What are affordable WCAG 2.2 accessibility audit tools?

28 October 2026 · By John Carlsson

The most affordable accessibility audit tools are free: filter the W3C tools list for WCAG 2.2, then run Lighthouse and a browser checker on your key pages. No tool can confirm conformance on its own, as W3C says tools can only assist. Pay for a tool when you need many pages checked, clear evidence and fixes, or a report to share.

Start with the free W3C tools list

A neutral place to start looking for accessibility audit tools is the W3C Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List, which you can filter by standard, including WCAG 2.2, and by cost, with options for free tools, limited free versions, trials, subscriptions and one-off purchases. It also filters by tool type, such as browser plugins, online checkers and command line tools for build pipelines.

The list is submitted by tool providers and W3C does not endorse any product, so treat it as a directory rather than a recommendation. It is still a useful place to see what exists, because it is not a vendor's own comparison.

Free checks you can run today

Lighthouse is an open source automated tool from Google that audits accessibility alongside performance and SEO. You can run it in Chrome DevTools, from the command line, or through PageSpeed Insights. Each of its accessibility audits is a pass or a fail, and its manual checks are listed separately because they do not affect the score. Because the manual checks do not affect the score, a score of 100 only shows that the automated audits passed, so the page still needs checking by hand.

Add a browser checker from the W3C list to see issues highlighted on the page itself, and then do the basics by hand: move through the page with the Tab key, check that you can always see where focus is, zoom to 200 percent, and read the alt text of your important images.

What automated tools cannot judge

W3C is direct about this. Its guidance on selecting tools says tools cannot check all accessibility aspects automatically, that human judgement is required, and that tools can produce false or misleading results. A tool can see that an image has alt text, but not whether the text describes the image. It can measure colour contrast where text sits on a plain background, but not reliably where text sits on a photo or a gradient.

Several of the WCAG 2.2 additions need a person to judge, such as Redundant Entry, which asks whether users are made to type the same information twice, and Accessible Authentication, which is about login steps. Any tool that claims to cover all of WCAG 2.2 automatically is overstating what software can do.

When paid accessibility audit tools are worth it

Free tools test one page at a time and leave you to interpret the results. A paid tool earns its cost when it saves time across many pages or gives you evidence you can act on. Before paying, check that it lists WCAG 2.2 support, that it tests the page after its scripts have run, that it names the exact element and colour pair behind each failure, and that it separates confirmed failures from items that need a person to check.

W3C also suggests choosing tools that suit your team, and notes that development teams may gain from using a combination of tools.

Our Accessibility Audit tests the finished page against WCAG 2.2 Level A and AA, shows the evidence for each failure, and lists what still needs a person to check. A run costs £2.49, pay as you go. For what a full professional audit costs, see how much does a WCAG audit cost.

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Frequently asked questions

Can accessibility audit tools tell me my site meets WCAG 2.2?

No. W3C states that web accessibility evaluation tools cannot determine accessibility and can only assist in doing so. It also warns that tools can produce false or misleading results. A tool finds likely problems quickly, but a person still has to check things such as whether alt text is meaningful and whether the page works with a keyboard.

What is new in WCAG 2.2?

WCAG 2.2 became a W3C Recommendation on 5 October 2023. It adds nine success criteria, including Focus Not Obscured, Dragging Movements, Target Size (Minimum), Consistent Help, Redundant Entry and Accessible Authentication, and it removes 4.1.1 Parsing as obsolete. Check that any tool you use lists WCAG 2.2 support.