Accessibility scan: up to 10 pages of your site tested against WCAG
The accessibility scan is free tooling from accessibility audit agency Proper Access. Give us a public address: we walk up to 10 pages with axe-core in a real browser, give a score from 0 to 100 and email you a report with the findings per page. Useful as a starting point: you know afterwards where to begin.
- no account needed
- result within 90 seconds
- our own server in Helsinki
- no tracking, no resale
What happens when you press Scan.
01about 2 seconds
We fetch your start page
In a real browser, so JavaScript runs the way it does for a visitor. Not a flat HTML parser.
02about 10 seconds
We pick up to 10 pages
From your sitemap if there is one, otherwise from the links in your navigation plus a few pages further down.
03about 60 seconds
axe-core walks every page
Deque's rule set for WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 at level AA. We note the severity and which elements it affects.
04about 5 seconds
You get the report by email
Findings per page, grouped by cause, with a pointer to the element and to the explanation.
What the score does and doesn't say.
The score comes out of what axe-core can establish: the number of findings, the severity and how many elements it affects. Useful to compare against your previous scan. Unsuitable as proof of compliance, because a 100 doesn't mean your site is accessible.
The scan finds
- Images without an alt attribute
- Text with too little contrast against the background
- Buttons and links without an accessible name
- Form fields without a label
- A missing or wrong language setting
- Headings that skip a level
- Accessibility overlays from AccessiBe, UserWay, EqualWeb, AudioEye and MaxAccess
The scan misses
- Whether an alt text really describes the image
- Whether the reading order makes sense
- Whether you can get through a form with a keyboard alone
- Whether an error message explains what to do
- Everything behind a login, and everything on a staging site
An automated scan finds 30 to 40 percent of the problems on a page. The rest needs a person. That is what the Radar is for, and in the end an auditor.
The UK government put 142 known errors into a single page and had thirteen scanners check it. The best found 40 percent of them, the worst 13 percent. Deque reports 57 percent, but counts individual findings instead of kinds of problems, and that is the vendor measuring its own tool. We use the lower number.
Sources: Accessibility tools audit, Government Digital Service (2018) · Automated testing study, Deque (2021)
Where your data stays
The scan runs on our own server in Helsinki, at Hetzner. We set no tracking cookies and never sell data. We keep the result for 7 days so you can open the report at your own link, and after that it is gone.
Scan done? Now open the pages yourself.
The scan says where it goes wrong. WCAG Radar shows you on that page what goes wrong, and links to the explanation per check. The Radar also works behind a login, on a staging site and on localhost, where the scan can't reach.
Next step
Do you have a statement or a deadline?
A scan report is not an audit report. For an accessibility statement or an audit that covers the European Accessibility Act deadline, you need manual research, with findings per element and a plan of action.
From here Proper Access takes over
Questions about the scan
How much of WCAG does an automated scan find?
30 to 40 percent of the problems on a page. The UK government put 142 known errors into a single page and turned thirteen scanners loose on it: the best found 40 percent of them, the worst 13 percent. That holds for every scanner, ours included. The rest needs a person.
What does an automated scan miss?
Anything that takes judgement. Whether an alt text actually describes the image, whether the order you tab through a form makes sense, whether an error message tells you what to do, whether the captions say what is being said. A scanner sees that the attribute is there, not whether it is right.
Is a free scan enough for the European Accessibility Act?
No. An accessibility statement and the European Accessibility Act both need every success criterion walked through, with a person involved. The scan is a starting point: afterwards you know where the biggest problems are and roughly how much work is waiting.
Can I test a page behind a login?
Not with the scan. It only visits an address that is publicly reachable. Use WCAG Radar for that, our bookmarklet and browser extension: it runs in your own browser and works on any page you can open, including a staging server and localhost.
How many pages does it scan, and how long does it take?
Up to 10 pages, usually within 90 seconds. We find them through your sitemap and through the links on your home page. You get a score from 0 to 100 for the site as a whole, and the findings per page.
What does a manual audit cost?
That depends on the size and the complexity of the site. A full audit starts at around € 2,250 excluding VAT. Fill in the quote form and you get a price for your situation, with a retest and a debrief as separate options.
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