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Guide 202 · Setup · GA4 + Tag Manager

Get access to the GA4 demo account: two real properties, Viewer role, no setup

Written November 12, 2026 · 6-minute read

Learn and practise on real ecommerce data before you touch a live property. The demo account gives you two GA4 properties with typical traffic, content and transaction data, so you can read reports, build segments and run explorations without a tag, a data stream or any setup on a site of your own.

Expected signal

After step 3, the account selector in Analytics lists the demo account. Inside it, the Google Merchandise Store property shows web data and the Flood-It! property shows app and web data.

Download the reference: the demo account reference (JSON) (1007 bytes, MD5 85096df16adc2e50e1e25fc27fab1e84). The two properties, the Viewer role and the removal steps in one file: 2 properties and 4 limitations, 2 + 4 = 6 entries to scan first.

What you need

  • A Google account. You sign in with one to open the demo account, or create one when the sign-in screen offers it.
  • An access link. The links sit on the Demo account page in Analytics Help. One link opens the Merchandise Store property first, the other opens Flood-It! first.
  • Room under the account limit. The demo account counts against the maximum of 2,000 Analytics accounts for one Google account.
  • Nothing of your own. No site, no tag, no property and no data stream. The data belongs to two Google businesses, not to you.
  • A reading job in mind. Every user gets the Viewer role, so plan work that reads reports and explorations. Configuration changes are out of reach by design.

The trace

  1. Click an access link. Open Analytics Help — Demo account and click the access link for the property you want first: Google Merchandise Store for web data, or Flood-It! for app and web data. You can switch to the other property later.
  2. Sign in. Sign in to a Google account when prompted, or create a Google account and then sign in. The demo account attaches to that Google account.
  3. Let Google add the account. If you already have an Analytics account, Google adds the demo account to it. If you do not have one, Google creates an Analytics account for you and adds the demo account to the new account. From then on, pick the demo account and its properties in the account selector at the top of Analytics.
  4. Read the Merchandise Store property. Open the standard reports. The property holds traffic source data, content data and transaction data from an ecommerce store that sells Google-branded merchandise. The data is obfuscated, but it is typical of a real store, so report shapes and field names match a live property.
  5. Read the Flood-It! property. Open the games reporting for Flood-It!, a puzzle game. This property holds calculated metrics, events data such as level completion and level resets, and ecommerce data from in-app purchases, across the app and the website.
  6. Run two kinds of exploration. Run a funnel exploration to see where users enter a funnel and where they drop off. Then run an ad-hoc exploration: add segments, dimensions and metrics to the canvas and read the result. Both properties support this work.
  7. Work inside the Viewer role. You can see reporting data and configuration settings. Inside a report you can filter a table, add a secondary dimension and create a segment. You can create personal assets such as custom reports and see shared assets, but you cannot collaborate on shared assets, and you cannot change configuration.

Dead ends

DEAD END — EXPECTING TO EDIT CONFIGURATION OR CREATE EVENTS AND AUDIENCES. The Viewer role blocks it. You can read configuration settings in the demo account, but you cannot change them, so event and audience creation has nowhere to save. Do that work in a property you own.

DEAD END — EXPECTING TO PULL DEMO DATA THROUGH THE DATA API OR EXPORT A REPORT. Both routes are closed by design. The properties have no report or exploration export, and the Analytics Data API cannot be used with the demo account — a call returns a permissions error. Read the data on screen instead.

DEAD END — HUNTING FOR YOUR OWN SITE'S DATA IN THE DEMO ACCOUNT. Your data is not there. The account holds data from the Google Merchandise Store and Flood-It! only. Use it to learn the interface on real data. It is not a sandbox copy of your property.

End state

The demo account sits in your account selector with two readable properties: the Google Merchandise Store for web ecommerce data and Flood-It! for app and web game data. You hold the Viewer role in both. To leave, open the demo property, go to Admin, then Account access management, and click Remove myself. You can add the account again later by clicking an access link again.

Sources

  • Analytics Help — Demo account — the access links and sign-in flow, the two properties and where their data comes from, the 2,000-account limit, the Viewer role, the limitations on export, device ID, User Exploration and the Data API, and the Remove myself steps