7 Web Accessibility Tools to Make Your Website Accessible

Melwyn Joseph

10 September 2025 | 13 minute read
Illustration of web accessibility testing tools with a person pointing at an accessibility icon on a laptop screen.

To build an accessible website, you need the right set of accessibility tools. These tools help you identify barriers, fix problems, and move closer to compliance with accessibility standards.

In this guide, we’ll cover web accessibility tools for different aspects of your website. Together, they’ll help you make your website more make it more inclusive, user-friendly, and compliant.

Web Accessibility Tools to Make Your Website Accessible

There are plenty of accessibility tools available. Some are must-haves for creating and maintaining an accessible website, while others add extra support to make the process easier. Together, they help you spot issues and improve the accessibility of your site.

Below is a curated list of accessibility tools to help make your website more inclusive, user-friendly, and compliant.

CategoryPurposeExampleWho Can Use It
Accessibility Evaluation ToolsScan websites for accessibility issuesWebYes AccessibilityDevelopers, QA testers, site owners
Document Accessibility CheckersTest PDFs and Office documents for accessibility complianceMauve++Content creators, educators, organisations publishing reports
Colour Contrast CheckersVerify that text and background colours meet WCAG standardsWebYes Colour Contrast CheckerDesigners, front-end developers, branding teams
Alt Text GeneratorsHelp you add meaningful alt text for imagesAltTextGenerator.aiContent writers, marketers, social media managers
WordPress Accessibility PluginsMake on-the-fly code adjustments to improve website accessibilityAccessibility ToolkitWordPress site owners, small businesses, non-technical admins
Screen ReadersAssistive technology that helps visually impaired users navigate content (you can use them for testing).NVDA (Windows)People with visual impairments, people testing accessibility
Accessibility Monitoring ToolsContinuously track accessibility issues and progress over timeWebYes MonitoringEnterprises, compliance teams, digital agencies

It is important to note that no single tool can guarantee complete accessibility on its own. You need to combine a variety of tools to test, monitor, and improve your website, helping you stay compliant and create a more inclusive experience for all users.

1. Accessibility Evaluation Tools

The first step to building an accessible website is running an evaluation. Accessibility evaluation tools scan your site for issues like missing alt text, poor contrast, or incorrect headings. They give you a clear picture of how well your site meets accessibility standards such as WCAG.

Here are two tools you can use to scan your website and identify accessibility issues.

WebYes Accessibility

  • Type: Web-based tool
  • Price: Freemium
  • Highlights: Easy to use for non-technical people, supports multi-page scans

WebYes is an accessibility evaluation tool that tests your website against WCAG standards. It scans multiple pages at once for common issues such as missing alt text, poor colour contrast, or incorrect headings, and provides clear suggestions on how to resolve them.

It also includes guided manual tests for areas that can’t be checked automatically. This makes it a good choice for website owners, QA testers, and teams who want a balance of automated checks and manual guidance without needing deep technical expertise.

Accessibility Checker by WebYes

  • Type: Browser extension
  • Price: Free
  • Highlight: Great for quick, single-page checks with visual overlays

Accessibility Checker by WebYes is yet another accessibility testing tool. Available as a browser extension, it works at the page level, highlighting issues such as missing alt text, poor heading structure, or low contrast and marking them directly on the page with visual overlays.

It’s especially useful for developers and content editors who want fast, page-by-page checks without setting up a separate platform. While it’s not designed for full-site audits, it’s excellent for quick reviews and spotting obvious accessibility barriers.

2. Document Accessibility Checkers

Web accessibility isn’t only about web pages. Documents embedded in websites, such as PDFs or Word files, also need to be accessible. Without proper structure, users relying on screen readers may struggle to read them, making document accessibility essential for equal access.

These are some tools that can help you test accessibility issues in documents like PDFs.

Mauve++

  • Type: Web-based tool
  • Price: Free
  • Highlight: Validates PDFs against WCAG 2.1 and accessibility best practices

Mauve++ is a free document accessibility checker that evaluates PDFs against WCAG 2.1 and best practices. You can either upload a PDF or provide its URL, and the tool will validate key features such as document language, titles, heading structure, and reading order.

It’s particularly helpful for content teams that publish documents online. By catching accessibility issues before files are shared, Mauve++ makes it easier to ensure PDFs can be read smoothly with screen readers and provide equal access to all users.

Adobe Acrobat Pro

  • Type: Software
  • Price: Paid (subscription)
  • Highlight: Full-featured PDF editor with accessibility checking and remediation tools

Adobe Acrobat Pro comes with built-in tools for checking and fixing PDF accessibility. It lets you scan a document for issues such as missing tags, reading order, or alt text, and then remediate them directly within the same file.

