Why GA4 and your ad platforms disagree
The numbers are not broken—they are answering different questions. Here is how to make the disagreement useful.
They use different rulebooks
GA4, Meta, and Google Ads each use their own attribution windows, identity signals, and conversion timestamps. A platform may claim a conversion after an ad view while GA4 credits the last measurable visit. Both can be internally correct.
Start with event truth
Before debating attribution, confirm that the same real-world action fires once, carries the right value and currency, and reaches every destination. Clean event collection turns a philosophical argument into a manageable reporting decision.
Pick a decision model
Use platform reporting to optimize campaigns, analytics to understand journeys, and finance or CRM data to judge total business performance. Document which source answers which question so your team stops chasing one impossible universal number.