--- title: "Website Maintenance Data Studies | Suff Digital" url: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/website-maintenance description: "12 original Website Maintenance studies from Suff Digital, each with its data source, method and sample size." lang: en --- Resources: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources Guides: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/guides News: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/news Data Studies: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies Data Studies # Website Maintenance Data Studies Research on the upkeep live websites need: outdated WordPress, Drupal and PHP versions, abandoned plugins, JavaScript libraries with known security flaws, missing security headers and firewalls, SSL gaps and expiring domain names. The data comes from the public HTTP Archive crawl of 15.5 million websites, Google's Chrome UX Report popularity ranking, the WordPress.org plugin directory and release list, websites linked from US Google Business Profiles, and public domain registration (WHOIS) records. Use it to see how common each problem is and what regular maintenance is worth to you. 12 studies ยท Need help acting on them? See our website maintenance services (https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-maintenance). 44.5% Website Maintenance ### 44.5% of WordPress Sites Are Behind the Latest Release, and Popular Sites Barely Do Better: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/outdated-wordpress-versions 44.5% of WordPress sites that show their version are not on the current 7.1 release, and 29.9% are more than one major release behind. The most visited WordPress sites are behind the latest release almost as often, at 41.4%. Sep 24, 2026 61.6% Website Maintenance ### 61.6% of Websites Skip HSTS, the Security Header That Forces Secure Connections: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/hsts-security-header-missing 61.6% of websites do not send HSTS, the one-line setting that tells browsers to always use a secure connection. Even among the 10,000 most popular sites, 48.7% skip it. Sep 24, 2026 48.1% Website Maintenance ### 48.1% of Websites That Show Their PHP Version Run One With No Security Fixes: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/end-of-life-php-versions 48.1% of websites that publish their PHP version run PHP 8.1 or older, releases that no longer receive security fixes. That is more than a million homepages, and a third of them are still on PHP 7 or PHP 5. Sep 24, 2026 28% Website Maintenance ### Nearly 3 in 10 Websites Load a JavaScript Library With a Known Security Flaw: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/vulnerable-javascript-libraries About 28% of websites, more than 4.3 million homepages, load a version of a common JavaScript library with a publicly documented security flaw. Old copies of jQuery account for the most websites, on 3,428,748 homepages. Sep 24, 2026 83% Website Maintenance ### 83% of PrestaShop Websites Showing a jQuery Version Run One With Known Flaws vs 36.1% Web-Wide: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/outdated-jquery-websites 83% of PrestaShop websites that show their jQuery version run one older than 3.5.0, the release that fixed two published security flaws, against 36.1% of all websites that show a version. Self-hosted store platforms lag the web, and so do the most visited websites: 44.3% of the top 10,000 that use jQuery run a flawed version. Sep 24, 2026 58% Website Maintenance ### 58% of Small Websites Have No Web Application Firewall vs 34.4% of the Top 10,000: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/small-business-web-application-firewall 58% of websites outside the 10 million most visited, the long tail where most small businesses sit, have no web application firewall or similar security layer in front of them. Among the 10,000 most visited websites, 34.4% have none. Sep 24, 2026 87.3% Website Maintenance ### 87.3% of Websites Using Bootstrap Run a Version That No Longer Gets Updates: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/outdated-bootstrap-websites 87.3% of websites that show their Bootstrap version run Bootstrap 4 or older, versions that no longer receive fixes. Bootstrap 3, unsupported since July 2019, is still the most common version, on 1,001,551 homepages. Sep 24, 2026 8.4% Website Maintenance ### 8.4% of Popular WordPress Sites Run a Plugin That Is Abandoned or Pulled for Security: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/abandoned-wordpress-plugins 8.4% of WordPress sites among the 500,000 most visited websites, about one in twelve, load a plugin that has not been updated in two years or that WordPress.org has closed for a security issue. The average WordPress homepage loads 5.2 plugins, and the security plugin most sites show is Really Simple SSL, installed on nearly all of the 11.4% that show one. Sep 24, 2026 26.6% Website Maintenance ### 27% of Drupal Websites Run a Version That No Longer Gets Security Fixes: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/drupal-version-health 26.6% of Drupal websites that show their version run Drupal 7, 8 or 9, releases that have reached end of life and no longer get security fixes. Drupal 7, retired in January 2025, is still the most common of the three. Sep 24, 2026 5% Website Maintenance ### Custom-Built Business Websites Go Without SSL Up to 16 Times as Often as WordPress