Meta standard events reference
Meta's standard events are a fixed vocabulary — Purchase, Lead, InitiateCheckout, ViewContent, AddToCart, CompleteRegistration and the rest — and using them rather than custom events is what makes optimization, catalog matching and reporting work. Purchase requires value and currency. Everything else about the quality of your Meta data comes down to two things: the customer parameters you attach for matching, and whether the browser and server paths share an event ID.
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Meta standard events · what breaks
Where teams get this wrong — Meta standard events
- 01
Using custom events where a standard one exists
Custom events can't be used for the same optimization and reporting. There's rarely a good reason.
- 02
Sending Purchase without value and currency
Meta requires both. Without them the event is far less useful and value-based optimization is impossible.
- 03
Hashing customer data before normalizing it
An email with a capital letter hashes to a valid, useless string. Nothing errors.
Meta standard events · the fix
What a correct implementation looks like — Meta standard events
Standard event names, spelled exactly
Case matters. Purchase, not purchase.
value and currency on every monetary event
From the order record.
Customer parameters normalized then hashed
Lowercase, trimmed, phone in E.164 without punctuation.
A shared event_id on both paths
The order ID works best — stable and identical without coordination.
Meta standard events · architecture
The events that matter, and what each needs
Meta publishes a longer list. These are the ones that appear in almost every implementation and where the failures cluster.
- 1
PageView
Baseline. Fires on every page, no parameters required.
- 2
ViewContent
Product or key page view, with content_ids and content_type for catalog matching.
- 3
AddToCart
With content_ids and value. Intent signal and audience building.
- 4
InitiateCheckout
With value and currency. Checkout funnel visibility.
- 5
Purchase
value and currency required. Send from the order record with the order ID as event_id.
- 6
Lead / CompleteRegistration
For non-ecommerce conversions. Value optional but worth sending if you can model it.
Meta standard events · diagnose
Common mistakes and how to validate each — Meta standard events
Ordered by how often we find them. Each one has a specific check rather than a general instruction to be careful.
- 01
No shared event_id between Pixel and CAPI
Check the Deduplicated indicator in Events Manager over seven days. Absent plus two live paths means you're double-counting.
- 02
Customer data hashed without normalization
Read a live payload and check the raw values before hashing: lowercase, trimmed, phone in E.164.
- 03
Double hashing
Client hashes, server hashes again. Compare the raw and dispatched values on one real conversion.
- 04
fbc missing because fbclid was never captured
Click one of your own ads and check whether fbclid is captured on landing and persisted.
- 05
Custom events instead of standard ones
List your active events in Events Manager. Anything custom that has a standard equivalent should be changed.
Meta standard events · prove
How to prove your implementation is right — Meta standard events
Against your own records and a live payload, not against a preview screen.
Source of truth
your backend order records, matched on order ID
- Deduplicated indicator visible on Purchase across a full week.
- Event Match Quality at 8 or above on the primary conversion.
- Identical event_id confirmed on both paths for one real order.
- Purchase count within a few percent of backend orders.
- Checked on a live conversion, not in preview mode.
- Reconciled over a fully closed window, matched per record.
- Re-checked 30 days later.
Meta standard events · free audit
What we check in the free audit
- No shared event_id between Pixel and CAPI
- Customer data hashed without normalization
- Double hashing
- fbc missing because fbclid was never captured
- Custom events instead of standard ones
Checked against
your backend order records, matched on order ID
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Meta standard events · when not to buy
What this reference deliberately leaves out — Meta standard events
Stated openly, because a reference that's silent about its own gaps is the dangerous kind.
- Meta's full standard event list is longer than this. The omitted ones are real and less commonly implemented.
- Custom parameters beyond the matching set are omitted — they're useful for reporting and don't affect delivery or matching.
- Catalog and dynamic ads have their own content_id requirements that depend on your feed setup, and can't be specified generically.
- Vendor documentation is the authority, not this page. Where the two disagree, the vendor is right and we'd like to know so we can correct it.
- Parameter names and behaviour change. Anything here is accurate as we last verified it; verify against the current documentation before you rely on it for a build.
Meta standard events · what we deliver
The checklist — Meta standard events
Event names match Meta's standard list exactly
Including case.
Purchase carries value and currency
Both, from the order record.
event_id present on both browser and server events
Byte-identical, not merely both present.
fbc and fbp captured in the browser and forwarded
Not regenerated server-side.
Customer data normalized before hashing
The single most common cause of low match quality.
Pricing
Pick the package that fits your ad spend
Browser-side starter
$400One-time fee · lifetime ownership
Repairs and verifies your existing browser-side setup against this reference, on a live conversion.
- Implementation checked against the spec
- Verified on a live conversion
- Reconciled against your own records
- Written handover
1st-party server-side
Recommended$800One-time fee · most popular
Money events sent from your own records through a first-party container on your subdomain, built to this specification.
- First-party server container on your own subdomain
- Events from your records, not the browser
- Deduplicated on a shared event ID at every destination
- First-party cookies beyond Safari's 7-day cap
- 95%+ accuracy and 8+ Meta EMQ, guaranteed in writing
Full 1st-party stack
$1,800One-time fee · lifetime ownership
Every paid channel server-side plus the offline loop, documented to this standard.
- Everything in 1st-party server-side
- Pinterest, Snapchat, Reddit and LinkedIn CAPI
- CRM and offline conversion loop
- Refunds and cancellations corrected wherever each platform allows it
- Monitoring so the next break surfaces in days
FAQ
Meta standard events questions, answered
Almost always normalization. An email hashed with a capital letter or a phone hashed with brackets produces a valid hash that never matches anything.
The order number. Stable, unique, and identical on both browser and server without any coordination between the two implementations.
Only where no standard event fits. Custom events can't be used for the same optimization and lose you Meta's built-in reporting.
Send both when available. fbc only exists if fbclid was captured on landing, which is a common gap and the stronger of the two signals.
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