It’s best suited for professionals and organisations that rely heavily on PDFs. With editing and remediation features in one place, Acrobat Pro makes it easier to produce polished, accessible documents that comply with WCAG and PDF/UA standards.

3. Colour Contrast Checkers

Colour contrast is one of the most common accessibility issues found on websites. Poor contrast makes text difficult to read, especially for users with visual impairments. A contrast checking tool ensures your text and background meet WCAG contrast ratio requirements.

Here are two simple tools for checking text and background colour contrast.

WebYes Colour Contrast Checker

  • Type: Web-based tool
  • Price: Free
  • Highlight: Convenient contrast testing using a colour picker or hex code input

The WebYes Colour Contrast Checker is a free online tool that verifies whether your text and background colours meet accessibility standards. By entering colour values or using its colour picker, you can test combinations against WCAG and see results for both small text and large text.

It’s a practical option for designers and content teams who need to check colour contrast during design, review, or even after launch. The only drawback is that, as a website tool, it requires switching between your site and the checker.

Accessible Web Helper

  • Type: Browser Extension
  • Price: Free
  • Highlight: Easy-to-use browser extension for quick contrast testing

Accessible Web Helper is a browser extension for testing text and background colour combinations against WCAG standards. You can enter colour codes or use the built-in colour picker to quickly see if your chosen colours meet minimum or enhanced contrast ratios.

It’s a handy tool for designers and developers reviewing their site in the browser. You can test colour contrast without leaving the tab, making it quicker to confirm that your text and background combinations are readable and meet WCAG standards.

4. Alt Text Generators

Alt text is essential for making images accessible. It provides accurate and meaningful descriptions that screen reader users rely on to understand the purpose of visual content. Without it, important details are lost, leaving many users without access to key information.

The following tools generate alt text for images, helping you avoid missing descriptions.

AltTextGenerator.ai

  • Type: Web-based tool
  • Price: Pay-as-you-go (10 free credits to start)
  • Highlight: Bulk-generates alt text using AI in WordPress, with editable suggestions

AltTextGenerator.ai is a WordPress plugin that uses AI to create alt text for images in bulk. It scans your media library for images without alt text and generates SEO-friendly descriptions, which you can review and edit before applying.

This makes it ideal for WordPress site owners who want to enhance accessibility and SEO without much manual work. Its pay-as-you-go pricing and ease of installation let you quickly improve your image descriptions with minimal effort.

AltText.ai

  • Type: Web-based tool
  • Price: Subscription (with free trial)
  • Highlight: Integrates with CMS, e-commerce, and plugins for WordPress, Shopify, Chrome, and Firefox

AltText.ai is an AI-powered tool that integrates with popular platforms to generate alt text automatically. It works with CMSs like WordPress, Contentful, Hygraph, DatoCMS, and Storyblok, as well as e-commerce systems such as Shopify, WooCommerce, and Magento.

It also provides plugins and apps for WordPress, Shopify, Chrome, and Firefox, so alt text can be added directly within your workflow. While the tool is helpful, writing manual, context-aware alt text is the best practice for true accessibility.

5. Accessibility Plugins

Accessibility plugins are a broad category. Some focus on customising the look of a website for individual users (often called accessibility widgets), while others improve the underlying code. Here, we are talking about plugins that make on-the-fly code adjustments to improve website accessibility.

These are two WordPress plugins that apply accessibility fixes directly to your site.

Accessibility Toolkit by WebYes

  • Type: WordPress plugin
  • Price: Free
  • Highlight: Instantly applies accessibility fixes without technical setup

Accessibility Toolkit by WebYes is one of the best WordPress accessibility plugin. It helps improve your WordPress site’s accessibility by applying on-the-fly code improvements such as adding missing attributes, adjusting markup, and enhancing ARIA support.

This makes it especially useful for site owners and small businesses that want to reduce common accessibility barriers quickly. While it won’t solve everything, it gives you a solid starting point for building a more inclusive and accessible WordPress website.

WP Accessibility

  • Type: WordPress plugin
  • Price: Free
  • Highlight: Toolbar for users + background accessibility fixes

WP Accessibility is a WordPress plugin that applies accessibility fixes directly to your site, just like Accessibility Toolkit by WebYes. It helps with common issues such as missing form labels and skip links, making your site easier to navigate.

What makes WP Accessibility different is its user-facing toolbar. This feature allows visitors to adjust font size, switch contrast modes, and customise how they interact with your website, giving them greater flexibility and control over their browsing experience.

6. Screen Readers

Screen readers are assistive technologies that convert text and elements on a page into speech or braille. They allow users with visual impairments to access websites. Testing with a screen reader reveals how accessible your site is to visitors who cannot see the screen.

