Conversion Tracking & Data

Conversions API vs Enhanced Conversions: Meta's Server Feed vs Google's Match Booster

In short: Both use identity data - hashed emails, phones, or server-held records - to recover conversions that cookies alone would miss, but they belong to different platforms and work at different scopes. Conversions API is Meta's full server-to-server event pipe, capable of sending any event type, including offline and delayed ones, straight from your backend. Enhanced Conversions is narrower and specifically Google Ads: it adds hashed first-party data onto an existing web conversion tag so Google can match it to a signed-in user, without replacing the tag itself. If you're on Meta, CAPI is close to mandatory infrastructure; if you're on Google Ads, Enhanced Conversions is a setting you turn on inside conversion actions you already have, not a separate tracking system to build.

By the AdFlint research team · Fact-checked against current Google and Meta platform behavior · Last reviewed July 2026

Conversions API

Sends conversion events to Meta from your server or CRM instead of the visitor's browser, bypassing client-side signal loss.

Your backend posts events straight to Meta's endpoint with hashed customer parameters and the browser identifiers fbp and fbc for matching. You add it because pixel-only setups lose events to blockers and tracking prevention, and because server events can carry offline or delayed outcomes. Send the same event from both sources with a shared event_id so Meta deduplicates; skip that and you will double-count purchases and mislead the bidding system.

Full definition

Enhanced Conversions

Sends hashed first-party customer data with a Google Ads web conversion so Google can match it to a signed-in user.

At the conversion, your page or server passes email, phone, or address fields hashed with SHA-256; Google matches them against signed-in accounts and recovers conversions the cookie alone would have missed. Turn it on whenever the confirmation step already captures customer details. The frequent mistake is enabling the setting without actually supplying the fields, since the toggle does nothing if no user-provided data reaches the tag.

Full definition

Side by side.

The differences that actually change what happens in your account.

 Conversions APIEnhanced Conversions
Which platformMeta Ads.Google Ads.
What it replaces or extendsCan function as a full alternative event source alongside or instead of the Pixel.Extends an existing Google Ads conversion action; it doesn't work standalone.
Setup shapeA server-to-server integration - your backend posts payloads to Meta's endpoint.A toggle plus a data source - your page or server passes hashed fields into the existing conversion tag.
Event types it coversAny event Meta tracks - page views, leads, purchases, offline CRM outcomes.Only the specific web conversion action it's attached to; it does not add new conversion types on its own.
What data it hashesCustomer parameters (email, phone, etc.) plus browser identifiers fbp/fbc where available.Email, phone, name, or address fields hashed with SHA-256, matched against signed-in Google accounts.
Common failure if misconfiguredNo shared event_id with the Pixel, causing double-counted conversions.The setting is switched on but no actual customer data reaches the tag, so it silently does nothing.
Offline/delayed dataNative use case - built for exactly this.Handled by a related but separate feature, Enhanced Conversions for Leads, not by standard Enhanced Conversions.

What actually separates them.

01

Conversions API can be a complete, standalone server-side event source; Enhanced Conversions only ever supplements an existing conversion action and cannot report anything on its own.

02

CAPI covers every event type Meta tracks including delayed offline outcomes; standard Enhanced Conversions is scoped to the single web conversion action it's attached to, at the time it fires.

03

Turning on Enhanced Conversions without supplying actual hashed fields does nothing and produces no error; a CAPI integration failing to send data is a build failure, not a silently unused setting.

04

CAPI is deduplicated against the Pixel using a shared event_id; Enhanced Conversions has no separate event to deduplicate against, since it enriches the same conversion hit rather than creating a second one.

05

Enhanced Conversions for Leads, the offline, two-step version, is the closer analog to CAPI's ability to report delayed outcomes; standard Enhanced Conversions only works within a single, real-time conversion event.

Which one should you use?

Use Conversions API when

  • You're advertising on Meta and need server-side event reporting to backstop or replace the Pixel.
  • You need to send offline or delayed outcomes, not just real-time web conversions.
  • You want one integration that can carry any event type Meta supports, not just a single conversion action.
  • You're troubleshooting Meta conversion undercounting caused by browser-side blocking.

Use Enhanced Conversions when

  • You're advertising on Google Ads and have an existing web conversion action you want to strengthen.
  • Your confirmation page or checkout already captures email, phone, or address you could hash and pass.
  • You're seeing a gap between Google Ads reported conversions and your actual completed orders, likely from cookie loss.
  • You want a quick accuracy improvement without building a new tracking system from scratch.

Common questions.

Are Conversions API and Enhanced Conversions the same idea on different platforms?

They share the underlying principle of using hashed customer data to improve matching, but they're scoped very differently. CAPI is a full server-side event pipe that can carry any event type for Meta; Enhanced Conversions is a narrower enrichment layer on top of one existing Google Ads conversion action.

Can I use Enhanced Conversions and Conversions API together?

They run on separate platforms, so there's no direct interaction, but many advertisers running both Google Ads and Meta use both: Enhanced Conversions to strengthen Google Ads web conversions, and CAPI to strengthen Meta's. Neither setup affects the other's platform.

Why did my Enhanced Conversions setting not improve anything?

The most common cause is the toggle being on with no actual customer data reaching the tag - the setting itself does nothing without hashed fields flowing through it. Confirm the conversion tag is actually receiving email, phone, or address values before assuming the feature isn't working.

Does Conversions API do what Enhanced Conversions does for Google Ads?

No - CAPI is Meta-specific and has no effect on Google Ads conversions. The closest equivalent for Google Ads is Enhanced Conversions, for real-time web conversions, or Enhanced Conversions for Leads, for delayed offline outcomes, which are separate Google features entirely.

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