Understanding Data Discrepancies Between Clarisights and Source Platforms
You may occasionally notice that numbers in Clarisights don't exactly match what you see in the source platform, such as Facebook Ads Manager or the Google Ads UI. Small discrepancies, especially on recent days, are normal. This article explains the most common causes.
1. Timezone Differences
Clarisights reports each ad account's data by day in that account's own timezone, the same way the ad platform does. You can see each account's timezone in the "Timezone | Currency" column of the channel's page on the Integrations page. Differences appear when the two sides use different timezones, for example when you compare an ad account with an analytics tool set to another timezone, or combine accounts from several timezones in one widget.
How to check: Compare data for a week or month rather than a single day. Timezone-related discrepancies mostly cancel out over longer periods.
2. Attribution Settings and Lookback
Platforms like Facebook and Google continuously update conversion data as attribution windows close. On every refresh, Clarisights re-pulls a rolling window of recent days (the lookback window, which depends on the channel), but there may be a delay between when the source platform updates a conversion and when Clarisights picks it up. Changes to dates older than the lookback window are not picked up automatically.
Also make sure you compare the same attribution setting: if the platform view uses a different attribution window or model than the one used for your Clarisights data, conversion numbers will differ.
How to check: Compare again after the next refresh. If data older than the lookback window has changed in the platform, contact the Clarisights team to request a backfill.
3. Currency Conversion Timing
Clarisights converts currencies using the exchange rate for each specific day. If the source platform uses a different rate or a different conversion date, spend figures may differ slightly.
For more details, see Currency Conversion.
4. API vs. UI Differences
Clarisights pulls data from each platform's reporting API, which sometimes returns slightly different numbers than the platform's own UI. Common reasons:
The platform UI may show more recent, not yet finalized data for the current day than the API returns at the time of the last refresh
Some UI columns or attribution options are not available through the API, or are calculated differently
The platform may restate past data (for example after removing invalid clicks), which Clarisights only picks up for days inside the lookback window
5. Dashboard Filters and Scope
Before investigating a discrepancy, make sure you're comparing the same scope:
Are any tab filters or widget filters active in Clarisights that narrow down the data?
Are you comparing the same ad accounts? Check which accounts are connected and switched on ("Status") on the channel's Integrations page, and remember that users with the Team Member or Viewer role only see the accounts their teams give them access to.
Are you comparing the same date range in both systems?
How to Investigate
Compare week-level or month-level data to eliminate timezone noise
Check filters in both Clarisights and the source platform
Export raw data from both systems for the same date range and account, and compare row by row
If the discrepancy is large or doesn't go away, contact us with the report URL, date range, and the source platform screenshot showing the expected numbers
What's a Normal Discrepancy?
Small differences on the most recent days are common and usually disappear once the data has settled and been re-pulled. When you compare older, settled periods for the same accounts, date range, timezone and attribution setting, the numbers should match closely.