WordPress accessibility checker

What a WordPress accessibility checker is

People type that phrase when they want a WCAG scan of a WordPress site. Some expect a plugin. Some expect a paste-URL tool. Complience.app is the second kind: Playwright loads the public page, axe-core scores what a machine can see, and the PDF is dated evidence — not a stamp.

The engine is the same as the website accessibility checker. This URL exists for the CMS query and the theme/plugin framing.

What usually fails on WordPress

Themes and page builders ship a lot of the failures that show up in large automated samples. The 2026 WebAIM Million found low-contrast text on 83.9% of home pages and missing alt on 53.1%. WordPress sites are not exempt.

• Images in the media library with empty alt
• Page-builder buttons without an accessible name
• Slider and popup plugins that trap keyboard focus
• Contrast choices in the Customizer or global styles
• Marketing pixels that fire before the cookie banner — including leftovers off the vendor list

People also type WordPress WCAG checker and WordPress ADA checker. Same scan. It does not certify the ADA. Use the WCAG checklist for the manual remainder, and the color contrast checker when you are picking a palette.

Plugin vs public URL scan

In-editor plugins are useful for content authors. They see the post as you save. They often miss what the theme, header, footer, and other plugins inject on the front end.

A public URL scan loads the page a visitor actually gets — block markup, Elementor widgets, cookie banners, the works. Nothing to install. Nothing that slows the site. Complience.app is that path. Keep an editor plugin if your writers need it. Do not treat either as a certificate. The W3C Understanding Conformance page is about the content, not about which plugin you activated.

How to run the check

Paste the homepage, a typical post, and any form or shop template that takes money. The worker opens it without logging in. axe-core returns rule id, impact, and selector.

Fix the theme, the block, or the media library. Then recrawl. That loop is the product — not a one-off score. Agencies who send the PDF use white-label accessibility reports.

Overlays and “fix it” plugins

Accessibility overlay plugins do not rewrite your theme. The toolbar sits on the visitor session. axe-core still sees the unlabeled button in the HTML.

The FTC ordered accessiBe to pay $1 million over deceptive compliance claims (final order, 22 April 2025 — original URL on accessibility statistics). If that was the pitch, read accessiBe alternatives and UserWay alternatives. Complience.app does not inject a toolbar.

What this scan cannot see

wp-admin, membership areas, and anything behind a login. Also: whether alt text is accurate, whether checkout works with a screen reader, and whether a cookie banner covers the focused control. Those need a person. Sticky banners and focus are covered in focus not obscured.

Already running Cookiebot, Complianz, Termly, or iubenda? Keep the banner. Use Complience.app to see whether marketing cookies still fire before Accept — see works with Complianz and the other works-with pages under the cookie consent scanner.