Fewer than half of WCAG can be checked by a machine
WCAG 2.2 has 55 criteria at A and AA, automated rules reach 23 of them, and our reports say which is which — failed, no problems found, needs a human decision, or not checked — never marking a criterion passed because nothing looked at it.
Scan a public URL free · no credit card required
- WCAG 2.0 at A and AA — 61 including AAA
- 38
- WCAG 2.1 at A and AA — 78 including AAA
- 50
- WCAG 2.2 at A and AA — 86 including AAA
- 55
- Reached by automated rules today
- 23 of 55
Mind which scope a delta is quoted in. WCAG 2.1 added 17 criteria and WCAG 2.2 a further 9, but those are all-levels figures; at A and AA the additions are 12 and 6, and 2.2 also removed 4.1.1 Parsing as obsolete. The coverage figure is the engine's today rather than a constant — it is read from the engine's rule tags at runtime, so an upgrade moves it.
Four statuses, because there are four things that can be true
The key for every conformance summary the product produces. Not checked is grey rather than red on purpose: nothing looked at it is not a failure.
| Status | What it means | Shown as |
|---|---|---|
| Failed | A rule ran and found a problem. The only definite negative, and the one that feeds the fix plan. | Failed |
| No problems found | A rule ran and detected nothing — for what that rule can see, never the whole criterion. Deliberately not called a pass. | No problems found |
| Needs a human decision | A rule ran and could not conclude, like contrast against a background image. The engine telling you where a person should look. | Needs a decision |
| Not checked | No automated rule covers this criterion at all. Nothing was measured, so nothing is claimed. | Not checked |
How much of WCAG a machine can actually judge
WCAG 2.2 has 55 success criteria at A and AA — the level nearly every legal and procurement requirement points at.
| Item | What is behind the figure | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 23 of the 55 | The engine we run carries rules touching 29 WCAG criteria in total, of which 23 fall inside that 55. Fewer than half. | Automated reach |
| Not a list we typed | Read from the engine's own rule tags at runtime, so an upgrade widens it on its own — and we cannot quietly widen it otherwise. | Computed |
| Nothing passed by default | A criterion with no rule behind it is reported as not checked. Silence is never counted as success. | Not checked |
| Version follows your choice | Pick 2.0, 2.1 or 2.2 on the scan; an unrecognised value falls back to 2.1 AA and is labelled as 2.1 AA, so a report never prints a version it did not use. |
What this page is careful not to claim
- A clean scan is not conformance.
- Zero findings means the machine-checkable subset is clean. The criteria marked not checked are still unknown.
- We do not certify anything.
- No VPAT is produced, no audit letter is issued, and nothing here is legal advice.
- Coverage is the engine's, not a promise.
- The count of machine-checkable criteria is read at runtime from the engine's rules. It moves when the engine does, in either direction.
- Rules are not the standard.
- A rule covering a criterion does not mean it covers everything that criterion requires. That is why the status is “no problems found” and not “passed”.
Frequently asked questions
A minority. The engine we run carries rules for 29 WCAG criteria in total, which is 23 of the 55 in WCAG 2.2 AA, read from the engine's own rule tags rather than a list we maintain.
They are reported as not checked. A criterion no rule can evaluate has not been evaluated, and calling it a pass is a false statement about your site.
Because they are different claims. A rule finding nothing means the specific things it can detect are absent, not that the criterion is satisfied.
No automated tool can, including this one. A conformance claim rests on criteria that require judgement, so automation is a first pass, not a verdict.
Related
- WCAG 2.2 ChecklistAll 55 A and AA criteria, and which a machine can reach
- European Accessibility ActWho the EAA covers and what it asks for
- ADA ComplianceHow the ADA is applied to websites and apps
- All of AccessibilityAutomated WCAG scanning, workflow audits, and reports
- PricingPer-seat test management and per-thread device testing, priced on the page
See a conformance summary that admits what it did not measure
Scan a public URL and read the per-criterion breakdown, including everything marked not checked.