Here's a question a client puts to their agency in some form every quarter. "We spent €100k on ads. Which campaigns made the €300k that hit our bank?" (A framing example, not a client result.)
Meta has an answer. Google has an answer. Put the two side by side and they can add up to more than the bank shows. One r/PPC poster described it like this: "Both will happily claim the exact same sale, so of course the totals overlap and inflate." (r/PPC, June 2026)
Marketing attribution software is supposed to settle that question. The trouble is that tools sold under the same name do quite different jobs. On 8 October 2026 we read the public pages of the main ones and sorted them into four kinds. This guide covers what each kind does, who it suits, and how an agency can pick. We make one of these tools, so we'll also tell you where ours doesn't fit.
The short answer
Marketing attribution software links a sale back to the marketing that led to it. The tools we checked fall into four kinds:
- 1Ad platform reporting. Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads, each crediting its own ads.
- 2Multi-touch attribution suites. Tools like Northbeam, Triple Whale, Hyros and Cometly that spread credit across touchpoints and offer several models.
- 3CRM-based attribution. Reports inside a CRM such as HubSpot, tied to contacts and deals.
- 4Payment-matched attribution. Tools like Thexly and DataFast that start from the payments in the client's payment processor and match each one back to the visit that led to it.
Pick by where your client's sale happens and which question the client is asking you.
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What we checked, and how
On 8 October 2026 we opened the public product, pricing and help pages of the tools named on this page. For each one we wrote down three things:
- 1How it credits a sale (the attribution model).
- 2Where the revenue number comes from.
- 3Whether it says it sends conversion data back to the ad platforms.
We only used what each company says on its own site. We didn't sign up for trials, so this is what a buyer can see before a sales call.
| Kind | Tools we checked | How a sale is credited | Where revenue comes from | Sends conversions back to ad platforms? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ad platform reporting | Meta Ads Manager, Google Ads | Meta: off-ad purchases are credited to your ad within a set number of days after a view or click (Meta help). Google: "Data-driven" is the default; last click is still supported (Google Ads help) | Each platform's own conversion tracking | It is the platform |
| Multi-touch suites | Northbeam, Triple Whale, Hyros, Cometly | Multi-touch, with several models. Triple Whale and Cometly each say eight (Triple Whale, Cometly) | Pixel or tracking script plus store, payment and CRM integrations | Triple Whale and Cometly say yes on their own pages (Triple Whale, Cometly). On 11 October 2026 Hyros's homepage showed Meta and Google each "Receiving conversions", and "Send sales ad platforms missed." (Hyros). Northbeam's homepage says "Optimize your ad algorithms on first-party data." (Northbeam) |
| CRM-based | HubSpot | First interaction, last interaction and other models in attribution reports (HubSpot KB) | Contacts and deals in the CRM | Not checked |
| Payment-matched | Thexly, DataFast | Thexly: first touch or last touch, picked per website (Thexly docs) | Payments in the processor, such as Stripe (Thexly docs, DataFast docs) | Thexly: no (Thexly guide). DataFast: not checked |
Three things stood out:
- Three of the four multi-touch suites say on their own sites that they send conversion data back to the ad platforms. If your client wants that, it narrows the list fast. If they don't, it's a fair question to ask on the sales call.
- The suites offer many models, while Google has cut back. Its help page says first click, linear, time decay and position-based "are no longer supported by Google."
- Only one kind starts from the money the client collected. The other three start from clicks, pixels or CRM records and attach revenue to them.
1. Ad platform reporting (Meta Ads Manager, Google Ads)
What it is. The conversion reports inside each ad account. Meta's help centre says purchases on your website "are attributed back to your ad if they happened within a certain number of days after someone viewed or clicked on your ad." Google's help centre says "Data-driven" is the default model and that last click is still supported.
Who it suits. Everyone running ads. You need it to optimise inside each platform, and it costs nothing extra.
Where it falls short for a client report. Each platform credits its own ads on its own rules, so two platforms can claim the same sale. Practitioners say this plainly:
"Use each platform for direction, not absolute truth." (r/PPC, June 2026)
"Platform stats are useful for optimising within the platform." (r/GoogleAnalytics, April 2026)
2. Multi-touch attribution suites (Northbeam, Triple Whale, Hyros, Cometly)
What they are. A tracking pixel or script plus server-side data, with credit spread across the touchpoints before a purchase. Most offer several models and extra measurement on top.
- Northbeam describes itself as "Multi-touch attribution and media mix modeling" (northbeam.io).
- Triple Whale offers "Attribution, MMM and incrementality in one measurement system," eight attribution models, and Sonar Send, which it describes as "sending first-party data to ad platforms" (triplewhale.com, attribution).
