The best web accessibility software makes it simple and easy to ensure your website is in compliance with the latest accessibility standards.
The best web accessibility service of 2023 in full:
1. Best overall
2. Best for automation
3. Best newcomer
4. Best for developers
5. FAQs
Web accessibility software allows website owners and developers to make their sites fully accessible to all, and is in compliance with legal requirements and standards such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA.)
This can be very straightforward. In many cases, all you have to do is install a short portion of code on your site, and an AI bot then regularly crawls your pages, finds potential issues, and offers solutions.
While some providers are laser-focused on this kind of automated web accessibility checking, others offer direct coding help, expert assistance with design, or even extras such as broken link checking, and a multilingual dictionary.
Here we'll feature the best in web accessibility software, with options for everyone from low traffic small business sites to busy international web stores. These picks were chosen based on ease of use, pricing including a free tier or trial, and published user reviews.
We've also listed the best website monitoring software.
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The best web accessibility service of 2023 in full:
Best overall
EqualWeb uses a team of several background disciplines to foster web accessibility, along with prioritizing security of clients. But it's also very easy to use: just install a Chrome browser plugin, and it automatically assesses any HTML site for web accessibility issues, and (according to the company) then identifies 70% of potential concerns to WCAG 2.1 standards. This all gets laid out neatly in a Chrome browser sidebar, and then the remediation widget can go to work to correct the problems. We also appreciate that in those more complex situations where automated remediation falls short, that EqualWeb also offers a Full Remediation package.
EqualWeb is notable for offering a 7 day free trial of its services. Also available is a free tier with limited features, but a good way to become familiar with the service. We also appreciate that they back up the services of the in house accessibility experts with a $1,000,000 dollar guarantee.
Read the full EqualWeb review.
Best for automation
Deque is a web accessibility provider offers both an automated approach to monitoring your website, along with human expertise. It is a standout that not only does this service enhance compliance with disability standards, but has helped to drive them, by participating in W3C working groups for international guidelines.
Via a web browser extension, Deque performs automated testing, better known as “Intelligent Guided Testing” with results that can be saved, or have the option to export. It is also reassuring to know that not only are the problems identified, but also in-depth links are provided for solutions. Deque claims a particularly high rate of identification of issues via its testing, 83% which best its competition’s claims.
An even higher level of analysis is offered via “Intelligent Guided Testing.” This is run via a different method, with developers answering questions about the site content, and generates an issue report.
While we take issue with the opaque pricing, we are encouraged by the free demo, and also the free 14-day trial period.
Read the full Deque review.
Best newcomer
Accessible360 is somewhat of a newcomer to web accessibility, and it nails the essentials down well. It has plenty of expertise for dealing with accessibility audits, and also skilled disability testers for an accurate assessment of websites areas of improvement.
This company manages to break down their process of improvement down into three simple steps. The first step is to Assess that the needs of the site are ascertained. The next step is to Enable, so that deficits can be remedied to comply with the WCAG 2.0 AA standard. The final step is called Stay, and this is designed to maintain the level of web accessibility that has been achieved with ongoing monitoring and alerts if any issues crop up.
While the approach is well done, some issues kept us from giving this service a higher ranking. This includes the lack of user reviews, and the lack of upfront pricing information. Support also covered the basics, such as a contact portal, email, and a phone number, but lacked some advanced options we would like to see like online chat.
Read the full Accessible360 review.
Best for developers
Drawing upon a team covering the gamut from social advocates to web developers, User1st works with websites to open the digital door to content to everyone, whatever their accessibility issues.
Although User1st says its service is 'designed by developers for developers', there's no need for any knowledge or experience of digital accessibility issues.
While many services check your publicly available site, User1st's in-code product provides real-time feedback and suggestions as your developers write code, helping to ensure problems are fixed before users ever see them.
It's good to see User1st ensures compliance with WCAG 2.1 standard, and works with development platforms including React, Angular, Vue frameworks and Vanilla JS.
It's an impressive service, especially for larger websites, and one that's earned User1st a lengthy list of big-name customers: IKEA, Amtrak, Santander, T-Mobile and many more.
Read the full User1st review.
We've also featured the best text-to-speech software.
Best accessibility software FAQs
What types of disabilities are there?
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The term disability puts a number of unrelated issues under the same umbrella. When building a web site, the entire range of potential issues should be accommodated. Here are some categories:
- Visual: blindness, color blind, low vision
- Hearing: a spectrum from mild hearing impairment to totally deaf
- Cognitive: mentally challenged, dyslexia, autism
- Speech: mute to speech impaired
- Physical: impaired motor function, from mild to complete
What is WCAG?
WCAG stands for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This is an international standard that gets approved by both the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The latest standard is 2.1, and was recommended in 2018. It provides for accommodations across a wide range of disabilities that includes vision, hearing, motor, and cognitive disorders, along with potential combinations of these limitations.
What is a P.O.U.R website?
This is an acronym for the actionable portion of the WCAG guidelines. It stands for perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Adhering to these four principles helps to satisfy the needs of users with disabilities to web sites.
What is an assistive technology?
This is a piece of equipment that is designed to enhance the functional capacity for someone with a disability. Some can be quite simple, for example, a mouth stick that a person can place in their mouth and peck onto a keyboard. Others can be more complex, such as an oversized trackball to be able to control a keyboard and overcome fine motor movement deficits. At the higher end, some assistive technology is even more complex, such as dictation software.
What are the ways to test for compliance?
There are essentially two methods to test a site for web accessibility. The first is an automated AI approach. This can be done faster, and repeatedly more easily, but it may not find all issues. The second is with human testers, but this is more labor intensive.
