Best Accessibility Testing Tools
Website accessibility testing tools help organizations ensure their website is accessible and navigable for all users. This is especially critical for users with auditory, visual, physical, speech-related, or cognitive and neurological disabilities. Business websites often have certain barriers in place that, unwittingly, make it difficult for certain users to read, comprehend, navigate, or complete tasks. These tools are also often called accessibility checkers, ADA website checkers, and ADA compliance testing tools. Accessibility testing tools run...
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Equally AI helps companies to provide people with disabilities with the best personalized web experience while providing businesses with an automated web accessibility solution that makes any website WCAG & ADA compliant. The solution aims to make becoming ADA/WCAG compliant easier, with one install of a line of Java…
Test Evolve is an automated testing tool used to ensure optimal quality and performance of software products. It helps software development teams to streamline the testing process and achieve faster release cycles.
Test Evolve's Key Features:
- Test Automation: Test Evolve automates functional, regression, and load testing, freeing up de…
Level Access offers organizations with software, expert managed services, and training solutions to create accessible and legally compliant digital experiences, including websites, mobile apps, digital products, gaming software, and documents.
Its technology and tools provide access to advanced testing, monitoring, and reporting, equipping teams with the integrated software needed to manage a comprehensive digital accessibility program at scale. Managed services include access to expert manual testing and evaluation, remediation guidance, training and enablement, in-house legal support, and accessibility program management for long-ter…
Learn More About Accessibility Testing Tools
What are Accessibility Testing Tools?
Website accessibility testing tools help organizations ensure their website is accessible and navigable for all users. This is especially critical for users with auditory, visual, physical, speech-related, or cognitive and neurological disabilities. Business websites often have certain barriers in place that, unwittingly, make it difficult for certain users to read, comprehend, navigate, or complete tasks. These tools are also often called accessibility checkers, ADA website checkers, and ADA compliance testing tools.
Accessibility testing tools run scans and monitor websites for things like:
- Alternative text on images
- Captions for multimedia content
- Compatibility with assistive technologies
- Level of color contrast between different page elements
- Readability and comprehension of text
- Missing or misplaced labels within the text
The output of these tests and scans are typically a score, set of metrics, or more detailed teardown of website elements. Web developers, designers, and writers can use this output to assess how ADA and WCAG compliant their website is, and make changes to make it more compliant.
There is a wide range of website accessibility testing tools available, ranging from free browser-based applications to comprehensive digital quality management or governance software like Crownpeak DQM, Siteimprove, Level Access AMP, and Monsido.
Website Compliance Standards
The W3C publishes web accessibility guidelines that organizations and businesses can follow when developing websites and webpages. These standards adhere to four core principles when evaluating how ADA or WCAG compliant a website is:
- Is it perceivable?
- Is it operable?
- Is it understandable?
- Is it robust?
Accessibility Testing Tool Features
Most accessibility testing tools allow users to run a test or scan of a specific webpage. More comprehensive tools will conduct automated scanning against the WCAG 2.1 guidelines and recommend website changes.
Free and Open Source Accessibility Testing Tools
There are several free and open-source web accessibility testing tools available. Most allow users to enter the URL of a specific page for testing. While the output of these tests or scans won’t be as thorough as the results for a paid test or audit, they can be a great starting place when updating a website to be more accessible. For a list of some popular free and open source tools, see our FAQ.
For individual users, website contributors, and freelancers—free or open-source accessibility tools are a good choice. But for businesses that want to routinely check their website for accessibility standards compliance, a paid solution is likely more appropriate.
Accessibility Testing Tools Comparison
Before deciding to either use a free or paid website accessibility tool, consider these key points:
- Scope of the tool: Are you looking for website accessibility or digital governance software to use across your entire business? Or are you in the market for a simpler accessibility tool to check one or a few webpages for WCAG compliance? A paid web accessibility tool is better suited for businesses looking for more comprehensive software to conduct thorough website scans and audits. Free tools are great for individual users or more sporadic testing needs.
- Automated tests vs. manual audits: Using software tools to do automated web accessibility testing can be a great first step to take. However, manual audits often go deeper and can provide more recommendations for how to improve your website’s ADA and WCAG compliance. Certain paid tools also provide robust recommendations for improving website compliance, while most paid tools don’t provide recommendations.
Pricing Information
Along with free and paid website accessibility testing tools, there are multiple paid accessibility management software options.
Most web accessibility management software vendors do provide publicly available pricing. Interested buyers should reach out to these vendors directly for a quote.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What do web accessibility testing tools do?
Website accessibility tools allow users to run tests or scans of their websites to gauge how ADA and WCAG compliant certain webpages are. Websites that have a low accessibility score or ranking are typically harder for people with either permanent or temporary disabilities to use.
The goal of conducting web accessibility testing is to help businesses identify how compliant their websites are and make improvements so they can be readable, navigable, and comprehensible by all users.
Why use accessibility testing software?
What is ADA compliance for websites?
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 and is meant to guarantee equal access to public and community life in the U.S. for people with disabilities. However, this law was passed before the age of the internet and does not include any specific provisions or instructions for how to apply the law to publicly available websites and webpages.
In the absence of explicit language in the ADA around what website accessibility standards are, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended that websites adopt the (WCAG) 2.1 standards in order to be considered ADA compliant.
How much do website accessibility testing tools cost?
There are multiple free and open-source web accessibility tools available. A few examples of popular tools include:
- ACHECKS
- Chrome DevTools
- WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool
- Web Accessibility by Level Access
- axe DevTools
- Accessibility Checker
There are also more comprehensive paid accessibility management software and digital governance solutions. The vendors that provide these products rarely have pricing information available publicly on their websites. If you’re interested in purchasing a larger web accessibility management suite, contact these vendors directly for pricing quotes.