In the last few years a number of WordPress Accessibility Plugins have been developed to help find and fix issues on WordPress sites. But how effective are they and should you use them?

Introduction

I took a look at eight popular WordPress accessibility plugins (in no particular order) that purport to offer both complete and partial accessibility solutions for existing WordPress sites. Some claim to get your site to reach 100% compliance with officially recognised accessibility standards and keep you there.

WP ADA Compliance Check Basic

This plugin scans your WordPress site to identify accessibility issues that may hinder ADA compliance, providing detailed reports and suggestions for corrections.

Pros:

• Automatically detects a wide range of accessibility issues.
• Includes 81 individual accessibility error checks.
• Provides detailed reports on accessibility issues and the remediation required.
• Integrates seamlessly with many WordPress site builders such as Beaver, Elementor, Divi etc.

Cons:

• The basic version may not cover all potential issues.
• Does not perform automatic remediation of identified problems, so you will need in-house capability to fix issues.

Accessibility Standards:

Claims to comply with Section 508 and WCAG 2.2 LEVEL A/AA Web Accessibility Standards, but makes no absolute guarantee that you will meet them.

Find out more about the WP ADA Compliance Check plugin.

Accessibility Toolbar

This plugin provides a toolbar allowing visitors to adjust settings like font size and color contrast, enhancing usability for individuals with disabilities.

Pros:

• Easy installation and configuration.
• Empowers users to customise their viewing experience on the frontend.
• Some automated AI remediation for ALT Tags and Aria Labels.

Cons:

• Adjustments are user-specific and do not address underlying accessibility issues.
• Limited in remediating inaccessible code.

Accessibility Standards:

Makes no claim your WordPress website will fully meet official Web Accessibility Standards. Instead, provides a boost towards reaching them.

Find out more about the Accessibility Toolbar plugin.

WP Accessibility

WP Accessibility addresses common accessibility issues in WordPress themes and content, offering features like skip links, color contrast testing, and form labeling.

Pros:

• Free to use with a range of helpful features.
• Adds a number of helpful accessibility features with no technical knowledge required.
• Provides content specific fixes and identifies issues to be remediated.

Cons:

• Does not ensure full compliance with all accessibility guidelines.

Accessibility Standards:

Makes no claim your WordPress website will fully meet official Web Accessibility Standards. Instead, provides a boost towards reaching them.

Find out more about the WP Accessibility plugin.

accessWidget

accessWidget (By accessiBe) is an AI-powered, automated web accessibility plugin that implements an accessibility interface for users to adjust UI and design elements to their needs. It also utilises AI to handle complex tasks such as screen reader optimisation and keyboard navigation.

Pros:

• Provides both automated AI and frontend User Interface solutions.
• A more comprehensive solution covering various aspects of web accessibility.
• Integrates well with different WordPress setups, including WooCommerce, Divi and other page builders.

Cons:

• Premium pricing may put off smaller website owners.
• Requires ongoing subscription for continuous compliance.

Accessibility Standards:

Claims to help your WordPress website reach and maintain ADA compliance, in adherence to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Find out more about the accessWidget plugin.

Accessibility by UserWay

UserWay’s Accessibility Widget offers a large suite of functions to enhance website accessibility, including an accessibility toolbar and AI-generated alt text for images. It’s quite similar to the accessWidget.

Pros:

• Comprehensive set of accessibility tools.
• Provides both automated AI and frontend User Interface solutions.
• Easy installation without coding knowledge.
• Provides additional integration for CI/CD accessibility automation.

Cons:

• Free version has limited functionality.
• Premium plans may prove costly for smaller website owners.

Accessibility Standards:

Claims to adhere to the highest global accessibility compliance standards for digital assets, such as WCAG 2.2.

Find out more about Accessibility by UserWay plugin.

WP Accessibility Helper (WAH)

WAH assists in optimising front-end accessibility, providing tools for visitors to adjust the site’s appearance to their needs. It helps problems like font size, colour contrast, heading order, aria-labels, image alt tags.

Pros:

• User-friendly with customisable features.
• Empowers users to customise their viewing experience on the frontend.
• Offers both free and premium versions.
• Premium version more affordable for smaller website owners.

Cons:

• Some features require the premium version.

Accessibility Standards:

Makes no claim your WordPress website will fully meet official Web Accessibility Standards. Instead, provides a boost towards reaching them.

Find out more about the WP Accessibility Helper plugin.

All-in-One Accessibility

As the name suggests, this plugin provides a comprehensive toolkit for website owners to easily identify and correct accessibility issues.

Pros:

• Simple installation with immediate benefits and 70+ features.
• Provides both automated AI and frontend User Interface solutions.
• Supports over 140 languages.

Cons:

• Does not address deeper accessibility issues in a site’s code.

Accessibility Standards:

Makes no claim your WordPress website will fully meet official Web Accessibility Standards. Instead, provides a boost towards reaching them.

Find out more about the All-in-One Accessibility plugin.

Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker

Accessibility Checker (By Equalize Digital) is a more comprehensive solution that audits your website for accessibility issues in real-time. It provides on-page reports directly within the WordPress editor.

Pros:

• In-depth analysis with actionable insights and reporting.
• More than 45 different accessibility checks and 14 automated fixes.
• Accessibility issues can be viewed in both the wp-admin and the frontend of your site.
• Offers both free and premium versions.

Cons:

• Will likely be more challenging for beginners understand, use, and remediate issues.

Accessibility Standards:

Makes no claim your WordPress website will fully meet official Web Accessibility Standards. Instead, provides tools to help identify accessibility issues and remediate them.

Find out more about the Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker plugin.

Conclusions

I cannot deny that WordPress accessibility plugins will potentially enhance a website’s compliance, but they are definitely not one-size-fits-all solutions. Some of these plugins are more useful than others in certain contexts, but I am not 100% sold on reaching absolute compliance to official accessibility standards in every scenario. But let’s face it, any improvement is better than none!

Do rely on WordPress Accessibility Plugins:

1. When in-house technical knowledge of accessibility does not exist.
2. When editing or customising your themes code is difficult or not an option.
3. When you are looking for a quick easy fix for accessibility issues.

Don’t rely on WordPress Accessibility Plugins:

1. When accessibility is a very high priority for your business and non-compliance to officially recognised standards is not an option.
2. When your budget allows for a bespoke accessible WordPress solution to be developed from the ground up, by a professional.

Performance and Page Load Times

Another consideration is how some of these frontend accessibility UI’s influence overall site performance? Although I cannot claim to have tested the impact of these plugin solutions on page load times, common sense says that they will have some effect.

Opinion

Plugins in my humble opinion, feel more like a plaster for a problem that requires a more robust solution built in to a site from the start. As a site grows and compliance changes, you may end up adding more technical debt in the long run. Furthermore, the cost of some of these plugin solutions could prove significant over time, so ideally the investment is better placed in an accessible build right from the beginning.

Accessible WordPress Design & Build

Love WordPress and want to have accessibility integrated into your site from the start, I can get you there. Get in touch! I am an experienced freelance WordPress developer.