Passkey Adoption Reaches 36 Percent Globally
The latest FIDO Alliance index shows passkeys are now the preferred method for sign-ins, driving down phishing and SMS costs.
Updated on Oct. 30, 2026 in Cybersecurity
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The FIDO Alliance has published its 2026 Passkey Index, revealing that 36 percent of successful user sign-ins across 15 major platforms now utilize passkeys. The industry report confirms that passkey adoption is accelerating, with widespread improvements in both security and login efficiency.
Why it matters
Passkeys eliminate the risks of phishable passwords and improve transaction conversion rates for digital services. This data confirms the shift away from legacy authentication methods toward cryptographically secure, device-bound credentials.
Passkey authentication achieved a 93 percent success rate and is 2.8 times faster than traditional alternatives. Four organizations reported annual cost savings from reduced reliance on SMS one-time passwords, with figures ranging from $1 million to hundreds of millions of dollars.
The players
FIDO Alliance
An industry consortium focused on developing and promoting open standards for authentication to reduce reliance on passwords.
The details
Passkeys function by replacing shared secrets like passwords with public-key cryptography stored on user devices. When a user authenticates, their device signs a challenge from the server using a private key, proving identity without ever transmitting a password that could be intercepted. Organizations in the report increase adoption by making passkeys the default sign-in option and removing weaker legacy fallbacks like SMS-based codes.
Timeline
2025: Passkeys accounted for 26 percent of successful sign-ins.
2026: The FIDO Alliance released the 2026 Passkey Index.
Next 12 months: Nine of 13 surveyed organizations plan to offer passwordless account options.
The Tech Race
The report underscores a clear industry pivot toward passwordless standards, following the FIDO Alliance Passkey Index framework for credential security. This development tracks the broader race to deprecate vulnerable legacy MFA methods in favor of standardized, hardware-backed identity protocols.
Users can expect more services to prompt for passkey registration as organizations move to make them the default sign-in method. You will likely see fewer prompts for SMS one-time codes as platforms remove these legacy options to improve both security and login speed.
The takeaway
The data confirms that passwordless authentication is now a standard operational preference rather than an experimental feature. Stakeholders should track the shift among the remaining 13 surveyed organizations, as nine intend to transition to full passwordless account models within the next year.
Further reading
For more on the industry-wide move toward passwordless identity, visit our Cybersecurity section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Biometric Update.
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Do you trust passkeys more than traditional passwords to keep your online accounts secure?
