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Best accessibility testing tools in 2026

These are accessibility testing tools in the CheckOps directory, including entries tagged for accessibility in the accessibility lifecycle stage. The directory has 25 tagged entries in this area; this page lists 15.

How we picked

CheckOps is a genuine and free directory. There are no paid sponsors, featured listings, or paid placement on these pages. The shortlist is built from tools already in the directory whose tags match the topic, with a preference for entries that have a fuller CheckOps page so the facts in the table can be checked against the source essay. This is not a claim that one tool is objectively better than another, and it is not a paid ranking.

Well-known tools that already have a CheckOps page in this area are listed first. The rest of the shortlist is filled from other tagged entries, preferring fuller essays so the facts in the table can be checked. That order is a way to keep the page useful, not a quality score and not a paid ranking.

Tools

  1. A

    1. axe-core

    axe-core is Deque's open-source accessibility rules engine. It checks rendered HTML and reports WCAG violations as JSON.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  2. P

    2. Pa11y

    Pa11y is a free, open-source command-line accessibility checker. It opens a URL in a headless browser and reports rule failures.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  3. L

    3. Lighthouse

    Automated auditing, performance metrics, and best practices for the web.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  4. W

    4. WAVE

    WAVE from WebAIM is a suite of web accessibility evaluation tools: a free online checker and Chrome, Firefox and Edge extensions, plus a paid credit-based API and a licensable stand-alone API and testing engine for CI.

    Read the CheckOps page · Commercial

  5. A

    5. axe DevTools

    axe DevTools from Deque is a commercial accessibility testing suite for web and mobile, built on axe-core, with a free and Pro browser extension, intelligent guided tests, a linter, CI/CD integrations and an Axe MCP Server.

    Read the CheckOps page · Commercial, with a free or trial tier tagged

  6. A

    6. Accessibility Insights

    Accessibility Insights is Microsoft's free, open-source (MIT) accessibility testing suite: a Chrome and Edge extension with FastPass and a WCAG 2.1 AA Assessment, plus a Windows app for UI Automation inspection.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  7. I

    7. IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker

    IBM's Equal Access Accessibility Checker is an Apache-2.0 toolkit of browser extensions and Node packages (accessibility-checker, cypress-accessibility-checker) for automated accessibility testing with baselines and configurable policies.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  8. L

    8. Lighthouse CI

    Lighthouse CI is Google Chrome's Apache-2.0 toolkit for running Lighthouse on every commit, asserting budgets, storing results and blocking performance, accessibility and SEO regressions.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  9. U

    9. Unlighthouse

    Unlighthouse is an MIT-licensed tool that runs Google Lighthouse across your entire site, crawling pages and showing scores in a local UI, via CLI or CI integrations.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  10. E

    10. Evinced

    Evinced is a commercial AI-powered accessibility testing platform for websites and mobile apps that finds, clusters, tracks and prevents accessibility bugs, integrating with Selenium, Cypress, WebdriverIO, XCUITest, Espresso and Appium.

    Read the CheckOps page · Commercial

  11. P

    11. Pa11y CI

    Pa11y CI is an LGPL-3.0 accessibility test runner built on Pa11y for continuous integration, testing lists of URLs or entire sitemaps against WCAG and failing builds on issues.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  12. G

    12. Guidepup

    Guidepup is an MIT-licensed screen reader automation library that drives NVDA on Windows, Orca on Linux and VoiceOver on macOS through one JavaScript API, so you can assert on what screen reader users actually hear.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  13. S

    13. Sa11y

    Sa11y is a GPL-2.0, framework-agnostic JavaScript accessibility quality assurance assistant that visually highlights 80+ common content accessibility and usability issues for content authors, with tooltips explaining how to fix them.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  14. A

    14. Alfa

    Alfa is Siteimprove's MIT-licensed open accessibility conformance testing engine that tests HTML, CSS and JavaScript sites against WCAG using ACT rules, distilled from Siteimprove's proprietary engine.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

  15. W

    15. webhint

    webhint is an Apache-2.0 customisable linting tool for websites that checks accessibility, speed, cross-browser compatibility, security headers and PWA best practices.

    Read the CheckOps page · Open source

Comparison

License, pricing model, and languages or platforms are taken from tags on each CheckOps page. Pricing notes are a short excerpt from that page's Pricing section when one exists. A blank or "not stated" cell means the CheckOps page does not record it.

Comparison of Best accessibility testing tools in 2026
ToolLicensePricing modelLanguages / platformsPricing notes
axe-coreOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageFree: axe-core is MPL-2.0. The npm package and the GitHub repo have no license fee. axe DevTools and Monitor are paid: Deque sells a browser extension, CI integrations with extra workflow, and a monitoring product.
Pa11yOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageFree: Pa11y, pa11y-ci, and the dashboard project are open source. Pa11y itself is LGPL-3.0-only. There is no paid Pa11y tier. You supply Chromium: Puppeteer downloads a browser, or you point at one already installed.
LighthouseOpen sourceFree, Open source, Free tierNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageFree and open source under the Apache-2.0 licence, built into Chrome DevTools at no cost.
WAVECommercialFree, Paid, SaaSNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageThe WAVE online tool and browser extensions are free. The subscription API uses credits: 100 free credits for new accounts, then $0.04 per credit (250–999, $10 minimum), $0.03 (1,000–9,999) or $0.025 (10,000+); a basic…
axe DevToolsCommercial, with a free or trial tier taggedFree tier, Paid, SaaS, TrialNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageThe axe DevTools Extension (Free) costs nothing. The axe DevTools Extension (Pro) offers a free trial, and axe DevTools for Web (Bundle) is sold through a demo and sales process; prices are not published, so see site.
Accessibility InsightsOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageAccessibility Insights is free and open source under the MIT licence.
IBM Equal Access Accessibility CheckerOpen sourceFree, Open sourceJavascript, NodeIBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 licence.
Lighthouse CIOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageLighthouse CI is free and open source under Apache-2.0. Hosting the optional server is your own infrastructure cost.
UnlighthouseOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageUnlighthouse is free and open source under the MIT licence.
EvincedCommercialPaid, SaaSNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pageCommercial; pricing is not published. Book a demo via the website (see site).
Pa11y CIOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNodePa11y CI is free and open source under the LGPL-3.0 licence.
GuidepupOpen sourceFree, Open sourceJavascript, NodeGuidepup is free and open source under the MIT licence.
Sa11yOpen sourceFree, Open sourceJavascriptSa11y is free and open source under the GPL-2.0 licence.
AlfaOpen sourceFree, Open sourceTypescriptAlfa is free and open source under the MIT licence.
webhintOpen sourceFree, Open sourceNot stated in the tags on the CheckOps pagewebhint is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 licence.

FAQ

How did CheckOps pick these tools?
CheckOps is a genuine and free directory. There are no paid sponsors, featured listings, or paid placement on these pages. The shortlist is built from tools already in the directory whose tags match the topic, with a preference for entries that have a fuller CheckOps page so the facts in the table can be checked against the source essay. This is not a claim that one tool is objectively better than another, and it is not a paid ranking.
Does CheckOps sell placement on this list?
No. CheckOps does not sell featured or paid placement, and this page does not include sponsored listings.
How many accessibility tools are in the directory?
This shortlist has 15 tools. The directory has 25 tagged entries in this area. See the Accessibility stage for the wider set.
Are the one-line summaries complete reviews?
No. Each line is taken from the tool's CheckOps page (the short description, or the opening of the essay when that description is empty). Open the linked page for the full write-up.