Demo mode vs. Live mode, explained

New Renta accounts start in Demo mode: a practice version of your business where bookings, payments, and customers are all fake, so you can try everything risk-free before real money is involved. Once you're ready, you switch to Live mode and start taking real customer payments.

Where to find it

Demo mode shows an orange bar at the top of every admin page reading "Demo Mode — X days remaining" while you're in your trial. Once you complete Going live, that trial bar disappears.

The always-on Demo Mode bar shown across the admin while a business is still in Demo

How it works

• Demo mode starts a 14-day countdown from the moment you first log in.
• While in Demo, any payments you take go through Stripe's test system — a copy of the real checkout that uses fake card numbers instead of real ones, so no money actually changes hands.
• Fleet items, customers, and bookings you create in Demo are separate from your real ("Live") data. Nothing you do in Demo mode can accidentally charge a real customer.
• Even after you go Live, staff can still switch back to view the Demo data — a permanent bar stays on screen any time you're looking at Demo data, so it's never ambiguous which one you're viewing.

For example: if you add a jet ski to your fleet and take a test booking while in Demo mode, that booking and the "payment" for it exist only in your practice account. Once you go Live, you'd add your real jet skis and take real bookings separately — see Moving your demo setup into Live to bring over anything from Demo you want to keep.

Good to know

• The 14-day countdown only affects your trial, not the ability to switch between viewing Demo and Live data later — that stays available to staff even after go-live.
• Demo mode is always clearly labeled on screen — if you ever see real customer names or a payment total that looks wrong, check the Demo/Live pill first.