Self-attribution from the network selling the inventory.
Meta's default attribution window is 7-day click + 1-day view, with view-through credit baked in. Self-attributing networks reliably over-credit themselves, and view-through on a passive scroll feed inflates the credit further. When Meta, Google, and TikTok all claim the same sale, none of them deduplicate.
Causality Engine has no ad budget to protect. We're the independent causal referee. We measure incremental contribution across every channel, deduplicate overlapping credit, and report confidence intervals.
// Meta Ads Manager answers what did Meta-mediated touches contribute? → 7-day click + 1-day view, view-through included // Causality Engine answers what was incremental across all channels? → causal inference + confidence intervals
Same question, different answer. Often the opposite answer.
| Causality Engine | Meta Ads Manager | |
|---|---|---|
| Whose touches? | All channels in your GA4 | Meta-mediated only |
| View-through credit? | Modeled as part of causal contribution | Counted, 1-day default |
| Conflict of interest? | None (no ad budget) | Yes (Meta sells the inventory) |
| Deduplicates cross-platform credit? | Yes | No |
| Confidence intervals? | Yes | Not surfaced |
| Price | €99 per read · €299/mo Pro | Free (folded into ad spend) |
Which one is the right call for your situation.
Choose Meta's attribution when
you're optimizing campaigns inside Meta Ads Manager and need in-platform signal on which creative or audience to scale. Fair use of an in-platform tool.
Choose Causality Engine when
the question is whether Meta's reported ROAS is incrementally real, or whether it's claiming sales that would have happened anyway. The platform can't answer that honestly; an independent causal read can.
Meta's attribution is free because it's the network selling you the spend. A €99 independent causal read tells you whether the platform's numbers survive deduplication.
The questions buyers ask about us vs Meta Ads Manager.
- Does Causality Engine replace Meta attribution?
- No. Use Meta for in-platform creative and audience optimization. Use our causal read to check that the platform's revenue claims are incrementally real before you scale.
- Why is your incremental ROAS lower than Meta's?
- Because Meta credits sales that would have happened anyway (organic, direct, brand demand, view-through inside the network's own window). Causal inference removes them.
Every causal vs MTA tool in one row each.
They track clicks. We measure cause. Four of these five tools are pixel or multi-touch-attribution dashboards on an annual contract; they reassign credit for conversions that already happened, and they need a script installed and maintained. Causality Engine measures incrementality, the sales a channel actually caused, from your existing GA4 and Shopify export, no pixel, with confidence intervals, for €99 a read. Different question, different bill, different install.
| Tool | Core method | Causal? | Pixel / SDK? | Time to value | Pricing model | Yr-1 fully loaded | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Causality Engine | Causal inference (Bayesian) on GA4 + Shopify | Yes, native | None | 5–10 min | €99 per read · €299/mo Pro | €99 one-time · €3,588/yr Pro | Credit card, cancel anytime |
| Triple Whale | Pixel + MTA (Clicks & Deterministic Views) | No | Yes (Triple Pixel) | Days (after pixel install and data) | Subscription, GMV tiers | GMV-priced, quote by store size | Not published |
| Northbeam | ML MTA + MMM + incrementality (2026 add-on) | Partial (newer layer) | Yes (script + UTMs) | Weeks (onboarding) | Starter $1,500/mo; Pro/Ent custom quote | $1,500/mo Starter; $3,500/mo Professional; higher tiers quoted | Not published |
| Rockerbox | MTA + MMM + incrementality (enterprise) | Yes (native) | Yes (integration) | Weeks (config + experiments) | Quote only | Quote only, plus onboarding | Not published |
| Hyros | Server-side click tracking + MTA | No | Yes (watcher scripts, heavy) | 2–12 weeks (setup) | Subscription, demo-gated | Quote only, demo-gated | Not published |
| Wicked Reports | First-party click MTA (LTV focus) | No | Yes (pixel + CRM/UTM) | Days to weeks | Revenue-banded: $499 / $699 / $999 / $4,999+ | $499–$999/mo by revenue band | Monthly billing; term not published |
| Cometly | MTA pixel + server-side + CAPI | No | Yes (Comet Pixel + CAPI) | Days (post pixel install) | Usage-based on pageviews; no free trial | Quote only, usage-based | Monthly or annual (annual −20%) |
| Billy Grace | Deep-learning MTA + Unified Marketing Measurement | Modeled, no CIs | Yes (own first-party pixel) | Demo-gated onboarding | Subscription, by ad spend | €499–3,250/mo + €99 integrations | Demo-gated |
| EYKData | Server-side MTA on owned BigQuery (correlation-based) | Quote-only top tier | Yes (GTM + BigQuery + Stape) | Weeks (stack stand-up) | Subscription, by sales | €399–€529+/mo (Advanced = quote) | Subscription |
| Funnel.io | Data integration / ETL platform | Add-on at quote-only top tier | Connectors / warehouse | Weeks (pipeline build) | Base plan + paid Measure add-on | $300–600 base + $2,250/mo Measure (≥$500k spend) | Billed annually |
| Supermetrics | Marketing data pipeline / connectors | No (claims unverified) | Connectors | Hours per source | Per-source subscription | From $44/mo billed annually; Growth from $177/mo | Annual |
| Elevar | Shopify server-side conversion tracking + data layer | No (not attribution) | Yes (data layer install) | 1–2 weeks (setup) | Subscription, by orders | $225–3,000+/mo + $1k–4.5k install | Monthly |
| Fairing | Post-purchase survey (zero-party) | No (self-reported) | Survey widget | Minutes (install) | Subscription, by orders | Plans by order volume; quote on fairing.co | Monthly |
| Google Ads | Self-attributing network, data-driven attribution | No (window-bound, self-mediated) | Native | Built in | Native to ad platform | Free (with the spend) | Native, no contract |
| Meta Ads Manager | Self-attributing, 7-day click + 1-day view default | No (view-through inflates) | Native + Meta Pixel/CAPI | Built in | Native to ad platform | Free (with the spend) | Native, no contract |
| TikTok Ads Manager | Self-attributing, 7-day click + 1-day view | No (passive-feed view-through) | Native + TikTok Pixel | Built in | Native to ad platform | Free (with the spend) | Native, no contract |
| Shopify Marketing Reports | Last-click (last non-direct), rules-based | No (erases assists) | Native | Built in | Included with Shopify | Free (with the plan) | Native, no contract |
| GA4 | Data-driven attribution, click/visit-based | No (ignores impressions, no control group) | Native GA4 tag | Built in | Free | Free | Native, no contract |
Competitor figures are our estimates of a fully loaded monthly cost in EUR, built from each vendor's published pricing (USD where quoted) on the date shown under this table. A tilde or "est." marks an estimate, "reported" marks a figure from a third-party report, and quote-only vendors are marked as such. Prices change often: verify with the vendor before relying on them. Not vendor quotes to us.
Run the side-by-side. Watch the model work on a sample store first, no signup. Then upload your GA4 export and get incremental ROAS with confidence intervals in 5–10 minutes, €99. Refundable if the first read doesn't pay for itself in one reallocation decision. Keep your current tool; use us as the independent causal second opinion.
We're the only one in this table without an ad budget, or a dashboard subscription, to protect.