Sa11y

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Introduction

Sa11y is an accessibility quality assurance assistant built for content authors. It works as a simple in-page checker that visually highlights common accessibility and usability issues at the source, with a tooltip explaining how to fix each one.

It is deliberately not a comprehensive code analysis tool and not an accessibility overlay: it focuses on content issues such as headings, links, images and readability. It runs over 80 checks automatically on page load, has dozens of props to tune the experience, lets you turn off irrelevant checks and add exclusions, and is customisable for CMS integrations.

Automated checks catch only part of accessibility problems. Combine tools like this with keyboard-only and screen reader testing, and with feedback from disabled users, before claiming conformance.

The source code is at ryersondmp/sa11y on GitHub under the GPL-2.0 licence, with about 338 stars; the most recent commit was on 8 October 2026.

Features

1. 80+ checks: Content accessibility.
2. In-page highlights: Issues shown at the source.
3. Fix tooltips: Plain-language guidance.
4. Automatic: Runs on page load.
5. Customisable: Props, exclusions and toggles.

Pros

1. Author-friendly: Made for non-developers.
2. Free to use: Open source under the GPL-2.0 licence, so the core tool costs nothing to use.
3. Actively maintained: The repository had commits as recent as 8 October 2026.

Cons

1. Content focus: Not a full code audit.
2. GPL-2.0: Copyleft licence for integrations.

Usage and Links (Example)

1. Add the Sa11y script and stylesheet to your CMS or site template for logged-in editors.
2. Configure checks and exclusions.
3. Editors fix highlighted issues before publishing.

Resources:

• Sa11y website
• GitHub repository

Pricing

Sa11y is free and open source under the GPL-2.0 licence.

Recommended for?

1. CMS teams and content authors publishing pages daily.

Conclusion

Sa11y puts accessibility feedback where content is written.

Pair it with axe-core in CI for code-level checks.

On CheckOps, Sa11y is filed under the Accessibility and Prototype & UX testing stages. Related tools listed here include WAVE, axe DevTools, Accessibility Insights, Pa11y, IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker and axe-core. Before standardising on one, compare recent maintenance activity, the pricing model as your usage grows, and the integrations you rely on today. Information on this page was verified against the official website, documentation and repository on 11 November 2026.