Both are right for their job. Bidder scales and cuts on Meta’s numbers, because that is what Meta optimizes delivery on. Opti reports on money. The two never match exactly — and most of the time that’s fine. Facebook numbers vs real sales explains which gaps are normal and which aren’t.
Three defaults worth knowing
- Tracking is wired at publish. Screens, navigation, A/B splits, and the whole checkout are instrumented by the funnel runtime; the Meta pixel is baked in when the funnel is published. Opti adds tracking for in-screen choices (quiz answers, plan taps) as it builds.
- The pixel is the one from Bidder’s setup. A funnel fires the pixel configured on your ad account during
/setup. If that pixel is created or changed later, live funnels keep firing the old one until their next publish. - Previews and test checkouts never report anywhere. Sandbox previews, local runs, and QA sessions in test payment mode send nothing to Meta and nothing to Opti’s analytics — so preview clicking can’t pollute your data, and Meta’s Test events tab won’t see a preview either. Verify on the published URL.
In this section
What's tracked by default
The built-in funnel events, the checkout trace per payment route, and exactly which Meta events fire when — with the values Meta sees.
Asking Opti for custom tracking
How to request tracking for the choices you care about, and how to ask questions in business terms.
How sales are counted
Backdating: why every dollar (and refund) lands on the day the buyer checked out, and what that does to recent days.
Facebook numbers vs real sales
Why Meta shows more, fewer, or nothing — and how to check with Opti whether it’s a problem.