# Free web accessibility checker (EAA and WCAG compliance) (`katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit`) Actor

This web accessibility checker crawls a site and reviews it for adherence to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Results can be accessed via Apify Console or downloaded in JSON, CSV, XML, or Excel formats.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit.md
- **Developed by:** [Tomas Katz](https://apify.com/katzino) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, SEO tools
- **Features:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 87 total users, 4 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 3 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Free web accessibility checker (EAA and WCAG compliance)

This web accessibility checker crawls a site and reviews it for **adherence to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines** (WCAG). Results can be accessed via Apify Console or downloaded in JSON, CSV, XML, or Excel formats.

### How to check web accessibility and WCAG compliance

The web accessibility checker can help you make your site EAA compliant by crawling your site and showing any issues there may be. The Actor uses @axe/core, a widely trusted accessibility testing tool. After crawling the site, it will tell you if it found any issues, so you then know what to fix and where.

1. [Create](https://console.apify.com/actors/bXLCQmrZUXtieCRey/) a free Apify account using your email
2. Open [web accessibility checker](https://apify.com/katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit)
3. Add one or more URLs
4. Click the “Start” button and wait for the data to be extracted
5. Download your data in JSON, XML, CSV, Excel, or HTML

### Input

To start checking for EAA compliance, add the URL for a website or a specific page and then click on **Start**.

![image](/assets/input.png)

Note that there are a number of variables you can add to your run. For a full list, take a look at the [Input tab](https://apify.com/katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit/input-schema).

### Output

Once the Actor has finished its run, you can view your accessibility report in JSON.

```json
{
    "url": "https://apify.com/",
    "passes": [
        {
            "id": "aria-allowed-attr",
            "impact": null,
            "description": "Ensure an element's role supports its ARIA attributes",
            "help": "Elements must only use supported ARIA attributes"
        }
    ],
    "violations": [
        {
            "id": "listitem",
            "impact": "serious",
            "description": "Ensure <li> elements are used semantically",
            "help": "<li> elements must be contained in a <ul> or <ol>",
            "nodes": [
                {
                    "target": [".list > li:nth-child(1)"],
                    "summary": "Fix any of the following:\n  List item does not have a <ul>, <ol> parent element"
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}
```

### What is web accessibility and the EAA?

The **European Accessibility Act** (EAA) is EU regulation meant to ensure that people with disabilities can access goods and services. The digital aspect of the EAA mirrors the WCAG, guidelines set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which is the main international standards organization for the internet.

The EAA lays out **minimum requirements** that sites doing business in the EU must conform to. These include:

- **Compatibility with assistive technologies** such as screen readers or keyboard navigation
- Improving **website readability** and usability through, for example, color contrast

#### Why should you care about web accessibility?

On June 28, 2025, compliance with the European Accessibility Act (EAA) **became mandatory** for businesses operating in the EU. Infractions may be fined **between €5,000 and €20,000**, depending on country and severity. You may also be fined up to €1,000 per day for unresolved infractions.

Ensuring compliance is not just a legal obligation; it's a **commitment to providing equitable access** for all users, including those with disabilities. Not meeting these new standards could lead to reputational damage and possibly decreased custom from people who require an accessible digital experience.

### WCAG checklist

WCAG works with a rating system which runs up to AAA level. To be compliant with EAA rules, every site needs to be at least have an AA rating. An overview of WCAG is [here](https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG22/). Contrast (so how text appears on the screen) is one of the more important aspects and also easily fixed.

- Briefly explain levels of conformance: A to AAA.
- WCAG 2.2 checklist (most common ones)
- Contrast seems to be a huge one
- Link to full checklist somewhere (because it’s too large)

### Frequently asked questions

#### Does the checker also check WCAG contrast?

Yes, the web accessibility checker reviews whether your site complies with WCAG contrast rules.

#### Is adherence to the EAA mandatory?

Yes, adherence to the EAA is mandatory for any company doing business in the EU.

#### Who needs to comply with the EAA?

Any company that does business in the EU needs to comply with EAA regulations.

#### How much will a web accessibility checker cost me?

The web accessibility checker is [free to use](https://apify.com/katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit/pricing), but you do pay for platform usage. For details on how this works, check out our [pricing page](https://apify.com/pricing).

#### **Can I use integrations with web accessibility checker?**

You can integrate web accessibility checker with almost any cloud service or web app. We offer integrations with **Make, Zapier, Slack, Airbyte, GitHub, Google Sheets, Google Drive**, [and plenty more](https://docs.apify.com/integrations).

Alternatively, you could us [webhooks](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/webhooks) to carry out an action whenever an event occurs, such as getting a notification whenever web accessibility checker successfully finishes a run.

#### **Can I use web accessibility checker with the Apify API?**

The Apify API gives you programmatic access to the Apify platform. The API is organized around RESTful HTTP endpoints that enable you to manage, schedule, and run Apify Actors. The API also lets you access any datasets, monitor actor performance, fetch results, create and update versions, and more.

To access the API using Node.js, use the `apify-client` [NPM package](https://apify.com/katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit/api/javascript). To access the API using Python, use the `apify-client` [PyPI package](https://apify.com/katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit/api/python).

Click on the [API tab](https://apify.com/katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit/api/python) for code examples, or check out the [Apify API reference](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2) docs for all the details.

#### Can I use web accessibility checker through an MCP Server?

With Apify API, you can use almost any Actor in conjunction with an MCP server. You can connect to the MCP server using clients like ClaudeDesktop and LibreChat, or even build your own. Read all about how you can [set up Apify Actors with MCP](https://blog.apify.com/how-to-use-mcp/).

For web accessibility checker, go to the [MCP tab](https://apify.com/katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit/api/mcp) and then go through the following steps:

1. Start a Server-Sent Events (SSE) session to receive a `sessionId`
2. Send API messages using that `sessionId` to trigger the scraper
3. The message starts the web accessibility checker with the provided input
4. The response should be: `Accepted`

#### **Is it legal to scrape sites?**

Since you are not scraping any personal data, using the web accessibility checker is legal. For more details, read our blog post on the [legality of web scraping](https://blog.apify.com/is-web-scraping-legal/).

#### **Your feedback**

We’re always working on improving the performance of our Actors. If you have any technical feedback about the web accessibility checker or have found a bug, please create an issue in the [Issues tab](https://apify.com/katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit/issues/open).

# Actor input Schema

## `startUrls` (type: `array`):

List of URLs to start the scan from

## `urlBlacklistRegex` (type: `string`):

Regular expression to filter out URLs from the scan

## `tags` (type: `array`):

Accessibility sets of rules to check

## `impactThreshold` (type: `string`):

Minimum impact level to include in the report

## `lang` (type: `string`):

Preferred localization option (ISO 639-1)

## `isDeep` (type: `boolean`):

Whether to scan all linked pages

## `includePasses` (type: `boolean`):

Whether to include passed checks in the report

## `slackToken` (type: `string`):

Slack token to send notifications to a channel

## `slackChannel` (type: `string`):

Slack channel to send notifications to

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "http://apify.com"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "en",
  "isDeep": false,
  "includePasses": false
}
```

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "startUrls": [
        {
            "url": "http://apify.com"
        }
    ],
    "lang": "en"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "startUrls": [{ "url": "http://apify.com" }],
    "lang": "en",
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "startUrls": [
    {
      "url": "http://apify.com"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "en"
}' |
apify call katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,katzino/actor-web-a11y-audit"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/bXLCQmrZUXtieCRey/builds/lD9QyXCLaH4Urtizi/openapi.json