- On 11 October 2026 Hyros's pricing page did not list "Clean conversion data, pushed to every platform" or "HYROS columns inside Meta and Google". Both lines are still at hyros.com/pricing-ai-tracking-cl1-og. The pricing FAQ says "Our reporting will even show up in your Facebook manager" (pricing). The homepage shows Meta and Google each "Receiving conversions", and "Send sales ad platforms missed." (hyros.com).
- Cometly lists "Eight models, switchable on the fly" and a Conversion API that sends conversions to Meta, Google, LinkedIn, TikTok and others (Cometly, conversion sync).
Who they suit. Brands and agencies spending across many channels, including awareness and video campaigns, who want to compare models and feed conversion data back to the ad platforms. Also teams with the time to set them up and keep them running.
What to watch. Setup and cost. One r/FacebookAds user wrote about Hyros: "I used it for a month. It takes AGES to set up." (r/FacebookAds, February 2025). That's one person's experience, but ask every vendor how long setup takes per client. Different models also give different answers on purpose. As one r/DigitalMarketing reply put it: "First click tells you what started the journey, last click tells you what closed it." (r/DigitalMarketing, April 2026)
3. CRM-based attribution (HubSpot)
What it is. Attribution reports built on the contacts and deals in your CRM. HubSpot's knowledge base lists attribution reports on Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise, with models that include first interaction and last interaction, and a Deal Revenue Attribution report that "measures revenue attribution for deals" (HubSpot KB). Cometly also pitches "Stripe-native, CRM-aware attribution built for subscriptions" (Cometly agency partners).
Who it suits. B2B, lead-gen and high-ticket clients whose sale closes on a call or in a sales pipeline.
What to watch. The revenue is the deal amount someone records in the CRM. If your client sells through an online checkout, there's often no deal to attach it to.
4. Payment-matched attribution (Thexly, DataFast)
What it is. A script on the site picks up the ad click IDs and UTM tags. The tool connects to the payment processor and matches each payment back to the visit that led to it.
- Thexly connects to Stripe, with Lemon Squeezy, Polar, Dodo Payments and Yolfi also marked live, plus a manual API (docs, Stripe guide, Lemon Squeezy guide, Polar guide, Dodo guide, Yolfi guide).
- DataFast's docs say that after you connect a payment provider "(Stripe, LemonSqueezy, Polar, Shopify, etc.)" you see revenue on top of your web analytics (DataFast docs).
Who it suits. Ecommerce brands on Stripe checkout, and other businesses where the sale happens at an online checkout. It fits best when the client's question is about money collected: which campaigns brought in the payments.
What to watch. If the sale happens on a call or in a CRM, there's no payment at checkout to match. Thexly also keeps the model simple: each payment goes to one channel.
Doing this for several clients?
Thexly for agencies gives each client a workspace and a read-only link they can open without logging in.
How agencies should choose
Start with the client, then pick the tool. Four questions do most of the work.
1. Where does the sale happen?
- At an online checkout like Stripe: payment-matched attribution.
- On a call or in a CRM deal: CRM-based attribution.
- In a Shopify store: a tool that connects to Shopify. Thexly doesn't.
2. What is the client asking you?
- "Which campaigns made the money in our bank?" Payment-matched.
- "How should we split budget across eight channels, including video?" A multi-touch suite, often with media mix modeling.
- "Which campaigns produce pipeline?" CRM-based.
3. Do you need conversions sent back to Meta and Google?
If yes, you need the platforms' own server-side setup or a suite that sends conversion data back. Thexly doesn't do this.
4. How much setup can you carry, times the number of clients?
A tool that needs a call and a setup team per client feels different at 3 clients than at 15.
One way to set it up is two layers. Platform reporting stays for day-to-day optimising, and one of the other three gives the client a total they can check. An r/PPC reply summed up the split: "Meta & Google Ads are optimization tools, BUT not neutral reporting." (r/PPC, January 2026)
Run a one-client test before you buy anything
You can see how big the problem is for a client before you talk to any vendor.
- 1Pick one client whose checkout runs on Stripe, and the last full month.
- 2Write down the purchase value Meta reports for that month, and the conversion value Google Ads reports for the same dates.
- 3In Stripe, total the payments collected for the same dates, minus refunds.
- 4Compare the sum of the two platform numbers with the Stripe total.
If the platforms add up to more than Stripe, that gap is the question your attribution tool has to answer. The platform vs payment gap calculator does the math from those numbers.
Then ask every vendor on your list the same five questions:
- 1Where does your revenue number come from?
- 2Is each sale counted once, across all platforms?
- 3Can my client open the report without a login?
