Software Shortlist
- 6. Google Lighthouse — Automated web accessibility tool that can run programmatically with JavaScript
Web accessibility testing helps businesses make digital content accessible to people with disabilities. With more countries putting policies in place to make web resources accessible to everyone, it's crucial for business owners to align their digital content with ADA and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Many web accessibility testing tools are available to help QA professionals and developers identify and fix compliance errors. Some accessibility testing software providers even facilitate manual user testing with individuals from the disability community.
Check out our list of the best web accessibility testing tools to consider for your business.
Comparison Criteria
Here’s what to look for when selecting the best web accessibility testing system.
- User Interface (UI): A simple user interface allows testers to execute and assess accessibility test results quickly.
- Usability: Good usability increases product adoption, enabling you to implement accessibility testing across your organization.
- Integrations: Access to a wide variety of integrations means you can incorporate accessibility testing throughout your software development lifecycle.
- Value for $: Choosing a high-quality web accessibility tool that isn’t costly is the best way to maximize your return on investment.
Web Accessibility Testing: Key Features
- Web accessibility checker: Many web accessibility checkers can automatically scan your website for WCAG and ADA compliance issues from your browser.
- Accessibility insights: Accessibility insights provide developers with the information they need to find and fix compliance issues.
- Automated testing: Automated testing is a cost-effective way to scale accessibility testing to all of your websites.
- Manual testing: Manual accessibility testing is an excellent complement to automated testing. It enables you to directly engage members of the disability community in user testing to ensure your content accommodates the widest audience.
- Color contrast analyzer: A color contrast analyzer is a valuable tool for evaluating if your website’s color contrast ratios suit people with visual disabilities.
- Description inspector: These tools ensure your website contains accurate and comprehensive alt text.
The QA Lead is reader-supported. We may earn a commission when you click through links on our site — learn more about how we aim to stay transparent.
Overviews Of The 10 Best Web Accessibility Testing Tools
Here’s a brief description of each web accessibility testing solution to showcase each tool’s best use case, some noteworthy features, and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.
accessiBe
AI-powered web accessibility software with source code remediation tools
accessiBe is an AI-powered web accessibility solution offering two products: accessWidget and accessFlow. accessWidget automates ADA compliance by allowing businesses to install an accessibility interface on their website for visitors with disabilities. The interface allows visitors to adjust the design of your website and helps remediate 30 percent of the most common accessibility barriers visitors experience.
accessFlow is accessiBe’s solution for developers and engineering teams. It’s an all-in-one platform for accessibility testing and monitoring, and source code remediation for web properties. The tool provides instructions, best practices, and source code snippets to ensure you only ship accessible software products.
accessFlow integrates with leading DevOps tools, including Jira, Asana, ClickUp, and Amazon Web Services.
Siteimprove
Web accessibility solution that offers manual and automated testing services
Siteimprove is an accessibility and QA platform that monitors websites. Siteimprove also offers a team of accessibility testers that provide manual and automated testing services. Your extended team can assess the status of your website and provide recommendations for improvement.
One area that Siteimprove covers is Office of Civil Rights (OCR) compliance. If your business has received an OCR complaint, Siteimprove’s accessibility testers can work with your team to conduct a series of automated and manual tests. Afterward, you receive a detailed audit report and templates to help you outline corrective actions and plan for new content.
Siteimprove supports several CMS tools, such as WordPress, Drupal, and TYPO3. Teams can also integrate Siteimprove with business applications like Power BI, Tableau, and Salesforce.
Testim
UI and functional testing software with Salesforce test automation
Testim is an automated UI and functional testing solution for agile software teams. Testers can record user flows and add custom JavaScript to any step to perform front-end or server-side actions. Testim’s Professional subscription offers two tests that assess compliance with web accessibility standards. One validates the accessibility of entire web pages while the other tests specific page elements.
A particular Testim subscription is available for Salesforce users. Testim can natively handle the platform’s unique challenges, such as custom objects and Shadow DOM. Testim utilizes AI-powered Smart Locators that can identify and lock in default and custom object elements. Smart Locators eliminate the need to remap locators each time objects change.
Testim offers integrations with Azure DevOps, Jenkins, Circle CI, and GitLab.
