such as a purchase the page never reported.
The Pixel sees a purchase only when the buyer comes back to the thank-you page, accepts cookies and runs no ad blocker. The Conversions API does not depend on the browser: the purchase leaves from the place that knows about it for sure.
Also called: CAPI, Meta Conversions API, Facebook Conversions API, server-side Meta events
The demo has sample data; the login comes to your e-mail.
In plain words
The Pixel is a waiter who writes down an order only if the guest walks up to him. The Conversions API is the till: it records every paid bill, even when the guest leaves without a word. Meta then hears about the purchase from both sides and removes duplicates by the event id.
Where you see it in Basketly
On the Orders screen every order has a purchase-sending column: accepted, failed or waiting. The purchase balance shows shop orders next to the purchases Meta accepted, day by day, and the Self-check compares the dataset’s statistics in Meta with what was actually sent.
A common mistake
Turning on the Conversions API next to the Pixel without a shared event id. Meta then gets the same purchase twice and counts it twice. The second mistake: reading “accepted by Meta” as proof that a campaign optimises better. Accepted only means the event arrived.
What the Conversions API does not solve
- It does not make Meta’s purchase count equal the shop’s: Meta credits purchases to ads by its attribution windows.
- A server purchase without the ad click id is harder for Meta to tie to an ad.
No. Meta recommends using both: the Pixel sees behaviour in the browser, the Conversions API delivers events the browser cannot. A shared event id removes duplicates.
It depends on the route. Your own integration or server-side GTM needs setup and upkeep. In Basketly you connect the shop with an API user and sign in to Meta, with no code.
Meta charges nothing for the API itself. You pay for the route events take to it: your own server, container hosting or a tool like ours.
See also
- Meta Conversions APIPaid shop orders sent to Meta from the server, through a queue that does not drop purchases, with a result for every delivery.Read
- ShoperShoper purchases to Meta from the shop’s orders, without a developer or a GTM server.Read
- Basketly vs StapeStape (server-side GTM, CAPI Gateway) next to Basketly (purchases from shop orders): a table, Stape's prices from its own page with the date, when to pick which.Read
- What Is the Meta Conversions API? How It Differs from the Pixel and What It Won't DoWhat the Meta Conversions API is, how it differs from the Pixel, which data it accepts, how deduplication works and what CAPI does not guarantee.Read
- Pixel and Conversions API Deduplication: event_id, event_name and the 48-Hour WindowHow Meta merges the same event from the Pixel and the Conversions API: event_id, event_name, the 48-hour window, the fbp method, common mistakes and how to check.Read
Get started in under 5 minutes
Connect your shop and Meta and see how many purchases really arrive.
- Free up to 100 orders a month
- No developer needed
- Purchase balance and self-check