These screen readers let you experience your site the way blind or low-vision users do.

VoiceOver

  • Type: Software
  • Price: Free (built-in)
  • Highlight: Easy to test accessibility across Apple devices

VoiceOver is a built-in screen reader for macOS and iOS, which you can use to test how your website works on Apple devices with assistive technology. It lets you experience your site the way blind or low-vision users navigate on iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

Since it comes pre-installed as the default screen reader on Apple devices, VoiceOver is an easy way for developers and testers to see how visually-impaired users navigate sites and apps. It’s a practical choice for checking accessibility across the Apple ecosystem.

NVDA

  • Type: Software
  • Price: Free
  • Highlight: Popular screen reader for Windows; widely used by the blind community

NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) is an open-source screen reader for Windows, which you can use to test how your website works with assistive technology. It reads aloud on-screen elements, allowing you to experience your site in a way similar to blind or low-vision users.

Because it’s free and widely adopted, NVDA is a practical choice for developers and QA testers who want to evaluate accessibility. It’s also one of the most popular screen readers among the blind community, making it a reliable option for testing.

7. Accessibility Monitoring Tools

Once you have made your website accessible, the next step is to keep it that way. Monitoring tools run regular checks to catch new issues as content or design changes. This helps you maintain compliance and keep accessibility a continuous priority.

These are some tools that can help you keep accessibility in check as your site evolves.

WebYes

  • Type: Web-based tool
  • Price: Freemium
  • Highlight: Automated audits with reports to track accessibility progress

WebYes is a tool that monitors your website’s accessibility, performance, and SEO over time. By running automated audits, it helps you spot new issues as your content or design changes and keeps accessibility from slipping through the cracks.

It’s especially useful for teams that update websites frequently or manage multiple sites. Along with accessibility, WebYes Monitoring also checks SEO, performance, and content quality, giving you a broader view of your site’s health while staying aligned with standards like WCAG.

Siteimprove

  • Type: Web-based tool
  • Price: Paid
  • Highlight: Enterprise platform combining accessibility, SEO, and analytics

Siteimprove is an enterprise-level accessibility monitoring tool designed for large organisations, universities, and government websites. It runs automated audits to detect accessibility issues and provides detailed dashboards to track compliance progress over time.

In addition to accessibility, it includes features for SEO, performance, and content quality. This makes it a practical choice for enterprises that need monitoring across multiple areas, though it’s often more than smaller teams require.

When to Use Accessibility Tools

Each accessibility tool has its place in the website lifecycle. Some are most useful before launch, others during content creation or design, and a few need to run continuously. Knowing when to use them ensures accessibility becomes part of your workflow, not an afterthought.

The table shows when to use each tool and where it fits in your workflow.

 When to Use ItWorkflow StageWho Should Use It
Accessibility Evaluation ToolsRun before launch or after major updates to get a baseline and fix issuesPre-launch / Post-updateDevelopers, QA testers
Document Accessibility CheckersCheck PDFs, Word files, or presentations before uploading them to the websiteContent creationContent creators, educators
Colour Contrast CheckersTest brand colours and layouts to make sure they meet WCAG ratiosDesignDesigners, front-end developers
Alt Text GeneratorsAdd alt text when uploading or updating imagesContent creationContent writers, marketers
Accessibility PluginsKeep active on your site to apply on-the-fly code improvementsOngoing managementWordPress site owners, non-technical admins
Screen ReadersTest periodically to see how visually impaired users experience the siteTestingQA testers
Accessibility Monitoring ToolsRun at regular intervals to track new issues as content and designs changeOngoing monitoringCompliance teams, digital managers

When each team uses the right tool at the right stage, accessibility becomes easier to manage. From design to content creation, development to ongoing monitoring, these tools help ensure your website stays inclusive and compliant as it grows.

The Limits of Web Accessibility Tools

Accessibility tools are powerful, but they have clear limits. They can’t make a website fully accessible because not everything can be tested automatically. Scans may flag missing alt text or poor contrast, but often miss context, like whether a link label is meaningful.

They can’t make your website accessible on their own.

Manual testing is still essential for catching issues that require human judgment, such as unclear instructions or confusing navigation. When combined with tools, manual testing ensures your website is not only compliant with standards but also truly usable for all visitors.

Web Accessibility Made Easy

Today’s accessibility tools give every website and business owner the opportunity to build more inclusive digital spaces. They remove much of the complexity, making it easier to find issues, apply fixes, and maintain compliance over time.

With these tools, accessibility is no longer out of reach; it’s practical, achievable, and a step that benefits both your audience and your business. With the right tools in place, you can ensure your website remains inclusive, user-friendly, and compliant over time.


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