Pendo 2019 Feature Adoption Report: 80% of software-product features rarely or never used (615 subscriptions analyzed)
Created 2026-06-21
Summary
Claim: Pendo's 2019 Feature Adoption Report, verbatim: "Based on an aggregation of anonymized product usage data, Pendo determined that 80 percent of features in the average software product are rarely or never used" (analysis of 615 Pendo subscriptions); extrapolated to $29.5B wasted public-cloud R&D in 2019.
Source: Pendo 2019 Feature Adoption Report (primary).
Confidence: Verified (primary).
Why this matters for Candid: The single most powerful counter to "more features = more value" in client conversations. Anchors R5 — Build features customers will actually use; ~80% of software features go unused (Pendo 2019). Pair with Standish Group (older): 64% of software features rarely or never used for the older corroborating figure.
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Referenced by (4)
- reference Research brief: the falling cost floor of "real" web functionality for SMBs (June 2026) relates-to
- reference Standish Group (older): 64% of software features rarely or never used relates-to
- rule R4 — The floor fell, the ceiling did not: bespoke client portals still cost $20k–$50k + $10k–$25k/yr — say so honestly relates-to
- rule R5 — Build features customers will actually use; ~80% of software features go unused (Pendo 2019) depends-on