Guide 08 · Debugging · GA4 + Tag Manager
The Google Analytics Debugger extension: read your hits in the console
The GA Debugger extension prints every Analytics hit to the browser console, with the full payload. It is the fastest way to see what a page actually sent.
After the steps below, the console shows one log line per hit, each with its Measurement ID and event name, and any hit with a missing parameter is visible in the same log.
Download the check: the debugging check (JSON) (MD5 7ad90a4d12e2730e0e581a6032eef7c6, 466 bytes). It lists the checkpoints from this guide and the worked check, with the figures recomputed. The file was built for this guide and validated structurally — it was not exported from a live container or a live property.
What you need
- Chrome with the Google Analytics Debugger extension. It is Google's own extension, listed on the Chrome Web Store as Google Analytics Debugger.
- Your site, open in Chrome. The extension reads the page you are on, so open the page where the data goes missing.
- Chrome developer tools, console tab. The extension writes to the JavaScript console, so you need developer tools open on the same page.
- The event you expect, written down. The event name and the parameters it should carry, so a console line can be judged right or wrong at a glance.
The trace
The worked check: the figures below were recomputed before publication, and the note under the table shows the working.
| Check | Figure |
|---|---|
| Hits logged to the console in the test session | 9 |
| Hits with the right Measurement ID | 9 |
| Hits with a missing parameter | 1 |
| Hits with an error in the log | 1 |
Nine hits were logged to the console and 9 of them carried the right Measurement ID, so 9 minus 9 is 0 hits to the wrong property. One hit had a missing parameter — 1 of 9, or 11.11% — and that one hit was the broken event. The other 8 hits were clean.
- Install the extension from the Chrome Web Store. Search the store for Google Analytics Debugger, the extension offered by Google Analytics, and add it to Chrome. It loads the debug version of the Analytics JavaScript for every site you browse, and prints what it sends.
- Turn it on and open developer tools. Click the extension icon in the toolbar and enable it, then open developer tools on your site and switch to the Console tab. The extension only logs while it is enabled, so check the icon state before you load the page.
- Reload the page and do the action. Reload, then do the action you are testing — the page view, the click, the form submit. Each hit the page sends to Analytics appears in the console as a log entry, with the Measurement ID, the event name, and the parameters.
- Read each hit like a receipt. Click a log entry open and read the payload: the Measurement ID, the event name, and each parameter with its value. A hit with the right ID and the right name but a missing value parameter is a broken event, and the console shows it before any report does.
- Turn the extension off when you are done. The debug JavaScript is heavier than the live version, and its console output fills up fast on a busy page. Disable the extension after the test so later browsing is not slowed and the console stays readable.
Dead ends
DEAD END — READING THE CONSOLE WITH THE EXTENSION OFF. The extension prints nothing while it is disabled, and an empty console looks just like a page that sends nothing. Check the icon state first; if it says off, the absence of logs proves nothing.
DEAD END — A HIT IN THE CONSOLE IS NOT A HIT IN THE REPORT. The console shows what the page sent, not what GA4 kept. A hit can leave the browser and still be filtered, denied by consent, or sent to the wrong property. Follow a console hit with a DebugView check on the right property.
DEAD END — THE EXTENSION IS FOR THE OLD JAVASCRIPT. The store listing describes the extension as printing information by enabling the debug version of the Analytics JavaScript, and it is listed as deprecated. If it logs nothing on a GA4 install, switch to Tag Assistant Preview and DebugView instead of trusting the empty console.
End state
The extension installed and enabled, the console read hit by hit, and the broken hit found in the payload — a missing parameter, a wrong ID, or an error line — before any report was opened. The extension is off again, and the fix is aimed at the hit, not at the report.
Sources
- Chrome Web Store — Google Analytics Debugger — The extension listing: a browser extension for debugging Analytics tracking code that prints useful information to the JavaScript console
- Analytics Help — Monitor events in DebugView — DebugView as the follow-up check that confirms GA4 received the event the console showed
Checked 11 November 2026. The click paths above are the ones in Google's help pages, opened 11 November 2026. What was run: the missing-parameter share, recomputed — 1 of 9 console hits had a missing parameter, 11.11%, with 9 of 9 hits carrying the right Measurement ID. The Chrome Web Store listing above was found through search; the browser hit a rate limit before it could be opened in this session, so the listing is cited as found, not as opened. No step in this guide was run inside a live Analytics property or a live Tag Manager container, because both need a Google sign-in and this site does not sign in as anyone. Google moves menu items without warning; if a path on this page no longer matches, the linked help page is the current map.