Pinterest Conversions API: The Complete Guide
The Pinterest Conversions API is Pinterest's server-side channel for conversion data: your server, tracker, or CRM posts conversions directly to Pinterest instead of relying on the browser tag. This page is the front door to our Pinterest CAPI cluster: what the API covers, what a working event needs, how deduplication and Event Quality Score fit together, and where each specific problem - a rejected event, a double count, a sagging score - has its own deep-dive guide.
CAPIWhat the Pinterest Conversions API Covers
Pinterest keeps the entry requirements deliberately light: any business account can use the API, and unlike broader Pinterest API products it does not require creating an application or a valid app ID. The token is generated through the Conversions page in Ads Manager - Conversions, Set Up API, Generate new token - and travels with the ad account ID that addresses every call. All three conversion kinds are supported: web, in-app, and in-store/offline, which makes the API the single delivery channel across mixed funnel types. Pinterest also states that server events behave like the ones coming from the Pinterest tag or a mobile measurement partner - first-class signals for attribution and optimization.
The screen-by-screen setup walk is in the dedicated guide: Pinterest Conversions API setup.
What a Working Event Looks Like
Pinterest's v5 API posts conversions to POST /v5/ad_accounts/{ad_account_id}/events. Each event carries an event_name from the documented set (checkout, add_to_cart, page_visit, signup, and the rest), an action_source that says where it happened (web, app_ios, app_android, offline), an event_time, and an event_id - the field deduplication relies on. Optional but valuable: user_data with hashed identifiers, event_source_url, and custom_data for the details Pinterest's reporting breaks out. Requests also carry the privacy switches Pinterest provides - opt_out and advertiser_tracking_enabled - and a partner_name identifying the sending integration.
Event timing is a stated requirement: Pinterest asks for delivery as close to real-time as possible, under one hour, so optimization and bidding work with current data. The field-level walkthrough is in Pinterest conversion events.
Deduplication: event_id Before Anything Else
Running the Pinterest tag and the Conversions API together is Pinterest's own recommendation, because the combination maximizes conversion visibility - but the same conversion then arrives twice, and the fix is the event_id parameter: identical on both sides for the same event. An event_id only one side can compute silently disables dedup, and the discrepancy shows up later as inflated Ads Manager numbers. The mechanics of the shared key are in event ID deduplication, and the cross-platform field map in the parameter matrix.
Event Quality Score and the Hashed Identifiers Behind It
Pinterest's validation names three checkpoints in Events Manager: test events with response codes, the deduplication view, and Event Quality Score - the grade that tells you how much of the payload Pinterest can actually use. The onboarding guidance is to pass data in a way that sets the integration up for a "Good" EQS. The levers are familiar by now: hashed email and other identifiers (Enhanced Match sends hashed emails from the browser side when no Pinterest cookie is present), correct canonicalization per user data hashing, and the click ID preserved through the funnel. Score and drivers are covered in event quality score, and Pinterest's flavor of hashed browser matching in Enhanced Match setup.
For a one-off manual check, the free Pixel Activator sends valid test events to Pinterest without any server setup. When delivery must recur from a tracker or CRM with deduplication built in, connect Most.
Offline Conversions and Attribution Windows
Pinterest accepts in-store/offline conversions through the API as one of its three conversion kinds - and offers a no-code fallback: an offline conversions file uploaded in Ads Manager, attributed to campaigns from the file. Attribution runs on a configurable conversion window; where no window is selected, Pinterest reports 1-day view and 30-day click by default, and the settings are changed per ad account. Both topics have their own guides: Pinterest offline and in-store conversions and Pinterest attribution window reporting.
Automating Delivery: Keitaro, Pixel Activator, and Most
If the funnel runs through Keitaro, the tracker keeps the click identity and the delivery layer formats Pinterest's payload - the wiring is in the Keitaro Pinterest integration, with the Meta twin explaining the pattern. For manual single-shot tests, Pixel Activator is the zero-setup entry point. When delivery must always happen - retries, dedup, hashing, round-the-clock routing - that is Most. Teams delivering through server-side Google Tag Manager will find the payload rules translate directly: Pinterest Conversions API via server-side GTM is part of this cluster, and the error code guide covers what to do when Pinterest answers 400.
Pinterest Conversions API: Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently asked questions
Sources
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- Manual testing and validation: Pixel Activator fires free test events while you tune parameters.
- Automated delivery: Most routes conversions from your tracker or CRM continuously, with deduplication and retries handled.
