Pa11y
A command-line automation tool for accessibility compliance testing
- Also known as
- pa11y
What is Pa11y?
A command-line and Node.js-based utility that performs automated accessibility testing on web pages to identify compliance issues against WCAG standards.
Pa11y pricing
We don't have Pa11y's full plan breakdown yet (its pricing page resisted automated reading). Here's what we could confirm. Always check live pricing for exact numbers.
What Pa11y does
The capabilities that matter for accessibility testing, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.
- Scan method
- Automated rules engine
- Wcag level
- AAA
- 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
- ✓
Platform & deployment
Independently observed- CLI
- macOS
- Linux
- Windows
- Self-hosted
Security & compliance
Known vulnerabilities: 0 (0 in the last 12 months) sourcea count reflects scale & disclosure, not quality
Pa11y FAQ
Common questions about Pa11y, answered from independent, dated evidence.
What is Pa11y?
A suite of free and open-source tools for identifying and tracking accessibility issues on websites. Provides both automated testing via a web dashboard and command-line utilities for developers. It is indexed under Accessibility Testing.
Source: https://pa11y.org/
Is Pa11y free to use?
Pa11y is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the LGPL-3.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.
Source: https://pa11y.org/
What platforms does Pa11y support?
Pa11y supports the web, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.
Source: https://pa11y.org/
Can Pa11y be self-hosted?
Yes. Pa11y can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.
Source: https://pa11y.org/
Is Pa11y open source?
Yes. Pa11y is published under the LGPL-3.0 licence, a copyleft licence, so check its terms before embedding it in a closed-source product. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.
Source: https://github.com/pa11y/pa11y
Pa11y alternatives
Other accessibility testing we track, ranked by the same independent score.
- axe-coreAutomated accessibility testing integrated into development workflowslow · 35%
- accessiBeAutomated and expert-driven web accessibility compliance platformmedium · 57%
- StarkAccessibility testing platform combining automated scanning and design-stage collaboration toolsmedium · 54%
- IBM Equal Access Accessibility CheckerAutomated accessibility testing tools integrated into web browsers and development workflowslow · 30%
- Level AccessAn AI-powered platform for testing, monitoring, and managing digital accessibility across web, mobile, and software applications.low · 25%
- UserWayWeb accessibility compliance platform with automated remediation and continuous monitoringmedium · 56%
Compare Pa11y
Side by side against other accessibility testing, attribute by attribute, with a source on every value.
The vioscaleAI score: one lens on the evidence
Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for Pa11y, not the verdict.
| Signal | Score | Weight | Contribution | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | 58 | 0.08 | 4.8 | ✓ |
| Dependent projects | 54 | 0.08 | 4.3 | ✓ |
| Security score | 69 | 0.05 | 3.7 | ✓ |
| Development activity | 22 | 0.12 | 2.6 | ✓ |
| Stars | 69 | 0.03 | 2.3 | ✓ |
| Release cadence | 25 | 0.07 | 1.7 | ✓ |
| Integrations | 0 | 0.05 | 0.0 | - |
| Security posture | 0 | 0.09 | 0.0 | - |
| Package downloads | 0 | 0.17 | 0.0 | - |
| Developer Q&A activity | 0 | 0.08 | 0.0 | - |
Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.
All data & sourcesshow ↓
Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.
Activity
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Commits last 30d | 4 | mediumsource · 2026-09-13 · 65% |
Adoption
Content
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Faq | 5 items | mediumsource · 2026-09-10 · 67% |
Features
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Capabilities | Wcag level: AAA · Open source: Yes · Scan method: automated-rules-engine · Ci cd integration: Yes · Continuous monitoring: Yes | mediumsource · 2026-10-14 · 60% |
Language
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | JavaScript | highsource · 2026-10-14 · 90% |
License
| Attribute | Value | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Spdx | LGPL-3.0 | highsource · 2026-10-14 · 95% |
Pricing
Release
Security
Is Pa11y the right choice for you?
Tell us the job, the constraints and what you weigh most, and we will rank Pa11y against the rest of the accessibility testing we index, using the same dated evidence weighted your way.
Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works
Is this your product?
This profile was built from public sources without asking you. You can take the badge below and use it anywhere, and you can claim the profile to correct anything we got wrong. Both are free, and neither moves Pa11y up or down: nobody can buy rank here, including you.
Take the badge
Live, always current, and free to use on your own site. It shows Pa11y's independent score and links back to this profile.
<a href="https://www.vioscale.ai/software/pa11y" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
<img src="https://www.vioscale.ai/badge/software/pa11y.svg" alt="Pa11y, verified on vioscaleAI" width="330" height="76" loading="lazy" />
</a>Markdown, for a README →
[](https://www.vioscale.ai/software/pa11y)Claim the profile
Verify you control the domain, then point us at the pages that state the facts about Pa11y and add your own description and media. Free, and it does not change the score.
- Correct anything wrong, with evidence
- Point our crawler at the pages that matter
- Write your own description and add media
Not the owner? How vendor profiles work