Access a curated list of free accessibility testing tools to help you evaluate and improve your website’s user experience. From screen reader testing with NVDA to automated WCAG scans with WAVE and Google Lighthouse, this toolkit lets you test your site like a real user. Perfect for marketers, developers, and business owners ready to take practical action on accessibility.
What's in this toolkit
A curated list of accessibility testing tools - browser extensions, online validators, screen reader simulators, colour contrast checkers, and keyboard navigation testers. Use them to audit your website for WCAG compliance issues before they become legal or reputational problems.
The essential tools (all free)
axe DevTools (browser extension): the most widely used automated accessibility auditor. Integrates into Chrome or Firefox DevTools and reports errors, warnings, and best practice issues on any page you're viewing. WAVE (wave.webaim.org): a visual accessibility evaluator that overlays errors and alerts directly on your page. Good for quick visual triage. Colour Contrast Analyser (by TPGi, free desktop app): checks foreground/background colour pairs against WCAG contrast ratios. Screen reader testing: NVDA (Windows, free) or VoiceOver (Mac, built-in). Test your site with a screen reader to experience how visually impaired users navigate it - you'll find issues automated tools miss.
What automated tools can't catch
Automated tools find approximately 30% of accessibility issues. The other 70% require human judgement: is the alt text actually descriptive (not just "image.jpg" or "button")? Does the reading order make sense when CSS is stripped? Are error messages clear and helpful? Is the focus order logical as a keyboard user tabs through the page? Plan for both automated scanning and a manual walkthrough.
Related resources