Top Analytics Debugging Tools in 2025

In today's data-driven world, even GTM beginners and specialists can find themselves uncertain after implementation, often asking questions like:
“Where can I test if the events are firing correctly?” or “How do I view and verify user interactions?”

In this blog, we’ll cover top analytics essential debugging tools and techniques that help you identify and resolve tracking issues with greater precision, ensuring your setup is both accurate and reliable.

1. GA4 Debugger

The GA4 Debugger Extension is a free Chrome browser tool developed by Google that helps you validate GA4 event tracking in real time. It enables a special "debug mode" for your device, allowing you to view your activity in the GA4 DebugView without affecting live analytics data.

Advantages

• Interaction done by the user can be instantly visible in the debug view.
• Just one click and we can easily validate the event level and user property level parameters in the GA4 debug view.
• Events are displayed in sequential order per user session, making it easy to follow the sequence of user interaction
• We can easily identify our own device when multiple people are testing the same feature, as DebugView displays the device name.
• To view your device in GA4 DebugView, there are two methods: using GTM Preview Mode or the GA4 Debugger extension. The GA4 Debugger extension is simpler and doesn’t require any knowledge of Google Tag Manager.

How to use

• Download the GA4 Debugger extension from this link.
• Open the website you want to test and activate the extension by clicking on it once.
• In GA4, go to Admin → DebugView.
• Select your device from the list (as shown in the screenshot below)
• Once selected, you’ll start seeing default events firing in real time, along with their timestamps

2.  Tag assistant

Tag Assistant is a free Chrome browser extension by Google that helps you validate, debug, and troubleshoot the installation of various Google tags on your website, including GA4, Google ads, GTM and other Google marketing tags

Advantages

• You can test your implementation before it goes live using Tag Assistant.
• It allows you to validate tags without impacting the live website or its data.
• The tool captures step-by-step user interactions, making it easier to troubleshoot.
• You can also share the preview link with team members so they can review and test the setup as well.

How to use

• Install the tag assistant from this link
• Click on the extension and enable it for troubleshooting.
• Now, click on the troubleshoot icon, which will open a new tag assistant window where you need to add the domain URL of the site (or app) you want to test and click “Connect.”
• The extension will show which tags are present and firing correctly.
• For the GTM users, click the top-right corner, and click the “Preview” button. This will open the tag assistant window.
• In the Tag Assistant window, enter the URL of the site (or app) you want to test and click “Connect.”

3. TagHound

Tag Hound is a browser extension designed to help debug and audit marketing tags on websites. It works by scanning web pages for analytics and advertising tags like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Google Ads, LinkedIn Insight, and others that shows you which tags are firing, what data is being sent with each tags, errors, etc

Advantages

• Detects broken, duplicated, or missing tags, helping ensure accurate and reliable reporting.
• Especially useful for managing large sites or multiple clients, allowing for faster and more efficient tag audits.
• Provides easy-to-read summaries showing which tags are present on each page, perfect for sharing with clients or internal teams.
• Helps you stay compliant with regulations like GDPR and CCPA by detecting unauthorized trackers.

How to use

• Install the TagHound Extension from the provided link.
• Open the webpage you want to audit, then open Chrome Developer Tools
• Navigate to the TagHound tab in Developer Tools. Here, you'll see all tag-related data and requests displayed in a human-readable format, making it easy to understand and share with team members or clients, no technical expertise required.

4. Omnibug

Omnibug is a free, open-source browser extension designed to help digital marketers, analysts, and developers debug and validate marketing and analytics tags directly within their browser's Developer Tools. It supports major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge

Advantages

• Simply install the extension and interact with the website, and events will start firing automatically
• Allows you to save session data as a file for later analysis or to share with colleagues.
• Shows not just the events but also the exact data sent with each event, such as User IDs, event names, and parameters.
• Compatible with major analytics and marketing tools, including GA4, Google Ads, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn, and others.
• We can easily filter the requests as per the requirement.

How to use

• Install the Omnibug Extension from the link.
• Open the webpage you want to track, then open Chrome Developer Tools
• Navigate to the Omnibug tab within Developer Tools. This tab displays all data and requests from the page in a clear, easy-to-understand format, with no technical expertise needed

5. Observe Point:

The ObservePoint Debugger is a free Chrome extension designed to help you troubleshoot and validate analytics and marketing tags directly within your browser. It captures both page-load and event-triggered requests, presenting them in a human-readable format to facilitate easy debugging of tags, variables, events, and cookies

Advantages

• The extension parses complex network requests into an easy-to-understand format, eliminating the need for manual decoding.
• Monitor user interactions such as clicks and form submissions to ensure event tags are firing correctly.
• For each tag, you can inspect variables, account IDs, categories, HTTP status codes, request/response sizes, and latency.
• Export your debugging session data to Excel for further analysis or sharing with team members.

How to use

• Install the ObservePoint Debugger from this link
• Navigate to the website you want to test, then open Chrome Developer Tools
• Within Developer Tools, select the ObservePoint tab.
• Reload the webpage to start capturing tag data.
• Click on individual tags to view detailed information, including variables and network requests

6. Adswerve Datalayer Inspector+:

The Adswerve DataLayer Inspector+ is a free Chrome extension designed to assist digital marketers, analysts, and developers in debugging and validating analytics and marketing tags directly within their browser's Developer Tools. It provides real-time, information-rich insights into dataLayer activity and Google Analytics hits as they occur.

Advantages

• Observe dataLayer pushes and Google Analytics hits in real-time within the Developer Tools console
• For each tag, you can inspect variables, account IDs, categories, HTTP status codes, request/response sizes, and latency.
• Monitor user interactions such as clicks and form submissions to ensure event tags are firing correctly
• The extension parses complex network requests into an easy-to-understand format, eliminating the need for manual decoding

How to use

• Add the Adswerve DataLayer Inspector+ from this link
• Navigate to the website you want to test, and turn on the extension
• Select your preferred options from the list provided in the extension, then click "Save" to apply the changes.
• Verify the details in the developer console.

Conclusion:

Debugging your tracking implementation doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Equipped with the right browser extensions, teams can now spot issues instantly, validate data layer pushes, monitor events in real time, and ensure flawless tag performance, without touching live data.

To know the health of your Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, let's get in touch, our experts will help to find out gaps between the tracking & provide a possible resolution.