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Accessibility Checker

Short answer

Test the rendered page against the WCAG 2.1 A and AA rules that software can check, colour contrast included. Each issue links its WCAG criterion and the European Accessibility Act requirement.

What it does not do: Automated rules find only part of the WCAG problems: keyboard use, meaning, captions and many other criteria need a person, so the result is never a compliance verdict, and content that scripts build may be missing.

Free · No signup · Runs in your browser

Tests the rendered page against the WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA rules that software can check.

Runs in your browser. For a URL, RankProof fetches the page's HTML; your browser then loads its styles and images from the site to measure contrast and layout. The page's own scripts are not run.

What It Does

Renders the page in your browser and tests it against the WCAG 2.1 Level A and AA rules that software can check: colour contrast of the rendered text, names of buttons, links and form fields, image alternatives, headings and landmarks, ARIA use and page language, among others. Each issue is rated by impact, shows the affected elements and what to fix, and links the WCAG success criterion and the European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882) Annex I requirement it relates to. Checks that need a person are listed separately.

Why It Matters

The European Accessibility Act has applied since 28 June 2025 to many digital products and services sold in the EU, and each member state sets and enforces its own penalties. Beyond the law, accessibility problems shut out real visitors. An automated check is the fastest way to find the obvious failures before a manual review.

How It Works

  1. Enter a page URL, or paste the page's HTML

  2. RankProof fetches the HTML; your browser renders it with the site's own styles and images, without running the page's scripts

  3. An open-source rule engine tests the rendered page against the WCAG 2.1 A and AA rules

  4. Issues come back by impact, with the affected elements, what to fix and the WCAG and EAA references

Sample input + output

INPUT
url: https://rankproof.eu
OUTPUT
Accessibility scan (WCAG 2.1 A and AA rules):

No issues that automated rules can detect

Rules passed: 22 · Need a person to check: 1

Needs a person to check
  colour contrast · WCAG 1.4.3 · EAA I.2.c

How to read the result

Summary (no issues on rankproof.eu in the sample)
The number of issues and of page elements they affect, or a line saying the automated rules found nothing. In the sample the scan found no issue on rankproof.eu. That is not a compliance verdict: the rules cover only part of WCAG 2.1 AA.
Impact: critical, serious, moderate, minor
Each issue carries the rule engine's own impact rating, and issues are listed most severe first. Critical and serious ones usually block or badly slow some users — a button with no name, text that is too faint — so start there.
Affected elements
Under each issue, the elements that failed, shown as their HTML, with what to change. One issue often covers many elements built by the same template, so a single fix can clear them all.
WCAG and EAA references
Each issue links the WCAG 2.1 success criterion it tests and the item of our European Accessibility Act checklist it is filed under, which names the part of the Directive it comes from — for colour contrast, WCAG 1.4.3 and EAA I.2.c.
Rules passed (22)
How many rules applied to this page and found nothing wrong. The number changes from page to page: a page without a form does not run the form rules.
Needs a person to check (1)
Cases the rules could not decide on their own, for example text over an image. In the sample it is colour contrast (WCAG 1.4.3): for some text the engine could not settle the background, so that pair needs checking by eye or with the colour contrast checker.
Preview
The page as your browser rendered it for the scan, without running its scripts. If it is almost empty, the page is probably built by JavaScript and the tool says so: paste the rendered HTML instead.

Who Uses This

  • EU Business Owner

    Run a baseline check now that the EAA applies, and see which WCAG failures to fix first.

  • Accessibility Consultant

    Get a quick first pass on a client page, with issues grouped by impact and mapped to EAA requirements, before the manual review.

  • Web Developer

    Re-run the check on staging pages before each release to catch accessibility regressions before they reach production.

Common problems and how to fix them

  1. Images without a text alternative (WCAG 1.1.1)

    Give informative images an alt text that says what they show or do, and decorative ones alt="". An image inside a link or button needs alt text that names the destination or the action.

    <img src="/signups.png" alt="Bar chart: sign-ups doubled from March to June">
<img src="/divider.svg" alt="">

  2. Text with too little contrast (WCAG 1.4.3)

    Darken the text or lighten the background until normal text reaches 4.5:1 and large text 3:1. Change the colour in your theme rather than on single elements, so every component follows.

    :root {
  --text: #1f2937;       /* 14.7:1 on #ffffff */
  --text-muted: #595959; /*  7.0:1 on #ffffff */
}

  3. Form fields without a label (WCAG 1.3.1, 4.1.2)

    Connect a visible <label> to every field with for and id. A placeholder is not a label: it disappears as soon as people type.

    <label for="email">Email address</label>
<input id="email" name="email" type="email" autocomplete="email">

  4. Buttons and links without a name (WCAG 4.1.2, 2.4.4)

    An icon-only button needs a text alternative: visible text, alt text on its image or an aria-label. Link text should say where the link goes, not "click here".

    <button type="button" aria-label="Close menu">
  <svg aria-hidden="true" focusable="false">…</svg>
</button>

  5. No page language (WCAG 3.1.1)

    Set lang on the <html> element to the language of the page, so screen readers pronounce it correctly, and lang on any passage in another language.

    <html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

  6. What the rules cannot check

    Use the keyboard alone to reach and operate every control, check that the focus is visible, that videos have captions and that error messages say how to correct the input. The manual checklist on the EAA requirements page lists these checks.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is WCAG 2.1?
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 are the W3C standard for web accessibility. In the EU, the harmonised standard EN 301 549 v3.2.1 applies WCAG 2.1 Level AA to web content, which is why this checker uses the 2.1 A and AA rules.
What is the European Accessibility Act?
Directive (EU) 2019/882 sets accessibility requirements for many products and services sold in the EU, including e-commerce, banking and e-books. It has applied since 28 June 2025.
What does automated checking miss?
A lot. Automated rules find only part of the problems: whether alt text is meaningful, whether the reading order makes sense, whether captions are accurate. The report lists the items that need a person, and the EAA requirements page has a checklist of manual checks. Treat the scan as the first step, then test with a keyboard and a screen reader.
Does it check colour contrast?
Yes, for text on solid backgrounds in the rendered page. Text over images or gradients cannot be measured automatically and is listed as needing a manual check. For a single pair of colours, use the Color Contrast Checker.
Does it work on sites built with JavaScript?
Only partly. The page's scripts are not run, so content that JavaScript adds after loading is missing from the scan. The report warns you when a page renders with almost no text.
What is the difference between WCAG 2.1 and 2.2?
WCAG 2.2 adds nine success criteria to 2.1 and removes one (4.1.1 Parsing). New Level AA criteria include Focus Not Obscured (2.4.11), Dragging Movements (2.5.7), Target Size (2.5.8) and Accessible Authentication (3.3.8). EU web content is measured against WCAG 2.1 AA through EN 301 549 v3.2.1.

Sources

The documentation this tool and the explanations on this page are based on.

Free tools on this topic

Guides on this topic

Research data on this topic

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