Scan any WordPress site against 16 WCAG 2.1 AA rules in seconds — no plugin install, no signup.
WordPress powers over 43% of all websites globally — more than 810 million sites — including the majority of small-business e-commerce stores, membership platforms, and service portals in the European Union. Despite that reach, independent audits consistently find that fewer than 1 in 5 WordPress themes pass basic WCAG 2.1 AA checks out of the box. Popular commercial themes from marketplaces like ThemeForest and TemplateMonkey routinely fail on contrast ratios, heading structure, and missing ARIA landmarks.
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is the strongest regulatory driver yet. It applies to any website offering services or products to EU consumers — from a WooCommerce boutique in Berlin to a membership portal in Dublin. Non-compliance carries real legal exposure, and enterprise procurement teams increasingly require a signed VPAT or documented WCAG conformance before signing. The most frequent failures on WordPress sites — missing alt text on product images, generic "read more" links, low-contrast themes, empty form labels, and absent page language declarations — are also the cheapest and fastest to fix. That's exactly what our automated scanner catches.
Beyond regulation, the business case is clear: accessible sites rank higher in Google search (alt text is semantic content), convert better (clear CTAs and forms), and reduce bounce rates from users who rely on assistive technology — an estimated 15% of the EU population.
16 automated rules covering images, links, forms, headings, language, viewport, contrast, ARIA misuse, and more — mapped to real WCAG success criteria.
Paste your URL, get a letter grade with every issue listed by severity. No account, no email, no waiting for an audit report.
The rule set targets what EU enforcement and enterprise procurement actually look at: WCAG 2.1 AA basics you can document today.
When your scan flags a failing rule, here's where to fix it in the WordPress admin:
| Issue | Where to fix in WordPress |
|---|---|
| Missing alt text | Media Library → click image → Alt Text field in the attachment details panel |
| Low contrast text | Appearance → Customize → Colors (or Additional CSS) — set body text to at least #444 or darker |
| Missing heading structure | When editing a page, use Heading block with the correct level (H2 for sections, H3 for subsections). Only one H1 per page. |
| Empty form labels | Check contact form plugins (WPForms, Contact Form 7) — ensure each field has a visible label, not just placeholder text |
| Missing page language | Settings → General → Site Language sets the lang attribute. Most themes pass this through correctly. |
| Missing alt on logo | Appearance → Customize → Site Identity — set the Logo Alt Text field |
| Non-descriptive link text | Search for "click here", "read more", "learn more" in your content — replace with text that describes the destination |
WordPress has its own accessibility ecosystem — some plugins genuinely help, others introduce new problems. Here is what to use, what to avoid, and how each tool fits into a real workflow.
The Block Editor itself has known accessibility gaps. Heading blocks default to H2 with no prompt for the correct level — editors routinely create H2 → H2 → H2 chains instead of a proper H2 → H3 → H3 hierarchy. Image blocks do not enforce alt text before publishing, and the Columns block can produce a non-sequential tab order in some configurations. Custom HTML blocks let editors bypass every accessibility safeguard. Train your content team to be deliberate about heading levels and always fill alt text, and enforce the habit of running the scanner before publishing every new page.
Accessibility is not a one-time scan. WordPress sites evolve constantly — new plugins, theme updates, fresh content from multiple editors, and third-party integrations all introduce regressions. Building ongoing practices into your workflow prevents the compliance gap from widening between audits.
If you manage WordPress through a staging workflow, integrate automated accessibility checks into your deployment pipeline. Tools like Pa11y CI or axe-core can be run against your staging environment on every deploy — they catch contrast and ARIA regressions before they reach production. For agencies: a pre-deploy accessibility check is a strong differentiator when a client asks about your QA process.
Your content team is your first line of defence. A 30-minute training session on the Block Editor covers the three most impactful habits:
Provide editors with a simple checklist taped to their monitor or pinned in your team chat. Make the scanner URL the first bookmark in every editor's browser.
We also ship a free WordPress accessibility scanner plugin — the same rule set as this page, running from Tools → EAA Scanner in your own admin. Everything runs on your server; no data is sent to third parties.
Automated scanning catches roughly a third of accessibility issues — but it catches the ones that are cheapest to fix first. When you want the full picture, these resources cover the complete compliance journey: