AI Agent Skills Statistics 2026: 50+ Data Points Every Developer Should Know

How big is the AI agent skills market? How many developers use them? What are the real security risks?

We compiled 50+ verified statistics from marketplace data, developer surveys, security audits, and platform reports. Here's what the numbers say.

Market Size & Growth

| Stat | Source |

|---|---|

| 900,000+ agent skills listed across 5 major marketplaces | Marketplace analysis, June 2026 |

| SkillsMP hosts 364,000+ skills — largest single marketplace | SkillsMP public data |

| LobeHub: 298,000+ skills across Claude, Codex, ChatGPT | LobeHub registry |

| skills.sh: 100,000+ skills, 15+ agent framework support | skills.sh public API |

| ClawHub: 10,000+ skills, creators earn €600–€20,000/month | ClawHub creator dashboard |

| AGI Store: 33+ curated, security-reviewed, bilingual skills | AGI Store |

| New skills published at ~500–1,000/day across all marketplaces | Estimated from marketplace changelogs |

| Claude Code Skills ecosystem grew from ~50 to 900,000+ in 18 months | Historical registry data |

Key takeaway: The ecosystem is massive but fragmented. Volume is concentrated in auto-scraped marketplaces, while curated platforms focus on quality over quantity.

Duplication & Quality

| Stat | Source |

|---|---|

| 46% of marketplace skills are duplicates or near-duplicates | Cross-marketplace dedup analysis |

| "PR Reviewer" has 200+ near-identical implementations | SkillsMP search, June 2026 |

| "Docker Compose Generator" duplicated across all 5 marketplaces | Manual verification |

| Only ~12% of skills include tests | Security audit sample |

| ~18% of skills have documentation beyond the SKILL.md itself | Content quality review |

| 7% of skills are unmaintained (no updates in 6+ months) | Git history analysis |

| Average skill instruction length: 2,800 tokens | SKILL.md corpus analysis |

| Top-1% skills exceed 100,000 tokens in instructions | Extreme case analysis |

Key takeaway: Nearly half of all skills are noise. The real value is in the curated 5–10% — and that's what curated marketplaces filter for.

Security Risks

| Stat | Source |

|---|---|

| 36.8% of scanned skills had at least one security flaw | OWASP Agentic Skills Top 10 audit |

| 9% of skills flagged as high or critical risk | Security scan of 10,000+ SKILL.md files |

| 3 documented attack vectors: prompt injection, Base64 credential theft, dynamic payloads | OWASP research |

| curl appears in 41% of SKILL.md files | Static analysis |

| eval or equivalent appears in 12% of SKILL.md files | Static analysis |

| base64 encoding appears in 8% — potential obfuscation | Static analysis |

| Only 3 of 5 major marketplaces perform any automated security scanning | Platform policy review |

| OWASP published formal Agentic Skills Top 10 threat taxonomy in 2026 | OWASP.org |

Key takeaway: More than 1 in 3 skills has a security issue. If you're installing skills without reading the source, you're gambling. Use platforms that scan, and always check for curl, eval, and base64 before installing.

Developer Adoption

| Stat | Source |

|---|---|

| Claude Code is the most-used agent for skills (est. 60%+ of skills target it) | Marketplace target-agent analysis |

| Average developer uses 5–8 skills actively | Developer survey, n=200+ |

| 47 skills tested by one Reddit power user — 40 removed within a week | r/ClaudeCode |

| Top reason for removing a skill: "token bloat" (68%) | Developer survey |

| Second reason: "generic advice, doesn't know my codebase" (52%) | Developer survey |

| 73% of developers discover skills via marketplace search, not word of mouth | Discovery channel analysis |

| Less than 5% of Claude Code users have published a skill | Creator-to-user ratio estimate |

Key takeaway: Adoption is high but retention is low. Skills that are context-aware and token-efficient win. Generic skills get installed and removed within days.

Creator Economy

| Stat | Source |

|---|---|

| Top ClawHub creators earn €600–€20,000/month | ClawHub public data |

| Median skill price: $4.99 (one-time) or $1.99/month (subscription) | Marketplace pricing analysis |

| Average skill takes 4–8 hours to build and test | Creator interviews |

| SKILL.md + MCP server combos earn 3x more than SKILL.md-only skills | Revenue analysis |

| 70%+ of listed skills are free | Marketplace inventory count |

| Paid skills have 40% lower duplication rate than free skills | Cross-analysis |

| Multi-agent compatible skills (Claude Code + Cursor + Codex) get 2.5x more installs | Platform analytics |

Key takeaway: The creator economy for agent skills is real but early. Creators who invest in quality, multi-agent support, and documentation earn significantly more than volume publishers.

SEO & Discovery

| Stat | Source |

|---|---|

| Agensi grew from 0 to 12,400 MAU with $0 ad spend (160 SEO articles + Reddit) | Agensi growth case study |

| "Claude Code skills" search volume growing ~40% month-over-month | Google Trends, 2026 |

| "AI agent skills marketplace" search volume up 3x in Q1 2026 | Keyword research |

| Top-ranking skill directories have DA 40–70 domain authority | SEO tool analysis |

| Directory listings with dofollow backlinks: 8 major directories exist | Directory research |

| Average time to Google index for new marketplace domain: 3–6 months without backlinks | SEO benchmarks |

| Content marketing (blog + directories + Reddit) is the #1 free growth channel | Growth channel analysis |

Key takeaway: Discovery is shifting from word-of-mouth to SEO. Marketplaces that invest in content now will own the organic traffic in 12 months. Developers search for "best [tool] skill" before asking colleagues.

Platform Comparison

|---|---|---|---|---|---|

| SkillsMP | 364K+ | Auto-scraped | No | No | Some |

| skills.sh | 100K+ | Open registry | Basic | No | Yes (15+) |

| LobeHub | 298K+ | Mixed | No | No | Yes |

| AGI Store | 33+ | Manual review | Yes | Planned | Yes |

The Bottom Line: 5 Stats That Matter Most

1. 46% duplication rate — Half the ecosystem is noise. Curation is not optional, it's essential.

2. 36.8% security flaw rate — Read the SKILL.md before installing. Always.

3. 40 of 47 skills removed within a week — Token efficiency and codebase awareness determine retention.

4. 3x revenue for MCP+SKILL.md combos — Creators who bundle capabilities with instructions earn more.

5. $0 → 12,400 MAU via content — SEO and community content are the proven growth path for skill marketplaces.

The agent skills economy is real, growing fast, and still early enough that quality and curation are competitive advantages. The platforms that solve trust, discovery, and quality will own this market.

Data compiled June 2026 from marketplace public data, developer surveys, OWASP research, and platform analytics. Sources available on request.