- 4Do you send data back to the ad platforms, and can I switch that off?
- 5How long does setup take per client, and who does it?
Where Thexly fits, and where it doesn't
Thexly is payment-matched attribution for agencies.
- One script on each client site picks up the click IDs (fbclid, gclid, msclkid, ttclid, li_fat_id, twclid) and UTM tags. The docs say it's "cookieless by default" (docs).
- Each payment is matched to the visitor's session and credited to one channel.
- It's built for clients who sell through Stripe checkout. Lemon Squeezy, Polar, Dodo and Yolfi are also live (docs).
- Each client is a separate site under one login, and you can share a read-only link the client opens without a login (FAQ).
And here is what it doesn't do:
- No multi-touch attribution.
- No CAPI. No Conversion API, conversion upload or passback to ad platforms.
- No Ads API pulls. It doesn't pull spend or ROAS from Meta or Google. You bring spend from the client's ad accounts.
- No Shopify. There's no Shopify payment connection.
- Not for lead-gen. The FAQ says it's "not lead-gen funnels where the sale happens outside Stripe" (FAQ).
If your book is ecommerce brands on Stripe checkout, see how Thexly works for agencies. There's a 14-day trial, no card needed.
Which of the four kinds does your agency use today, and is it the one your clients trust? We'd like to hear: hello@thexly.com
FAQ
What is marketing attribution software?
Marketing attribution software links a sale or lead back to the marketing that led to it, so you can see which campaigns and channels earned the money. The four common kinds are ad platform reporting, multi-touch attribution suites, CRM-based attribution, and payment-matched attribution.
What is the best ad tracking software for an agency?
It depends on where your clients' sales happen. If sales close at an online checkout like Stripe, a payment-matched tool fits. If sales close on calls or in a CRM, CRM-based attribution fits. If you need several models or conversions sent back to the ad platforms, look at a multi-touch suite.
How is attribution software different from the reports in Meta and Google?
Meta and Google each report the conversions they credit to their own ads, on their own rules. Attribution software sits outside the platforms and gives one view across channels. Payment-matched tools start from the payments the client collected.
Is multi-touch attribution better than first touch or last touch?
They answer different questions. Multi-touch spreads credit across several touchpoints. First touch credits what brought the customer in, and last touch credits what closed the sale. The right one depends on the decision you're making.
Does Thexly do multi-touch attribution?
No. If you need multi-touch models, a multi-touch suite is the closer match.
Does Thexly send conversions back to Meta or Google?
No. Thexly does not run a Conversion API (CAPI), upload conversions, or pull spend from the Meta or Google Ads APIs. You bring spend from the client's ad accounts.
Does Thexly work with Shopify?
No. Thexly has no Shopify payment connection. It matches payments from Stripe, Lemon Squeezy, Polar, Dodo and Yolfi, plus a manual API.
What is lead attribution software?
Lead attribution software links a form fill, booked call or sign-up back to the campaign that brought the person in, and often follows that lead to a closed deal in a CRM. CRM-based tools, such as HubSpot's attribution reports, are built for this. Thexly isn't: it's built for clients who sell directly through Stripe, not lead-gen funnels where the sale happens outside Stripe.
What is campaign attribution software?
Campaign attribution software shows which campaigns brought in sales, so you can compare them on revenue. Each ad platform reports this for its own campaigns, and outside tools give one view across platforms. Thexly matches each payment in Stripe to the campaign and click IDs captured when the visitor arrived.
What should agencies look for in attribution software?
Start with where each client's sale happens: an online checkout, a call, or a CRM deal. Then check where the tool's revenue number comes from, whether each sale is counted once across platforms, and whether clients can open reports without a login. Thexly fits agencies whose clients sell through Stripe checkout, with each client as a separate site under one login and a read-only link to share. It doesn't do multi-touch, send conversions back to ad platforms (CAPI), pull spend from the Meta or Google Ads APIs, or connect to Shopify.
Why does Meta report more revenue than Stripe or Shopify?
Each ad platform counts the conversions it saw within its own attribution window. Meta's standard setting can credit a sale that happened up to 7 days after a click or 1 day after someone saw the ad, and Google Ads uses its own conversion window, 30 days by default for Search and Display. So Meta and Google can each claim the same sale, while Stripe records the one payment that came in. Thexly matches the ad click to that one Stripe payment, so you can see which campaigns brought in money that was paid.
What is the difference between last click and data-driven attribution?
In Google Ads, last click gives all credit for a conversion to the last-clicked ad and its keyword. Data-driven attribution spreads credit across the ad interactions on the path, based on your account's past data for that conversion action, and Google says it's the default for most conversion actions.