What a typical startup homepage scores on a phone: 493 YC sites checked

Checked October 28, 2026 · 493 YC startups · phone and desktop · no site named

We loaded the home pages of 493 Y Combinator startups on a phone and a desktop, found the main button (sign up, book a demo, get started) and tapped it. The typical site scores 95 out of 100 on 10 checks. 128 of 493 (26%) passed all 10. 31% show no sign-up or demo button on the first phone screen. The typical home page loads in 2.3 seconds on a phone and 2.6 on a desktop. No site is named on this page.

95median score out of 100, across 493 sites

31%show no sign-up or demo button on the first phone screen (153 of 493)

26%passed all 10 checks (128 of 493)

2.3smedian phone load time (desktop 2.6s)

How scores spread

Each site gets a score out of 100 from 10 checks a first-time visitor would notice. About 65% score 90 or more, so a score under 90 puts a site in the bottom 35%.

Band	Score	Share of sites	Sites
Good	90 to 100	65%	319 of 493
Fair	75 to 89	32%	156 of 493
Needs work	under 75	4%	18 of 493

What fails most

The most common problems, out of the sites where we could run each check: main button too small to tap (35%); no main button on the first phone screen (32%); slow to load (26%).

The check	Sites that fail it	Sites	Points
A sign-up, demo or get-started button on the first phone screen	32%	153 of 474	20
The main button does something when tapped	1%	2 of 393	25
Nothing covers the main button	4%	14 of 381	15
The main button is at least 44px tall on a phone	35%	124 of 351	5
The page fits a phone screen	0%	0 of 493	10
No JavaScript errors from the site's own code	5%	27 of 493	5
No broken links to the site's own pages	3%	13 of 493	5
Everything that looks clickable responds	7%	35 of 493	5
Loads in under 4 seconds on desktop and 6 on a phone	26%	128 of 493	5
Images and files load	7%	35 of 493	5

By industry

YC sorts each company into a group. Median score and the share with no main button on the first phone screen, per group.

YC industry group	Sites	Median score	No button on first phone screen	Passed all 10	Median phone load
B2B	396	95	30%	27%	2.3s
Fintech	51	95	29%	29%	2.2s

46 more sites sit in groups with under 50 sites (consumer and education). We show no numbers for a group that small.

By batch

The 224 sites from the four older batches (Winter 2025 to Fall 2025) have a median of 90; the 269 from the four newer ones (Winter 2026 to Fall 2026) have 95.

YC batch	Sites	Median score	No button on first phone screen	Passed all 10	Median phone load
Fall 2026	65	95	31%	29%	2.3s
Summer 2026	64	95	30%	27%	2.1s
Spring 2026	72	95	21%	33%	2.9s
Winter 2026	68	90	28%	24%	2.2s
Fall 2025	52	95	27%	25%	2.5s
Summer 2025	58	95	34%	31%	2.6s
Spring 2025	50	90	36%	18%	2.2s
Winter 2025	64	90	44%	19%	2.2s

Where your own site stands

Open your home page on a phone, find your main button and tap it. If it sits below the first screen, a banner covers it, or nothing happens, you are in the group that fails this check. The free dead click finder tests your buttons in your browser.

Checks like these show what is broken on a good day. UserProof records what real visitors do on your site and gives Claude Code the one fix that costs you the most signups, with the file and line. It is free for 3 sites.

Find what's stopping your visitors

Method

The sample: 500 active YC companies from the Winter 2025 to Fall 2026 batches in the B2B, consumer, fintech and education groups of YC's public company list, picked at random, one per domain. 7 didn't load in our browser and are left out, so the numbers cover 493.
Each home page was loaded in Chromium twice, as a 390px-wide phone and as a 1366px-wide desktop, on October 28, 2026.
The main button is the highest visible button or link whose text contains a sign-up, demo or get-started phrase. A site whose main action uses other words counts as having no main button, and the checks that need one cost it nothing.
We tapped the main button once and watched for 5 to 10 seconds for a new page, a new tab, a dialog or any change. Forms were never submitted, and every request other than a page load was blocked.
The score starts at 100 and loses the points in the check table for each failed check. Medians are of the scores of the sites that loaded.
This is one scan on one day of sites that YC picked up in the last two years. It shows what a first-time visitor's browser saw, not how any site converts. Groups with under 50 sites are not broken out.
No site is named on this page. A separate page ranks each startup by name: the YC homepage report.

Cite this

UserProof, “Homepage benchmarks: 493 YC startups on a phone,” https://getuserproof.com/benchmarks, checked October 28, 2026, 493 sites.

FAQ

What is a good homepage score on a phone?

On our 10 checks, 90 or more is good. 65% of the 493 YC startups we checked scored that high, and the median is 95.

How many startup homepages hide the sign-up button on a phone?

31% of the 493 we checked (153 sites) show no sign-up, demo or get-started button on the first phone screen.

How fast does a typical startup homepage load?

The median is 2.3 seconds on a phone and 2.6 seconds on a desktop, measured in a fresh browser with nothing cached.

Can I compare my own site with these numbers?

Yes. The checks are the same ones a first-time visitor would notice: find your main button on a phone, tap it, and time the load. UserProof runs them on your live site for free and then shows what real visitors do.

Are these numbers for my industry?

Only for YC startups, mostly B2B software. Groups under 50 sites are not broken out. As UserProof's own customers' sites add up, peer numbers by industry will follow, and no site will be named.