Why accessibility is on the agenda now
Since 28 June 2025 the European Accessibility Act applies. Online shops and many online services for consumers must be usable by people with disabilities, and the standard behind it refers to WCAG 2.1 level AA. Beyond the law: a site that works with a keyboard, a screen reader and zoom works better for everyone.
What does this checker test?
We fetch your page and run the open-source axe-core rules on its HTML. For every failure you see how severe it is, which WCAG criterion it touches and which elements are involved, numbered. The failures we see most:
- images without alt text;
- form fields without a label, only a placeholder;
- icon links and buttons without text (menu, search, social media);
- a page without a language set;
- zooming blocked on mobile;
- iframes without a title and broken ARIA attributes.
What this checker does not test
Automated tests only find part of the issues. Contrast, keyboard use, focus order, error messages and use with a screen reader are tested by hand. Content your site only builds in the browser is not seen by this checker either. Our article on the most common accessibility mistakes shows how to review those yourself.
From a list of failures to an accessible site
An automated scan often returns dozens of alerts, while a handful of templates cause most of them. Start with the critical and serious failures in your header, menu and forms: they repeat on every page. For certainty, we run a full WCAG 2.1 AA audit, fix the failures and write your accessibility statement: see WCAG compliance. The practical approach is in website accessibility.
WCAG checker FAQ
Is this WCAG checker free?
Yes. Enter a URL and get the list of failures straight away, no account needed. Test several pages: your homepage, a product page and your contact form each surface different issues.
Is my website compliant if the checker finds nothing?
No: your site then passes the rules a machine can judge. Contrast, keyboard use, focus order, form error messages and use with a screen reader need a human test. What you can review yourself is in our WCAG checklist.
Which WCAG version does the checker use?
The rules for WCAG 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2 at levels A and AA. The European standard behind the European Accessibility Act (EN 301 549) refers to WCAG 2.1 level AA. More on the criteria in WCAG explained.
Does my website have to be accessible?
Since 28 June 2025 the European Accessibility Act applies to, among others, online shops and online services for consumers, with an exception for micro-enterprises that provide services. Whether it applies to you: the European Accessibility Act and your website.
Why does the checker show no contrast errors?
Contrast depends on your stylesheets, background images and how the browser draws the page. Without a real browser we cannot judge it reliably, so we leave it out rather than guess. In a full audit we test contrast by hand.
What is axe-core?
axe-core is the open-source rule set from Deque for automated accessibility testing. The same rules power the accessibility audit in Google Lighthouse and many testing tools. We run them on the HTML your server sends.