You may be very familiar with passkeys – or not at all. Such is the case for all emerging technologies, including this more secure alternative to passwords for logging into websites and apps. But the ranks of those who are familiar are certainly growing, according to anonymous user data collected by Dashlane, maker of a password manager app that also supports passkeys.
Here's a quick description for those who aren't familiar with the tech. Passkeys use encryption technology to create two unique mathematical values, or "keys" - one on a website or app, and one on your computer, phone, or other gadget. Instead of entering a username and password to log in, you authorize the site or app to check if you have the right passkey to unlock access to your account. There are no passwords to forget, or lose in a data breach, or be easily guessed by an automated hacking program because you chose one like "Pa$$word123."
Read more: New Password Guidelines Issued for Staying Ahead of Hackers
A passkey boom – in relative terms
Dashlane's second annual report, called the "Dashlane Passkey Power 20" and released today, shows a big uptick in use among its customers. How big? Among Dashlane users, passkey logins to Google grew more than threefold (352%) in the past year and accounted for about half of all the passkey logins recorded. If you have encountered passkeys, it very well may have been on a Google site. The company made passkeys the default login method for personal accounts in 2023, and it persistently nudges everyone to shift over to the tech.
Dashlane actually put Google in its own bucket when calculating the results. In the other bucket, of all other sites, Amazon commands 39.9% of logins – the biggest by far. Commerce or finance sites account for five of the next six sites: Intuit, eBay, BoursoBank, and crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance.
Google's cloud rival Microsoft has been far behind, according to Dashlane. Its domain did not crack the top 20. But its passkey use has shot up since it also made passkeys the default in May 2025. (Microsoft-owned software developer site GitHub is number three in the top 20.) Microsoft was the fifth-fastest-growing site over the past three months, according to Dashlane's data, with passkey sign-ups up 120%. But it was blown away by gaming site Roblox, up 856%.
What does this mean for you?
If you aren't yet familiar with passkeys, you probably will be soon, as more and more sites are pushing them harder and harder. Their motivations are obvious: Passkeys are harder to hack and promise to reduce the number of customer support calls when people forget their username and/or password.
But Dashlane's data is tempered in a few ways. First, it's a subset of users who have chosen to pay for a password manager app. That's far fewer than the number of people who use the free Google Password Manager or Apple Passwords. Even if you haven't heard of those apps, you still might be using them, as they kick on by default, offering to create, store, and autofill usernames and passwords – and now do the same for passkeys. What's more, Dashlane has a large contingent of business clients, and companies are typically stricter about security measures than the average consumer. So the relative growth of passkey adoption among Dashlane users is an interesting indicator of how the technology is spreading, but it may not reflect the rate in the wider world.
The second factor is that passkeys are still relatively rare. Dashlane's Passkey Directory lists just 124 sites or apps in the entire world that support the tech. Dashlane is one of several companies and organizations that maintain directories, and none of them claim to have a complete list. I found 329 when I collated several of these lists back in August. The number may have grown since then, but it's certainly no match for the total number of sites on the internet.
That said, many of the biggest and most sensitive sites are embracing the technology. Our digital lives are housed with the big cloud providers and device makers like Google, Apple, and Microsoft. And our money and financial data are tied to sites like Amazon, Intuit, eBay, Lowe's, Home Depot, Target, and PayPal – all of which offer passkeys.
The cryptographic technology behind passkeys makes them undeniably safer than a password (even when the latter is used with a two-factor code sent to your phone). So they are worth getting familiar with and introducing into your digital life, starting with the most important online services you use.
[Image credit: Image credit: Sean Captain/Techlicious via ChatGPT]
