PLATFORM COMPARISON

CMS EAA Accessibility Comparison
10 Platforms Compared (2026)

Not all content management systems are equal under the European Accessibility Act. Some ship with solid semantic HTML out of the box; others require heavy theme customisation to reach WCAG 2.1 AA. This guide compares all 10 platforms we cover — so you know where your biggest risks are before you scan.

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Why platform matters

The EAA applies equally to every website serving EU consumers — but the effort required to reach compliance varies enormously by CMS. A site built on Drupal or Joomla starts with strong semantic foundations; a custom Shopify or Wix theme can hide accessibility-breaking code behind a drag-and-drop interface that designers never inspect.

Our free EAA scanner works on any platform — no installation, no signup. The table below gives you a quick-read overview so you know which issues to expect before you scan your own site or a client's.

Comparison table

Platform Market Share Base Accessibility Most Common Issue Fix Complexity Guide
🔴 WordPress 43% of all sites Variable Low-contrast themes, missing alt text, generic link text Low–Medium Guide →
🛒 Shopify ~10% of e‑commerce Mixed Product image alt text, button labels, colour contrast Low Guide →
🌀 Webflow Growing (small base) Designer‑dependent Interactive animations failing WCAG timing/motion, heading order Medium Guide →
🔵 Wix ~3% of all sites Weak Auto-generated duplicate IDs, missing form labels, iframe titles Medium–High Guide →
Squarespace ~2% of all sites Template‑dependent Low-contrast template defaults, hidden text on image blocks Low–Medium Guide →
🌐 Drupal ~1.5% of all sites Strong Contributed modules overriding semantic core output Low Guide →
📄 Joomla ~1.5% of all sites Strong Third-party template overrides breaking heading structure Low Guide →
🟣 PrestaShop ~0.5% of all sites Mixed Product grid alt text, checkout form labels, translation‑level lang attributes Low–Medium Guide →
🌿 Weebly ~0.3% of all sites Weak Drag-and-drop editor creates empty divs, missing form labels, heading gaps High Guide →
📦 Magento (Adobe Commerce) ~0.5% of e‑commerce Mixed Custom module breakage, Luma theme contrast, checkout ARIA labels Medium Guide →

Market share: approximate as of 2026. Sources: W3Techs, BuiltWith, and A11y Project annual surveys. Base accessibility: how much WCAG 2.1 AA compliance the platform provides before customisation.

Platform deep-dives

Each platform has its own accessibility profile, common pitfalls, and fastest fix path. Click through to the full guide.

🔴 WordPress

43% of all sites · 810M+ websites
  • Theme-dependent accessibility — some themes are excellent (GeneratePress, Astra with settings), others fail every contrast check
  • Gutenberg block editor makes heading hierarchy easy to get right, but plugins often inject low-contrast UI
  • Fastest fix: run the scan, fix alt text in Media Library, adjust colours in Theme Customizer

Read the full WordPress guide →

🛒 Shopify

~10% of e-commerce · Dawn theme is the default
  • Dawn theme (OS 2.0) improved contrast and semantic structure — but custom Liquid templates undo it
  • Product image alt text is the single biggest failure point across Shopify stores
  • Fastest fix: add alt text to all product images, check button labels in theme editor

Read the full Shopify guide →

🌀 Webflow

Designer-first · Growing fast in agency space
  • Great semantic output when designers know accessibility — terrible when they focus only on visuals
  • Interactive animations (scroll-triggered, mouse-movement) often fail WCAG timing and motion criteria
  • Fastest fix: reduce motion, add pause controls, run our scanner on every published page

Read the full Webflow guide →

🔵 Wix

~3% of all sites · Strong in SMB segment
  • Wix's Auto-ARIA feature attempts to fix issues programmatically, but creates duplicate IDs in the process
  • Editor X / Velo code gives developers control — but most Wix sites use pure drag-and-drop, which skips form labels
  • Fastest fix: Accessibility Wizard in Wix dashboard, then our scanner for remaining gaps

Read the full Wix guide →

⬜ Squarespace

~2% of all sites · Design-forward templates
  • New Fluid Engine editor improved contrast defaults, but legacy Classic Editor templates still in wide use
  • Image blocks with hidden text are common — text overlay used for design, invisible to screen readers
  • Fastest fix: switch to Fluid Engine templates, add alt text, use Custom CSS for contrast fixes

Read the full Squarespace guide →

🌐 Drupal

~1.5% · Enterprise-favourite CMS
  • Best core accessibility of any major CMS: Olivero admin theme, CKEditor 5 accessibility checker, semantic field output
  • Biggest risk is contributed modules that override core's accessible rendering
  • Fastest fix: use Olivero, enable CKEditor accessibility checker, scan after every module update

Read the full Drupal guide →

📄 Joomla

~1.5% · Strong in government/education EU segment
  • Joomla 4+ core templates (Cassiopeia) ship with solid semantic HTML and acceptable default contrast
  • Third-party template overrides are the main risk — popular commercial templates often break heading hierarchy
  • Fastest fix: use Cassiopeia, run JA Accessibility Checker, then our scanner for remaining gaps

Read the full Joomla guide →

🟣 PrestaShop

~0.5% · Popular in EU e-commerce
  • Core templates produce acceptable semantics, but checkout flows often fail on form labels and focus management
  • Translation-level lang attributes are a unique failure point: multi-language stores sometimes omit lang correctly
  • Fastest fix: verify lang attributes per translation, check checkout flow manually, scan product pages

Read the full PrestaShop guide →

🌿 Weebly

~0.3% · Square-owned, shrinking but still active
  • Limited control over HTML output — the drag-and-drop editor produces flat, non-semantic div structures
  • No built-in accessibility checker or wizard. Most fixes require Custom CSS or rebuilding sections
  • Fastest fix: replace empty divs with semantic elements via Custom CSS, run scanner repeatedly

Read the full Weebly guide →

📦 Magento (Adobe Commerce)

~0.5% of e-commerce · Enterprise segment
  • Luma theme has documented contrast and ARIA issues — Hyvä theme improves dramatically but costs extra
  • Custom module ecosystem means every store has unique issues. Third-party checkout modules are the biggest risk
  • Fastest fix: scan after every module install, fix ARIA labels in checkout, consider Hyvä for new builds

Read the full Magento guide →

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