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ClickFlare says one thing, the ad platform says another, and the network says a third. Some difference is expected — these systems count different events at different moments. The question is whether the gap you are seeing is normal or a symptom.

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Some discrepancy is structural

The ad platform counts a click on the ad. ClickFlare counts a visit that reached your tracking link. Every visitor lost in between — back button, slow connection, redirect blocked — is a click the platform counts and ClickFlare never sees.A gap of a few percent in this direction is normal and not fixable.See Understanding ClickFlare Events.
Platforms attribute a conversion back to the time of the click. ClickFlare records it when the postback arrives. For an offer with a long conversion window, the same conversion lands on different days in the two systems.Always compare a range wide enough to absorb the lag, never a single day.
Your ClickFlare workspace, your ad account and your network each have their own timezone. A day boundary in one is mid-afternoon in another. Two systems can both be right and still disagree on every single day while agreeing on the week.
Ad platforms revise spend and conversions after the fact as invalid traffic is filtered. Yesterday’s number is not final. Networks likewise reverse conversions that later fail validation.

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When the gap is a real problem

Investigate when the difference is large, one-directional, or sudden.

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How to compare properly

1

Pick a settled range

Use a period that ended at least a day ago, so both systems have finished restating. Avoid today.
2

Align the timezones

Set the ad platform and ClickFlare to the same timezone before reading either. This alone resolves a large share of reported discrepancies.
3

Compare like with like

Match ad-platform clicks against ClickFlare visits, not clicks. ClickFlare’s click metric counts the move from lander to offer, which is a different event entirely.See How Click Tracking Works.
4

Check one campaign, not the account

Account-level totals hide which campaign is responsible. Narrow to a single campaign before drawing conclusions.

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Three-way mismatches

When a third system is involved — an optimisation tool, a reporting layer, a revenue partner — each additional system adds its own attribution window and timezone. Compare them in pairs rather than all at once, and establish which pair actually disagrees before changing anything.

How conversion tracking works

What ClickFlare records, and at which moment.

Multicurrency

How conversion between currencies affects reported figures.