Monetate Tag Comparison

Monetate supports both tag types, so the choice of which one to use is up to you. Here are a few things to consider when making your decision:

  • There's no extra cost regardless of which tag you choose.
  • You can switch between the synchronous and asynchronous tag to check for differences in performance.
  • Changing tags doesn't disrupt your Monetate service in any way.
  • All Monetate features remain functional regardless of which tag you use.
  • If you're concerned that customers might see a visual artifact from your native site, you should use the synchronous tag.

This table offers a side-by-side comparison of the two tags.

Synchronous TagAsynchronous Tag
Served from Akamai CDNServed from Akamai CDN
Monetate fully functionalMonetate fully functional, except for Full-Page Test experiences
All Monetate features availableAll Monetate features available
Two script requests (entry.js and custom.js)Single script request
Blocking tagNonblocking tag
Guarantees Monetate tag load priorityLoads independent of your site
Prevents visual artifacts from occurringVisual artifacts are possible on your site
Use content masking for Edit and Hide actionsCannot use content masking
11 ms response time (average)13 ms response time (average)

API Feature Checkboxes

Monetate doesn't collect conversion data for staging, development, testing, or QA tag instances for either version of the Monetate tag. It only collects it for production instances. You can check which tag instance each of your accounts has by looking in the account selector in the top navigation bar of the platform.

Callout of the notation of account environment type in the account selector in the Monetate platform

If PRODUCTION appears next to an account listed in the selector, then conversion data is collected for it.