Sites: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ssl-certificates-by-industry Custom-built law firm websites have no SSL certificate 5% of the time, more than 16 times the 0.3% of law firm websites on WordPress, and across six industries not one website built on Wix is without a certificate. Plumbing websites are the most likely to go without, at 3.3%, nearly twice the 1.8% of restaurant websites. Sep 24, 2026 17% Website Maintenance ### 17% of Accounting Firm Websites Run Outdated Software vs 4.7% of Restaurant Websites: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/website-health-by-industry 17% of accounting firm websites run outdated software, the highest rate of 15 industries and more than three times the 4.7% of restaurant websites. In every one of the 15 industries, websites built on WordPress are out of date more often than websites on other platforms. Sep 24, 2026 11.5% Website Maintenance ### Small Business Website Upkeep: 11.5% of Domain Names Are Due to Expire Within 60 Days: https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/small-business-website-upkeep 11.5% of small business domain names were due to expire within 60 days, and 73% come up for renewal within a year. The rest of the upkeep list is just as easy to miss: 8.5% of small business websites link to their own dead pages, 3.8% fail a security certificate check and 1.4% break with a server error on an inner page. Sep 24, 2026 Make Search Your Best Channel ## Stop guessing. Start growing. Get a tailored growth plan for your site, backed by a senior team with 20+ years shipping results. Get Your Free Proposal (https://www.suffdigital.com/get-a-proposal) ## Structured data ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization", "name": "Suff Digital", "alternateName": "Suff Digital Marketing", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "contentUrl": "https://www.suffdigital.com/logo.png", "caption": "Suff Digital" }, "image": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#logo" }, "description": "Suff Digital is a full-stack digital marketing agency that turns websites into predictable revenue engines, SEO, paid media, content, CRO, and web design built around revenue, not vanity metrics.", "slogan": "Digital marketing built for what's next.", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "foundingDate": "2022", "founder": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Matt Suffoletto", "jobTitle": "Founder & CEO" }, "contactPoint": [ { "@type": "ContactPoint", "telephone": "+1-629-236-0099", "email": "hello@suffdigital.com", "contactType": "sales", "areaServed": "US", "availableLanguage": [ "en" ] } ], "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "addressLocality": "Nashville", "addressRegion": "TN", "postalCode": "37219", "addressCountry": "US" }, "areaServed": { "@type": "Country", "name": "United States" }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/suff-digital/", "https://www.instagram.com/suffdigital/", "https://www.youtube.com/@suffdigitalmarketing", "https://www.tiktok.com/@suffdigital" ], "knowsAbout": [ "Search Engine Optimization", "Pay-Per-Click Advertising", "Paid Social Advertising", "Conversion Rate Optimization", "Web Design", "Digital PR", "Link Building", "Website Migration", "Website Maintenance and Support", "Technical SEO", "Local SEO", "AI Search Optimization" ], "hasOfferCatalog": { "@type": "OfferCatalog", "name": "Suff Digital Services", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Search Engine Optimization (SEO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/ppc" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Paid Social Advertising", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/paid-social" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/cro" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Web Design", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/web-design" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Digital PR & Link Building", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/digital-pr" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Migration", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-migration" } }, { "@type": "Offer", "itemOffered": { "@type": "Service", "name": "Website Maintenance & Support", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/services/website-maintenance" } } ] } }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#website", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/", "name": "Suff Digital", "inLanguage": "en-US", "publisher": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#organization" } } ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "CollectionPage", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/website-maintenance#webpage", "url": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/website-maintenance", "name": "Website Maintenance Data Studies", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/#website" }, "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/website-maintenance#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/website-maintenance#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://www.suffdigital.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Resources", "item": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Data Studies", "item": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Website Maintenance", "item": "https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/website-maintenance" } ] } ] } ] ```