IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker vs Pa11y
IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker
ibm.com
Pa11y
pa11y.orgSide by side
| Figure | IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker | Pa11y |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 1 |
| Spec score · Accessibility Testing Software | 9.0 (#7) | 8.6 (#21) |
| Spec score · Website Accessibility Tools | 9.0 (#6) | 8.7 (#14) |
| Spec score · Web Accessibility Software | 8.4 (#6) | 8.2 (#11) |
| API access | Yes | Yes |
| CI/CD integration | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Purpose | The checker automates accessibility checking of web content and applications for web developers and accessibility auditors. | Pa11y publishes free, open-source tools to help designers and developers make web pages more accessible. |
| Reports | XLSX output is included automatically, and JSON and other report formats can be configured. | Built-in CLI reporters include human-readable CLI output, CSV, HTML, JSON, and TSV. |
| Scan scope | page | site |
| WCAG version | wcag 2.2 | wcag 2.1 |
Plans
IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker
- Free and open sourceFree
- Free/open-source toolkitFree
In their own words
IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker
IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker automates accessibility checks for web content and applications, with tools aimed at web developers and accessibility auditors. Its rule engine connects checks to accessibility standards, including WCAG 2.2, and scans at page level. Results can identify the issue type, applicable WCAG success criteria, affected element, XPath, progression level, and a help link. Browser extensions are available for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. They work in browser DevTools and include a visualization mode for keyboard checking. For CI/CD workflows, packages are available for Node, Cypress, and Java; the project Wiki also lists a Karma plugin and names Selenium, Puppeteer, Playwright, and Zombie as testing or parsing engines. The extension can combine up to 50 stored scans into a Microsoft Excel report. The Wiki says web data, rules, and the engine stay local rather than sending web data to servers or third parties. The tool is free at free. IBM cautions that automated checks cover only part of its accessibility requirements, so manual and screen reader testing should follow.
Pa11y
Pa11y is a free, open-source set of tools for checking website accessibility. Its command-line interface loads a page for a one-off test and highlights issues, while Pa11y CI checks a list of pages in continuous-integration workflows. Pa11y Dashboard tests pages daily and graphs improvements or regressions over time. Pa11y Webservice supplies JSON data for the Dashboard or a custom dashboard-style front end. The package runs from the command line or Node.js, uses HTML_CodeSniffer by default, and can also use the axe test runner. WCAG2AA is the default CLI standard, with WCAG2A and WCAG2AAA selectable. Reports can be human-readable CLI output, CSV, HTML, JSON, or TSV. Configuration uses command-line options or JSON and JavaScript files, and local HTML files can be tested with an absolute path. Pa11y provides API access, scheduled scans, site-level scanning, and CI/CD integration across Linux, macOS, Windows, web, API, and self-hosted setups. Pa11y 10 requires Node.js 22.13.0 or newer on an even-numbered release.