What automation can judge, and what it cannot
Automated checks reliably catch missing alternative text, contrast failures, missing form labels, invalid ARIA, missing document language, keyboard traps that are detectable from the DOM, and structural problems such as skipped heading levels. Industry measurement puts automated coverage at roughly half of issues by volume and a smaller share of distinct barrier types, so a clean automated scan is a floor, not a pass. Automation cannot judge whether alternative text is meaningful, whether focus order makes sense to a screen-reader user, or whether an error message is understandable. Our reports say which criteria were checked automatically and which need a human, and they never assert a conformance level that was not audited.
Running an audit
- Choose a recorded flow or a list of URLs. A flow is better: it audits pages that only exist after sign-in or after an action.
- Pick Level A or AA, the levels automation can actually check. WCAG 2.2 AA is the level most procurement teams and the European Accessibility Act expect. Level AAA criteria are recorded as needing manual review rather than tested.
- Run. Each finding shows the rule, the failing element, a screenshot with the element highlighted, and the fix.
- Optionally simulate colour-vision deficiencies to review contrast decisions visually.
VPAT export
The VPAT (Voluntary Product Accessibility Template) is the document procurement teams in the US public sector and many large companies ask for. Ours is generated from a real scan: each criterion is marked Supports, Partially Supports or Does Not Support according to what the audit observed, and criteria that need manual review are marked as such rather than assumed. Edit the remarks before you send it; the document is a starting point that is honest about its source.
Continuous auditing
Attach an audit to a pipeline gate so a release that reintroduces a contrast failure or an unlabelled control is caught before it ships. Trend reports show the count of open findings per level over time.
Questions people ask about this
- Is your own site accessible?
- Partially conformant, and we say so on our accessibility statement, which names the known gaps. We would rather you read the gaps than a claim.
- Which regulations does this help with?
- The European Accessibility Act (in force since June 2025), the UK Equality Act, Section 508 procurement in the US, and the accessibility laws of the 66 countries the reference table covers. It helps you find and fix issues; it does not certify conformance, and no automated tool can.
- Can it test Level AAA?
- Not automatically. axe-core has almost no AAA rules, so AAA criteria are recorded as needing manual review. Automated coverage is Levels A and AA; anything a machine cannot judge is marked, not assumed.
Source: /documentation/accessibility-audits-and-vpat, updated 2026-09-18. Answers are checked against the shipped product on that date.
Found something out of date? The people who build the module answer the contact form on the home page, and corrections to this guide are dated above. Tell us.