More Than Half of Americans Have Abandoned an Online Purchase Over Password Problems

Online shopping is supposed to be easy: Find what you want, add it to your cart, enter your payment information, and you’re done. But there’s one surprisingly simple thing that can bring the entire process to a halt: forgetting your password.

A new HostingAdvice survey of more than 1,000 U.S. adults found that 51% have abandoned an online purchase because they couldn’t remember their password or had trouble logging in.

Younger shoppers, in particular, seem to feel this frustration the most. Gen Z consumers are nearly twice as likely as Boomers to have abandoned a purchase because of login problems.

These revelations can pose a problem for online businesses. Security measures like passwords and MFA are necessary, but if logging in is the hardest part of making a purchase, many customers may simply decide it’s not worth their trouble, close the window, and never look back.

There is apparently a limit to how much password nonsense shoppers are willing to tolerate: More than half of Americans (51%) say they’ve abandoned an online purchase at some point because they couldn’t remember their password or had trouble logging in.

This goes well beyond a well-known inconvenience that many people have faced over the years: More than 1 in 3 (37%) say they’ve abandoned a purchase because of login trouble within the past year alone, including 16% who say they have within the past month.

Another 14% experienced password-related purchase abandonment more than a year ago. Meanwhile, 45% say they’ve never walked away from an online purchase for this reason, while about 4% don’t shop online at all.

Have you ever abandoned an online purchase because you couldn’t remember your password or had difficulty logging in?

51% of Americans have abandoned a purchase over login trouble.

But this specific annoyance doesn't always end with a single abandoned cart. More than half of respondents (51%) have been locked out of an account because of a password/login problem, and 42% have stopped using an account or website altogether because of it.

For an eCommerce business, this is a very avoidable place to lose a customer: They've already found the product, decided they wanted it, and made it all the way to checkout. Losing the sale because they couldn't remember the password is a particularly frustrating way for the transaction to end.

Nearly three-quarters of Gen Z adults (72%) have quit completing an online purchase because they couldn't remember a password or had trouble logging in.

That's a much higher rate than among older generations:

• 60% of Millennials
• 45% of Gen X
• 37% of Boomers

If you look at recent behavior, it actually gets even more interesting: More than half of Gen Z (56%) say they've abandoned a purchase because of login trouble within the past year, which compares to 47% for Millennials, 31% for Gen X, and just 23% for Boomers.

Have you ever abandoned an online purchase because you couldn’t remember your password or had difficulty logging in?

Gen Z is nearly twice as likely as Boomers to abandon purchases over login problems.

Gen Z isn't exactly known for having infinite patience for things that feel unnecessary, and passwords are no exception. Only 17% of Gen Z prefer passwords as their usual login method, compared with 41% of Boomers. Meanwhile, 38% of Gen Z prefer fingerprint or Face ID authentication, which is more than twice the amount of Boomers (17%).

The consensus is pretty clear: Younger shoppers may have less patience for login issues, and they're more likely to expect faster, easier ways to prove who they are. For Gen Z, typing out another password can start to feel like an unnecessary obstacle, especially when their phone can already recognize their face or fingerprint in a second.

Most people probably don't know exactly how many passwords they have. They just know that there are a lot of them — and the more accounts pile up, the harder it can be to remember which password goes where.

Among respondents with fewer than 10 passwords, 46% say they've abandoned an online purchase because of login trouble. That jumps to 57% among people managing 10 to 24 passwords, and reaches a whopping 69% among those juggling 25 to 49 passwords. Half (50%) say they've abandoned an online purchase because of login trouble within the past year.

Approximately how many different passwords do you currently have across all of your online accounts?

Consumers with more passwords are more likely to abandon purchases.

Remembering passwords, in general, is the biggest headache among Americans, with 32% calling it their biggest password-related grievance. Another 24% say the most annoying part is coming up with passwords that actually meet a website's requirements (such as minimum character requirement or special characters), while 14% say it's most annoying to keep resetting the passwords they've forgotten.

Businesses don't necessarily have to choose between security and convenience. Password managers, passkeys, biometric authentication, and simpler account recovery can go a long way by giving customers easier ways to log in without asking them to remember yet another password. Because when a customer is ready to buy something, a forgotten password should probably be the last thing that sends them looking elsewhere.

This survey of 1,000 Americans found that password problems are more than just an inconvenience. For some shoppers, they're enough to kill a purchase altogether.

More than half of Americans have abandoned an online transaction because of a password or login issue, and the problem is even more common among younger consumers. Nearly three-quarters of Gen Z say they've walked away from a purchase because they couldn't log in.

As shoppers get used to faster, smoother online experiences, clunky authentication could become another factor that businesses need to consider when it comes to cart abandonment.

Nobody wants to lose a sale because a customer forgot a password, and while businesses can't eliminate account security, they can make the process of getting back in a lot easier. Passkeys, biometrics, password managers, and better account recovery options all give customers a way to check out even if their memory fails them.

HostingAdvice.com surveyed more than 1,000 adults in August 2026 about their password habits, login preferences, and experiences with password-related problems.

Respondents were asked whether they had ever abandoned an online purchase because they couldn't remember their password or had trouble logging in. The survey also covered password reuse, password management, login preferences, and common password frustrations.

Results were analyzed overall and across demographic groups, including age, gender, and household income. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number, so totals may not always equal 100%.

For media inquiries, please reach out to dennis@hostingadvice.com.