Do I need to install a WordPress plugin?

No. Perceivly checks your pages from the outside, in a real browser, like a visitor. Nothing is added to your site.

Does an accessibility-ready theme make my site accessible?

It is a good start: the theme has been reviewed against the WordPress accessibility-ready requirements. Your content, page builder and plugins can still add issues, so check the pages you actually publish.

Where do I add alt text in WordPress?

In Media > Library, in the Alt Text field of the image's Attachment Details, or per post in the Image block's settings sidebar under Alternative text. Mark purely decorative images as decorative.

Can the checker find every issue on my WordPress site?

No. Automated tests find only part of WCAG issues. Keyboard use, meaningful alt text and screen reader behavior still need a person to review.

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WordPress accessibility checker

Check any page of your WordPress site against WCAG 2.2 level AA in about 10 seconds. Free, no plugin to install, no sign-up.

Where WordPress accessibility issues come from

WordPress core puts real effort into accessibility, but what visitors get depends mostly on three things you choose: your theme, your page builder and your plugins.

The theme controls the page structure, skip link, menus, focus styles and default colors. Themes with the accessibility-ready tag in the WordPress.org directory have been reviewed against a list of requirements, including a skip link, keyboard navigation, labelled form fields, underlined links in text and sufficient color contrast.
Page builders generate their own markup for each widget. Icon buttons, tabs, accordions and sliders are where missing names and keyboard traps usually show up, so check pages built with them, not only your posts.
Plugins add sliders, forms, cookie banners, chat widgets and embeds. The WebAIM Million 2026 found home pages using carousel libraries common on WordPress (Slick, Owl Carousel, Swiper, Slider Revolution) had 20 to 32% more detected errors than average, and pages with reCAPTCHA had 7.7 more. WebAIM notes that extra errors can’t always be attributed to the technology itself.

Where to fix common issues in WordPress

Image alt text

For an image across the site: Media > Library, click the image, and fill in Alt Text in Attachment Details. It is used as the default when the image is inserted again. For one post or page: select the Image block, then in the block settings sidebar use Alternative text, or check Mark as decorative for images that carry no information. Don’t rely on the Title attribute; WordPress itself notes many devices and browsers don’t show it.

Headings and colors

In a block theme, open Appearance > Editor > Styles. Typography sets the heading styles (H1 to H6) and Colors sets the palette and the colors of text, links, headings and buttons. The Styles panel doesn’t check contrast for you, so test the result. Use heading levels in order on each page, and pick them for structure, not size; restyle instead.

Page language

The lang attribute on the page comes from your theme. Themes reviewed for WordPress.org must output it with language_attributes() in the <html> tag. If a scan reports a missing page language, the theme (or a custom header) is the place to look.

Forms, buttons and links

Most forms come from a plugin, so labels and error messages are set in that plugin’s form editor: give every field a visible label, not just a placeholder. Icon-only buttons and links added in a page builder need a text label in the widget’s settings.

What Perceivly adds

The free scan checks one page. With an account, Perceivly crawls your whole WordPress site from the sitemap on a schedule, so issues introduced by a theme update, a new plugin or a new page are caught, and fixed issues close on their own. It runs from outside your site: there is no plugin to install or keep updated. See monitoring.

What the scan checks

Automated rules from WCAG 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2, levels A and AA, using the open-source axe-core engine. Among them:

Text and background color contrast
Text alternatives for images
Labels on form fields
Names on buttons and links
Page language and title
Valid ARIA roles and attributes
Keyboard access to scrollable areas
Touch target size (WCAG 2.2)

What needs a person

Automated tests find only part of accessibility issues; published estimates range from about 30% to 57%. These need a person:

Whether alt text actually describes the image
Whether everything works with a keyboard alone, in a sensible order
Captions and audio descriptions that match the media
Clear headings, labels and error messages
How the page behaves with screen readers and zoom

Questions

Do I need to install a WordPress plugin?: No. Perceivly checks your pages from the outside, in a real browser, like a visitor. Nothing is added to your site.
Does an accessibility-ready theme make my site accessible?: It is a good start: the theme has been reviewed against the WordPress accessibility-ready requirements. Your content, page builder and plugins can still add issues, so check the pages you actually publish.
Where do I add alt text in WordPress?: In Media > Library, in the Alt Text field of the image's Attachment Details, or per post in the Image block's settings sidebar under Alternative text. Mark purely decorative images as decorative.
Can the checker find every issue on my WordPress site?: No. Automated tests find only part of WCAG issues. Keyboard use, meaningful alt text and screen reader behavior still need a person to review.

Sources

Checked November 4, 2026. Products and prices change; check each source for the current details. Editor menus change between WordPress versions; the help pages above have the current steps.

Other platforms

Perceivly is not affiliated with WordPress. Names are trademarks of their owners. Checked November 4, 2026.