Web Accessibility Checker

Web Accessibility Checker is an Apify Actor that audits websites for WCAG accessibility compliance using axe-core, the industry-standard accessibility testing engine trusted by Microsoft, Google, and government agencies worldwide.

🎯 Why check website accessibility?

Over 1 billion people worldwide live with disabilities. An inaccessible website excludes them from essential services and information.

• Legal compliance - WCAG standards are legally required in many countries (ADA, EAA, Section 508)
• Larger audience - 15-20% of users have some form of disability
• Better SEO - Accessible sites rank higher in search engines
• Improved UX - Accessibility improvements benefit all users
• Avoid lawsuits - Web accessibility lawsuits increased 320% from 2018-2023

✨ What can Web Accessibility Checker do?

This Actor allows you to:

• Audit any website - Test public websites against WCAG 2.0, 2.1, or 2.2 standards
• Choose conformance level - Check against Level A, AA, or AAA requirements
• Crawl entire sites - Automatically discover and audit linked pages with configurable depth
• Get actionable results - Receive detailed violation reports with fix recommendations
• Calculate accessibility scores - Get a 0-100% score based on passed vs failed checks
• Handle SPAs - Wait for dynamic content to load before auditing

🚀 How to audit website accessibility?

1. Make a free Apify account here: https://console.apify.com/sign-up
2. Click on "Try for free"
3. Enter the URLs you want to audit
4. Select your WCAG version and conformance level
5. Click "Start" and wait for the Actor to complete
6. Download your accessibility report in JSON, CSV or Excel format

💡 What data will you receive?

Web Accessibility Checker extracts detailed information about each page's accessibility:

Field	Description
url	The URL that was audited
score	Accessibility score from 0-100%
wcagVersion	WCAG version used for the audit
violationsCount	Number of accessibility violations found
passesCount	Number of accessibility checks passed
incompleteCount	Number of checks needing manual review
violations	Detailed list of each violation with fix guidance
auditedAt	Timestamp of when the audit was performed

Output example

{
  "url": "https://example.com",
  "score": 85,
  "wcagVersion": "wcag21aa",
  "violationsCount": 3,
  "passesCount": 18,
  "incompleteCount": 2,
  "violations": [
    {
      "id": "color-contrast",
      "impact": "serious",
      "description": "Ensures the contrast between foreground and background colors meets WCAG 2 AA minimum contrast ratio thresholds",
      "help": "Elements must meet minimum color contrast ratio thresholds",
      "helpUrl": "https://dequeuniversity.com/rules/axe/4.10/color-contrast",
      "nodes": 5,
      "wcagTags": ["wcag2aa", "wcag143"],
      "affectedElements": ["<p class=\"light-text\">...</p>"]
    }
  ],
  "auditedAt": "2024-12-18T09:30:00.000Z"
}

📥 Input

The Actor accepts these input parameters:

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
urls	array	✅	-	List of website URLs to audit
wcagVersion	string	❌	wcag21aa	WCAG version: wcag2a, wcag2aa, wcag21a, wcag21aa, wcag22aa
crawlDepth	integer	❌	0	Levels of links to follow (0 = only provided URLs)
includeWarnings	boolean	❌	true	Include checks needing manual review
includePasses	boolean	❌	false	Include passed accessibility checks
waitForSelector	string	❌	-	CSS selector to wait for before auditing (for SPAs)
proxyConfiguration	object	❌	-	Proxy settings for geo-restricted sites

Input example

{
  "urls": ["https://example.com", "https://mysite.com"],
  "wcagVersion": "wcag21aa",
  "crawlDepth": 1,
  "includeWarnings": true,
  "includePasses": false
}

💰 How much does it cost?

This Actor is extremely cost-effective compared to commercial accessibility auditing tools that charge $100-500/month.

With Apify's free tier, you get $5 of platform credits monthly for free, which you can use to audit dozens of pages.

Do you need to audit more? Upgrade to a paid plan which includes more platform credits and discounted pricing.

Tips:

• Provide multiple URLs in your input to pay the Actor start cost only once
• Use crawlDepth: 0 for quick audits of specific pages
• Use crawlDepth: 1-2 to discover and audit linked pages automatically
• Set includePasses: false to reduce output size

🌍 Beyond Business

Making the Web Accessible for Everyone

This Actor was created to democratize accessibility testing and make the web more inclusive for the 1 billion+ people worldwide living with disabilities.

🏛️ Social Impact Use Cases

• Non-profits & NGOs - Small organizations with limited budgets can now audit their websites for free, ensuring their services are accessible to everyone they serve
• Educational institutions - Schools and universities can verify their learning materials are accessible to students with disabilities
• Government agencies - Public sector organizations can ensure compliance with accessibility laws and serve all citizens equally
• Healthcare providers - Medical information and services must be accessible to patients with visual, motor, or cognitive disabilities
• Community organizations - Local groups can make their event information and resources available to people with disabilities

♿ Who Benefits?

Inaccessible websites create real barriers for real people:

• Blind users rely on screen readers that can't interpret unlabeled images or poorly structured pages
• Low-vision users struggle with poor color contrast and text that can't be resized
• Deaf users miss audio content without captions or transcripts
• Motor-impaired users can't navigate sites that require precise mouse movements
• Cognitively disabled users are confused by complex navigation and unclear instructions

By making professional-grade accessibility testing free and easy to use, this Actor helps organizations of all sizes identify and fix these barriers—creating a more inclusive web for everyone.

🌐 The Bigger Picture

Web accessibility isn't just about compliance—it's about human rights. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognizes access to information and communications technologies (including the web) as a basic human right.

Every website we help make accessible is one more door opened for someone who was previously excluded.

🔗 Integrate with your workflows

This Actor integrates seamlessly with:

• Automation platforms - Build no-code workflows with Make.com, n8n, and Zapier
• Webhooks - Trigger actions when auditing completes through webhooks
• Schedulers - Run weekly accessibility audits with Apify's Scheduler
• API - Start runs and access data programmatically with the Apify API
• Google Sheets - Export directly to spreadsheets for reporting
• CI/CD pipelines - Integrate into your deployment process for continuous accessibility monitoring

👥 Who made this Actor?

Louis is a top 1% Apify developer, Oxford University IT graduate, and creator of 70+ scrapers used by 1,000+ data professionals every month. He has scraped 10,000,000+ pages bypassing the most advanced anti-scraping protections.

• Apify AI Agent Hackathon Winner
• 300+ contributions in Apify Discord
• Former senior data engineer in EU banking

Looking for a custom data solution? Get in touch.

❓ FAQ

Is accessibility testing legal?

Yes, this Actor uses axe-core to analyze the public structure of web pages. It's similar to how search engines index websites. No private data is accessed or stored.

What WCAG version should I use?

For most purposes, WCAG 2.1 Level AA (wcag21aa) is recommended. It's the most commonly referenced standard in accessibility laws worldwide. Use WCAG 2.2 AA for the latest guidelines.

Can I export data to CSV or Excel?

Yes, Apify supports exporting dataset results in multiple formats: JSON, CSV, Excel (XLSX), HTML, XML and RSS.

How accurate is the accessibility score?

The score is calculated as (Passed Checks / Total Checks) × 100. While automated testing catches 30-50% of accessibility issues, some problems require manual testing. Use the "incomplete" results as a guide for manual review.

What happens if a website blocks the audit?

The Actor uses Playwright with a real browser, so it handles JavaScript-heavy sites well. For geo-restricted sites, use the proxy configuration option.

How do I get started?

Make a free Apify account to claim your free $5 usage and start auditing today by clicking "Try for free".