Security Used by UK E-Commerce Companies: Market Share (2026)

Detected Security usage across 2,148 UK e-commerce companies, with reCAPTCHA leading at 81.9% of detected companies.

61,187 trading UK e-commerce companies sit in scope, and 2,148 have a detectable Security system across 17 systems. reCAPTCHA accounts for 81.9% of detected companies, or 1,759 companies, while hCaptcha is second at 9.8% and 210 companies.

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Wordfence, Akismet, CleanTalk and Akamai Bot Manager each sit below 4% of detected companies, with 72, 70, 57 and 53 companies respectively. A further 9 systems cover 44 companies, so the remainder is a long tail rather than a balanced split.

reCAPTCHA has the largest share in every headcount band: 81.6% of 1,469 companies under 10 employees, 82.9% of 642 companies in the 10–50 band, and 75.7% of 37 companies over 50 employees. The over-50 employee band is small, so that split is better read as directional than as a full large-retailer benchmark.

2,148

e-commerce with detected Security

Of 61,187 UK e-commerce

3.5%

Detection rate

2026

17

Systems detected

In this category

81.9%

Leader share

reCAPTCHA

UK E-Commerce Security market share

Other (9 systems)

Share of the 2,148 UK E-Commerce with a detectable system. As of June 2026.

Security compared

SystemUK E-CommerceShareMedian headcountLondon shareTypical profile
reCAPTCHA1,75981.9%616.4%6-employee merchants, 81.9% share
hCaptcha2109.8%624.8%6-employee merchants, 9.8% share
Wordfence723.4%69.7%6-employee merchants, 3.4% share
Akismet703.3%612.9%6-employee merchants, 3.3% share
CleanTalk572.7%77%7-employee merchants, 2.7% share
Akamai Bot Manager532.5%334%3-employee merchants, 2.5% share
Sucuri291.4%View these companies in Firmbase →
WP Guardian150.7%View these companies in Firmbase →
Trustwave140.7%View these companies in Firmbase →
FingerprintJS120.6%View these companies in Firmbase →
Imperva120.6%View these companies in Firmbase →
TrustedSite90.4%View these companies in Firmbase →
Sectigo TrustLogo80.4%View these companies in Firmbase →
DataDome70.3%View these companies in Firmbase →
Drata10%View these companies in Firmbase →
Arkose Labs10%View these companies in Firmbase →
HackerOne10%View these companies in Firmbase →

Systems detected below the page threshold appear with counts only; their full lists are available in the Firmbase app.

Market leader by size

The leading Security system shifts with company size: among UK E-Commerce with under 10 employees, reCAPTCHA leads at 81.6% of the 1,469 with a detectable system; among UK E-Commerce with 10–50 employees, reCAPTCHA leads at 82.9% of the 642 with a detectable system; and among UK E-Commerce with over 50 employees, reCAPTCHA leads at 75.7% of the 37 with a detectable system.

Under 10 employees

reCAPTCHA

81.6% of band

Small e-commerce companies make up 1,469 detections, and reCAPTCHA has 81.6% of the band. The remaining share is split across hCaptcha, Wordfence, Akismet, CleanTalk, Akamai Bot Manager and smaller systems rather than one close challenger.

10–50 employees

reCAPTCHA

82.9% of band

The 10–50 employee band has 642 detections, with reCAPTCHA at 82.9%. hCaptcha and smaller anti-spam or bot-management systems appear as alternatives, but the distribution remains concentrated.

Over 50 employees

reCAPTCHA

75.7% of band

Only 37 detections sit above 50 employees, so individual movements can alter shares. reCAPTCHA still has the largest share at 75.7%, with the rest spread across the smaller named systems and the long tail.

How Security usage is detected

Methodology

Company data

Detected companies are joined to UK Companies House records and XBRL accounts data. Revenue and headcount figures come from the most recent filed accounts; where the company has not filed, values are estimated using a model trained on filed history and peer benchmarks and are labelled as estimates.

Detection

Firmbase crawls the public website of actively-trading UK companies and fingerprints the technologies present: tracking scripts, embedded forms, chat widgets, CMS markers and similar signatures. A company is included in this list when one or more of the technology's signatures are found on its site; closely-related variants of the same product are grouped under one name. Detection covers what is visible on the public web — a company using the technology purely internally, with no website footprint, will not appear. Counts are therefore a conservative floor, not a ceiling.

Freshness

Websites are re-crawled on a rolling basis and the underlying company data is refreshed from Companies House continuously; filings appear within days of submission. The list and its statistics are regenerated when the detected cohort moves meaningfully. You can see the last-updated timestamp near the top of the page.

All product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Firmbase is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any trademark owner.

UK E-Commerce by Security

Related directories

Frequently asked questions

What is the most-used Security among UK e-commerce companies?
reCAPTCHA is the most-detected Security among UK e-commerce companies, with 81.9% share (1,759 of 2,148 companies with a detectable system), ahead of hCaptcha (9.8%) and Wordfence (3.4%).
How many UK e-commerce companies have a detectable Security?
2,148 of 61,187 actively-trading UK e-commerce companies (3.5%) have a Security detectable from their public website. The remainder either run systems with no public web footprint or none at all, so detected share figures are a conservative floor.
What is a Security?
A Security system for UK e-commerce companies is the site layer used to screen automated traffic, spam submissions, suspicious log-ins and checkout abuse. In this category, usage is mostly detection of CAPTCHA, anti-spam, bot-management and site-protection systems rather than wider internal security tooling.
How is Security usage detected?
Firmbase crawls the public website of every actively-trading company in this scope and fingerprints the technologies present — scripts, widgets, booking and checkout flows. A company is attributed to a system when that system's signatures are found; systems with no public web footprint are not attributable, which is why every share figure on this page means share of companies with a detectable system.
Which has more UK e-commerce companies, reCAPTCHA or hCaptcha?
reCAPTCHA: 1,759 detected companies versus 210 for hCaptcha, of the 2,148 UK e-commerce companies with a detectable Security.
What is the best Security for UK e-commerce companies?
This page publishes usage data rather than recommendations: reCAPTCHA has 81.9% of detected usage, with 1,759 of 2,148 companies, followed by hCaptcha at 9.8% and 210 companies. By band, reCAPTCHA has the largest share among Under 10 employees at 81.6% of 1,469 companies, 10–50 employees at 82.9% of 642 companies, and Over 50 employees at 75.7% of 37 companies.

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