Equally AI
Automated web accessibility testing solution with real-time monitoring
Equally AI is an automated web accessibility compliance tool that aims to help you ensure that your websites and applications are compliant with all web accessibility requirements by law. The tool allows you to provide a robust and pleasant experience for your users with disabilities. Equally AI is also fully supported by a dedicated team, providing you with support as you use the tool. Equally AI allows you to validate the algorithm fixes of your results, as well as the ability to identify your violations in good time. The tool also provides you a clear user interface, which neatly displays options for you to test in certain accessibility scenarios such as the mobility solution. Equally AI mobility solution allows you to test the accessibility of your site by allowing you, and users of the website, to do everything they need to through means of their keyboard.The cost of Equally AI starts at $279/per year for the Small package. The tool also offers a 14-day free trial.
ARC Platform by TPGi
Web accessibility platform with policy management tool
TPGi’s Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) provides the web accessibility tools, analytics, knowledge, and support you need to achieve ADA, Section 508, and WCAG compliance. Software and accessibility stakeholders can monitor defects and remediation progress over time with ARC’s comprehensive dashboards. ARC empowers developers with the information they need to fix accessibility issues by pairing errors with code-level remediation techniques, a contextual KnowledgeBase, and e-learning modules.
Businesses can close accessibility compliance gaps with ARC Test Initiatives. This feature allows accessibility stakeholders to set policies and goals around common failures. Thresholds for success can include an improvement over the current status of a failure or a zero-tolerance policy.
The ARC API can integrate with any CI/CD or DevOps tool that supports open or RESTful APIs, including Jenkins, Docker, Circle CI, and Jira.
Google Lighthouse
Automated web accessibility tool that can run programmatically with JavaScript
Lighthouse is an open-source tool that automates website accessibility testing in Google Chrome. The software is readily available in Chrome Developer Tools, requiring no setup or extensions. It can also run as a Node module, enabling users to incorporate Lighthouse into their continuous integration systems.
Lighthouse performs several audits covering many WCAG requirements, including missing alt text, inconsistent header structures, and low color contrasting ratios. After each audit, Lighthouse scores your web page’s accessibility and provides suggestions for how to make improvements.
Lighthouse is configurable, allowing developers to run it programmatically with JavaScript to create custom web accessibility tests for more complex sites. With this level of flexibility, you can choose specific features you want to test and set configuration options according to the unique needs of your site.
Users can integrate Lighthouse with various analytics tools, including Datadog, ObservePoint, and AgencyAnalytics.
WAVE
Offers stand-alone and subscription API for enterprise web accessibility testing
WAVE offers a suite of web accessibility testing tools. Organizations can utilize the software to identify WCAG errors and leverage WAVE’s professional accessibility testers to evaluate web content. You can start accessibility testing by entering a web page URL directly into the WAVE website or utilizing the WAVE browser extension on Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge.
WAVE also offers solutions for enterprises needing to test many URLs. Organizations can license the WAVE API and testing engine for stand-alone usage on their server and analyze any web pages, including intranet, private, and secure pages. The stand-alone API is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux. WAVE also offers a subscription API that runs on WAVE-hosted servers, enabling businesses to test public pages without installing the API engine.
WAVE’s testing engine consists of a JavaScript library that users can integrate with most CI/CD and testing systems, including Selenium and Puppeteer.
Equal Web
Web accessibility testing solution with automated remediation tool
Government agencies, enterprises, and small businesses utilize EqualWeb to conduct manual and automated accessibility testing on their websites. The platform is customizable and adapts to your website’s code, content, and style.
Businesses can automate web accessibility remediation by installing EqualWeb’s AI Toolbar on their website. The toolbar provides options for website visitors with disabilities to configure the optimal browsing experience for their needs. Visitors can make adjustments to navigation, color, and content that cater to a range of impairment issues, including blindness, epilepsy, and dyslexia. The toolbar enables businesses to meet the majority of WCAG requirements.
EqualWeb integrates with many platforms and content management systems (CMS), including Google Sites, WordPress, WooCommerce, Shopify, and Wix.
Monsido
Automated web page and PDF accessibility scanner
Monsido automatically scans websites for accessibility issues and provides remediation guidance. The tool instantly locates links, images, text, and other web page elements to uncover problems and generate detailed reports. Monsido’s browser extension is available on Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Firefox, enabling QA testers to view problem areas highlighted on a page.
