# axe-core vs IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker

| Attribute | axe-core | IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 66.5 (32% (low)) | 51.1 (28% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 37 | 52 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 1,185,064 | 104 |
| adoption.github_stars | 7,446 | 772 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | - |
| description.long | An open-source JavaScript testing framework that analyzes websites and HTML-based interfaces to identify accessibility violations and compliance issues. It integrates into existing test environments and returns detailed violation reports in JSON format. | Equal Access Checker provides automated testing across multiple environments to help developers verify accessibility standards are met. It offers browser extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, plus integration packages for Node, Cypress, and Java CI/CD workflows. |
| integrations.count | 7 | 9 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"VS Code (axe-linter extension)"},{"name":"npm/pnpm (package manager)"},{"name":"GitHub Actions"},{"name":"Puppeteer"},{"name":"Selenium"},{"name":"Jest"},{"name":"Testing frameworks"}]` | `[{"name":"Chrome"},{"name":"Firefox"},{"name":"Edge"},{"name":"Node"},{"name":"Cypress"},{"name":"Java"},{"name":"GitHub"},{"name":"Sketch"},{"name":"Figma"}]` |
| language.primary | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| license.spdx | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://github.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-17T21:33:35.636Z"}` | `{"type":"free","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.ibm.com/able/toolkit/tools/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-17T21:35:08.738Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | - |
| release.cadence_days | 50 | 3 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.13.0","date":"2026-08-05T16:52:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.13.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.12.1","date":"2026-06-10T10:27:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.12.0","date":"2026-06-01T17:21:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.12.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.11.4","date":"2026-04-28T15:11:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.11.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.11.3","date":"2026-04-13T18:15:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.11.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.11.2","date":"2026-03-31T11:23:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.11.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.11.1","date":"2026-01-06T19:10:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.11.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.11.0","date":"2025-10-09T16:40:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.10.3","date":"2025-03-05T16:07:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.10.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.10.2","date":"2024-10-23T16:43:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.10.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.10.1","date":"2024-10-16T17:29:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.10.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.10.0","date":"2024-07-29T16:21:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.9.1","date":"2024-05-06T15:54:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.9.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.9.0","date":"2024-03-25T19:39:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.8.4","date":"2024-02-07T18:01:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.8.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.8.3","date":"2023-12-18T21:06:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.8.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.8.2","date":"2023-09-21T16:25:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.8.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.8.1","date":"2023-09-08T16:24:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.8.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.8.0","date":"2023-09-06T17:44:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dequelabs/axe-core/releases/tag/v4.7.2","date":"2023-05-25T16:29:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.7.2"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.31","date":"2026-08-21T16:09:23Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.31"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.30","date":"2026-08-04T22:04:24Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.30"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.29","date":"2026-07-14T19:00:46Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.29"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.28","date":"2026-07-14T17:44:39Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.27","date":"2026-07-14T14:32:38Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.27"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.26","date":"2026-06-01T20:23:12Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.25","date":"2026-06-01T19:30:44Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.25"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.24","date":"2026-05-28T00:12:23Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.24"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.23","date":"2026-05-28T00:01:29Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.22","date":"2026-05-27T23:57:40Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.22"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.21","date":"2026-05-27T23:50:08Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.21"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.19","date":"2026-05-27T23:03:04Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.19"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.18","date":"2026-05-19T20:58:39Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.17","date":"2026-04-28T22:26:35Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.16","date":"2026-03-27T04:15:24Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.15","date":"2026-03-23T16:41:12Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.14","date":"2026-03-20T20:00:06Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.13","date":"2026-03-04T19:22:37Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.12","date":"2026-02-07T20:18:52Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/IBMa/equal-access/releases/tag/4.0.11","date":"2026-02-06T20:45:12Z","type":"stable","version":"4.0.11"}]` |
| security.scorecard | 6.5 | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=axe-core&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=accessibility-checker&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Accessibility Testing)

| Capability | axe-core | IBM Equal Access Accessibility Checker |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Scan method | - | - |
| Wcag level | - | - |
| Ci cd integration | - | - |
| Browser extension | - | - |
| Design stage plugin | - | - |
| CMS plugins | - | - |
| Continuous monitoring | - | - |
| Vpat acr generation | - | - |
| Manual audit service | - | - |
| Overlay widget | - | - |
| Document PDF testing | - | - |
| Open source | - | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:00:01.206Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*