Shopify Analytics Showdown: Northbeam vs Triple Whale vs Elevar

When you’re running a Shopify Plus store with serious ad spend, basic analytics just don’t cut it. You need attribution that actually reflects reality, accurate event tracking, and insights that guide real business decisions. That’s where platforms like Northbeam, Triple Whale, and Elevar come in.

As an implementation partner that has rolled out all three for Shopify Plus brands, here’s our breakdown of what they do best, who they’re for, and when to choose one over the others.

Northbeam – For Enterprise Attribution & Media Mix Modeling

What it is:
Northbeam is a machine-learning driven marketing analytics platform that gives you a true multi-touch view of customer behavior. It’s built for large DTC brands investing heavily across multiple channels.

Key strengths:

• Advanced multi-touch attribution (first-click, last-click, linear, etc.)

• Media Mix Modeling (MMM) support

• View-through attribution for top-of-funnel channels

• Custom reports and creative performance analysis

Best for: Brands spending $250k+/mo on ads across 4–6+ channels, including offline. If you’re asking tough questions like "How much do podcasts really drive sales?"- this is your tool.

Watch out for: Complexity. You’ll likely need a partner (like us) to set it up and train your team to use it properly.

Triple Whale – For Plug-and-Play Shopify Analytics & Attribution

What it is:
Triple Whale offers a real-time dashboard that centralizes your Shopify store performance, ad spend, and ROAS- all with a Shopify-native feel. It uses its own Triple Pixel to deliver attribution insights that platforms like Meta can’t give post-iOS14.

Key strengths:

• Clean UI and best-in-class mobile app

• Unified sales + ad performance dashboard

• LTV cohorts, creative analysis, and forecasting tools

• Easy setup- install app, connect ad accounts, done

Best for: Shopify merchants doing $5M–$50M/year that want visibility into performance without the enterprise overhead.

Watch out for: Attribution isn’t as deep as Northbeam’s. If you’re managing multiple stores or need to evaluate offline spend, it may fall short.

Elevar – For Bulletproof Tracking Infrastructure

What it is:
Elevar is a Shopify data layer and server-side event tracking platform. It ensures you capture 100% of conversions and feed accurate data back to Facebook, Google, and others.

Key strengths:

• Server-side tracking with session enrichment

• Conversion push to 50+ platforms (Meta CAPI, GA4, TikTok, etc.)

• No more under-reporting or broken pixel setups

• Works alongside Northbeam or Triple Whale

Best for: Brands losing trust in their platform data or seeing big discrepancies post-iOS14. It’s the foundation layer that makes attribution platforms more effective.

Watch out for: Not a reporting tool. This is a backend data product- you’ll still need an attribution dashboard to make sense of it all.

🔌 Integration Capabilities - Why They Matter

For Shopify Plus merchants, a tool’s ability to play well with the rest of your stack often determines whether it’s truly valuable. Attribution and analytics platforms are only as strong as the data they ingest and output, so integrations are crucial.

Here’s how each tool compares:

Northbeam

• Pulls in data from: Shopify, Meta (Facebook), Google Ads, TikTok, Klaviyo, and more.

• No native app store presence: Setup is handled manually or through agency onboarding. Expect to authenticate multiple data sources (ad accounts, email platforms, etc.).

• Data Output: No direct push to ad platforms, insights are for internal use only. You’ll need to adjust spend and creative manually based on their reporting.

• Advanced edge: Supports ingestion of data from platforms like Postscript, Google Sheets, and even offline media channels, which makes it better suited for brands using non-standard or high-touch marketing approaches.

Why it matters: If you’re running high-volume, multi-channel campaigns and want to evaluate everything from TikTok to podcast ads, Northbeam’s ingestion flexibility is a differentiator. But if you’re looking to directly feed data back into Meta or Google, you’ll need Elevar or custom setups.

Triple Whale

• Pulls in data from: Shopify, Meta, Google Ads, TikTok, Snap, Klaviyo, and more via OAuth-based connections.

• Native integrations: Easily connected via the app interface, great for operators or marketers without developer support.

• Data Output: Offers some outbound integrations (e.g., sending segments to Klaviyo), but it’s primarily an internal tool for performance monitoring and attribution insight.

• Edge: The Triple Pixel captures behavior that platform pixels might miss and uses it for attribution modeling. It’s server-side, but not a full replacement for Elevar’s event pushing.

Why it matters: TW is excellent if you want quick integration with Shopify and major ad platforms and aren’t looking to push data back to the platforms. Its strength is simplicity and daily visibility, not granular control over attribution data pipes.

Elevar

• Pulls from: Shopify, user behavior on-site via the pixel/data layer.

• Pushes to: Meta CAPI, Google Ads Conversion API, GA4, TikTok Events API, Klaviyo, Postscript, Pinterest Ads, and more.

• Integration strength: 50+ prebuilt outbound integrations, server-side tracking, session enrichment, consent management, and GTM support.

• Edge: Elevar is the only one in this trio whose primary job is to push conversion data to your ad and analytics platforms, not just analyze it.

Why it matters: Post-iOS14, platforms like Facebook and Google need clean, first-party server-side data to optimize campaigns. If you’re running paid ads at scale, Elevar directly impacts performance, it feeds the platforms what they need to optimize ROAS.

Comparison Table

Our Take as an Implementation Partner

• Use Northbeam if you need to evaluate complex multi-touch journeys across multiple platforms, especially if you run campaigns on podcasts, influencers, or YouTube.

• Use Triple Whale if you want a single dashboard to run your Shopify business with a clean UX and fast insights.

• Use Elevar if you want every platform (Meta, Google, Klaviyo, etc.) to receive reliable, enriched conversion data.

• Use both Triple Whale or Northbeam with Elevar for best results. Elevar feeds the attribution tools accurate data, ensuring cleaner insights.

Need help implementing or optimizing one of these? Get in touch with our team- we’ve deployed them all for fast-growing Shopify brands.