In addition to web pages, Monsido can help QAs ensure digital PDFs are accessible. Monsido’s PDF scanner is powered by CommonLook, a PDF remediation software system. The tool identifies common accessibility problems, including improper image and form tagging. If your team is short on resources, CommonLook’s accessibility experts can fix PDF issues for you.
Monsido offers integrations with many CMS platforms, including Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla.
UserWay
AI-powered accessibility tool that doesn’t impact website code
UserWay is an AI-powered accessibility compliance tool that focuses on ensuring your applications provide a positive digital experience for users requiring accessibility aids. The tool is easy to embed as a plugin into your site, and offers an attractive and easy user interface. UserWay also offers a robust support team who are available to help you implement and use the tool within your team. UserWay allows you to scan your websites and applications to check for violations of not meeting the accessibility requirements set out by law. The tool provides you the ability to tap into the needs of users requiring accessibility, such as being able to edit what users who need a screen reader would hear. UserWay also allows you to customize your UI by providing the ability to position the widget and change colour and/or sizing. The cost of UserWay starts at $490/per month for a small site. The tool also offers a free trial.
The 10 Best Web Accessibility Testing Tools Summary
Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | accessiBe AI-powered web accessibility software with source code remediation tools | Free seven-day trial | Start at $490/year. | Visit Website |
2 | Siteimprove Web accessibility solution that offers manual and automated testing services | Not available | Pricing is available upon request. | Visit Website |
3 | Testim UI and functional testing software with Salesforce test automation | Free plan available | From $450/month | Visit Website |
4 | Equally AI Automated web accessibility testing solution with real-time monitoring | 14 Days Free Trial | $279/per year for the Small package | Visit Website |
5 | ARC Platform by TPGi Web accessibility platform with policy management tool | Not available | Free tier for single users and paid subscriptions priced from $29/month/user. | Visit Website |
6 | Google Lighthouse Automated web accessibility tool that can run programmatically with JavaScript | Not available | Free for all users | Visit Website |
7 | WAVE Offers stand-alone and subscription API for enterprise web accessibility testing | 30-day free trial | From $35/month plus $6/employee/month | Visit Website |
8 | Equal Web Web accessibility testing solution with automated remediation tool | Not available | Free plan with limited features and paid subscriptions starting at $39/month. | Visit Website |
9 | Monsido Automated web page and PDF accessibility scanner | Not available | Pricing is available upon request. | Visit Website |
10 | UserWay AI-powered accessibility tool that doesn’t impact website code | Free Trial | $490/per month for a small site | Visit Website |
Need expert help selecting the right Testing Software?
We’ve joined up with the software comparison platform Crozdesk.com to assist you in finding the right software. Crozdesk’s Testing Software advisors can create a personalized shortlist of software solutions with unbiased recommendations to help you identify the solutions that best suit your business's needs. Through our partnership you get free access to their bespoke software selection advice, removing both time and hassle from the research process.
It only takes a minute to submit your requirements and they will give you a quick call at no cost or commitment. Based on your needs you’ll receive customized software shortlists listing the best-fitting solutions from their team of software advisors (via phone or email). They can even connect you with your selected vendor choices along with community negotiated discounts. To get started, please complete the form below:
Other Options
Here are a few more web accessibility testing tools that didn’t make the top list.
- UserWay - AI-powered accessibility tool that doesn’t impact website code
- Equally AI - Automated web accessibility testing solution with real-time monitoring
- InclusiveDocs - Document accessibility testing tool for PDF files
- Crownpeak Digital Experience Platform - Digital accessibility testing software with automatic error remediation tool
- Silktide - Web accessibility and user testing platform that automatically prioritizes WCAG and ADA compliance errors
- Accessibility by Trident AB (for Shopify) - Accessibility testing solution for maintaining WCAG, EAA, and ADA compliance on Shopify websites
What Is Web Accessibility Testing?
Web accessibility testing is a type of software usability testing that ensures websites and web applications are usable by people with disabilities, such as hearing loss, blindness, epilepsy, and cognitive impairments.
Why Is Web Accessibility Important?
Many aspects of our lives, from education to finance, are conducted on the web. Accessible websites ensure people with disabilities can equally participate in society.
What Do You Think About This List?
Learn about other software testing tools QA experts are using and stay informed of the latest industry insights by subscribing to our newsletter.