Pages requesting a broken image (4xx/5xx), by platform (Sept 2026, top 1M, mobile)
| Platform | Broken image | Pages |
|---|---|---|
| Other/custom | 14.2% | 1,078,571 |
| WordPress | 12.1% | 222,205 |
| Shopify | 11.2% | 93,268 |
| Webflow | 6.7% | 4,671 |
| Wix | 2.9% | 1,705 |
| Squarespace | 2.8% | 998 |
| All pages | 13.6% | 1,401,418 |
Source: PageSpeed Matters, Sept 2026. Homepages and inner pages; tracking pixels included.
Summary
A broken image is an image request the server cannot fulfil. The browser asks for the file, waits, and gets an error instead. Visitors may see an empty box or a broken icon, and every failed request still costs a round trip to the server.
We checked every image request on 1,401,418 pages in the top 1M. 13.6% of them (190,923 pages) request at least one image that fails with a 4xx or 5xx error. Nearly all of those failures are missing files, hosted site builders have far fewer of them, and popularity makes little difference.
What we measured
We looked at the HTTP Archive crawl from September 2026, mobile, which covers the top 1M sites by Chrome traffic. It includes both homepages and inner pages, 1,401,418 pages in total. We checked every image request and flagged a page when any image returned a 4xx or 5xx status code.
Platform and popularity come from the same crawl, and Core Web Vitals pass rates come from Chrome UX Report field data where it is available.
Two limits apply. Tracking pixels are images too, so they are included, which means not every broken image is one a visitor would see. And the Core Web Vitals comparison is a correlation only.
About one in seven pages requests a broken image
Of 1,401,418 top 1M pages, 190,923 request at least one image that returns a 4xx or 5xx error. That is 13.6%, roughly one page in seven.
Almost all of those are missing files. 11.3% of pages request an image that returns a 404, while only 0.3% (4,187 pages) hit an image server error. So the typical broken image is not an outage. It is a file that was moved, renamed or deleted while something still points to it: a theme setting, an old post, a hard-coded logo path or a third-party tag.
A smaller group has the problem at scale. 1.2% of pages (16,905) request five or more broken images, which usually points to a template or a gallery that references files that no longer exist.
13.6%
Share of 1,401,418 top 1M pages that request at least one image returning a 4xx or 5xx error.
Hosted builders have far fewer broken images
Platform makes a large difference. Only 2.8% of 998 Squarespace pages and 2.9% of 1,705 Wix pages request a broken image, and Webflow sits at 6.7% of 4,671 pages.
The rate is much higher elsewhere: 11.2% of 93,268 Shopify pages, 12.1% of 222,205 WordPress pages and 14.2% of 1,078,571 pages on other platforms.
The likely reason is that hosted builders manage images inside their own media systems, so the paths a page uses are created and updated by the platform. On WordPress, Shopify and custom sites, image paths can be typed into themes, posts, apps and scripts by hand, and nothing checks them when a file goes away. The builder groups are also much smaller, so their figures carry more uncertainty.
Homepages are slightly worse, and popularity barely matters
Homepages are a little more likely to have the problem than inner pages. 14.5% of 782,850 homepages request a broken image, against 12.5% of 618,568 inner pages. One likely reason is that homepages often carry more third-party tags and images, which gives them more chances to reference a missing file.
Site popularity does not change the picture much. 11.8% of pages on Top 1K sites request a broken image, against 14.0% in the Top 10K, 14.3% in the Top 100K and 13.6% across the whole top 1M. Even the biggest sites are not immune.
Broken images go with slightly lower pass rates
Pages with a broken image pass Core Web Vitals a little less often. 44.8% of the 109,600 such pages with Chrome UX Report data pass, against 47.1% of the 770,754 pages without one.
The gap is small and it is a correlation. A failed image request on its own rarely decides whether a page passes. A more likely reading is that broken images are a sign of a page that is not regularly checked, and such pages often have other issues too.
What this means for your site
Broken images are easy to find and usually easy to fix.
- Open a key page in your browser's developer tools, reload with the network panel open, filter to images and sort by status. Anything with a 4xx or 5xx status is broken.
- Run a site crawler across the whole site to list every image that returns an error, and the pages that use it.
- For each one, restore the file, update the path, or remove the reference. Check your theme settings and templates first, since one bad path there can affect every page.
- If the failing request is a tracking pixel, check whether the tool behind it is still in use, and remove the tag if not.
Make the check part of routine maintenance, especially after a redesign, a migration or a media library cleanup.
Sources
- HTTP Archive crawl of the top 1M sites by Chrome traffic, September 2026, mobile
- Chrome UX Report (CrUX) field data, September 2026
- MDN Web Docs, 404 Not Found: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTTP/Status/404
Embed this research
Paste this on your site to embed the chart. It links back to the source automatically.
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<script>window.addEventListener("message",function(e){if(e&&e.data&&e.data.psmEmbed==="broken-image-statistics"&&e.data.height){var f=document.getElementById("psm-broken-image-statistics");if(f){f.style.height=e.data.height+"px";}}});</script>
<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.pagespeedmatters.com/resources/data-studies/broken-image-statistics">Broken Image Statistics 2026: 13.6% of Top 1M Pages - PageSpeed Matters</a></p>
Frequently asked questions
How common are broken images on websites?
13.6% of 1,401,418 top 1M pages (190,923) request at least one image that fails with a 4xx or 5xx error. 1.2% request five or more.
What causes most broken images?
Missing files. 11.3% of pages request an image that returns a 404, while only 0.3% hit an image server error.
Which platforms have the fewest broken images?
Hosted builders. 2.8% of Squarespace pages and 2.9% of Wix pages request a broken image, against 11.2% of Shopify, 12.1% of WordPress and 14.2% of pages on other platforms.
How do I find broken images on my site?
Reload a page with your browser's network panel open, filter to images and look for 4xx or 5xx status codes. A site crawler can list every failing image across the whole site.
Broken images are one of the easiest maintenance problems to find and fix, and a regular crawl stops them from piling up. Need help with this? See our website maintenance services.