AxcessAccessibility evidence workbench
Local-first, WCAG 2.2 A and AA, free and open source

Test the pages behind the sign-in, and keep the evidence at home.

Axcess is a free accessibility scanner that runs on your computer. You sign in to the site yourself, including single sign-on and two-factor steps, and Axcess scans from there. The pages, screenshots, and findings stay on your machine.

Get started See what Axcess checks

Works on public sites too. Runs with no AI at all, or add a local model for judgement calls. Nothing is uploaded.

The problem

The pages that matter most are often the hardest to test

Course sites, application portals, and department tools often sit behind a university sign-in with two-factor authentication. Much of their content only appears after someone opens a menu, a tab, or a dialog. Hosted crawlers usually need extra setup to sign in, and content behind a click is often missed by rule-based checkers.

  1. Sign in yourself

    Axcess opens a normal browser window. You sign in directly with the site, and Axcess never sees your password or code.

  2. Axcess scans from there

    It visits the pages in the scope you set, opens menus, tabs, and dialogs, and runs its checks on every page it reaches.

  3. You get clear, local evidence

    Each issue shows what was found and exactly where, with fix guidance and rule documentation where they exist.

What makes it different

Built for the gaps other tools find hard to reach

Scans behind a sign-in

The signed-in session lives only in memory and ends with the scan. No password or reusable login is saved.

Opens what visitors open

Axcess clicks through menus, tabs, and dialogs, tests what appears, and tells you which button revealed each problem.

Checks rule-based tools rarely automate

It measures reflow at phone width, text cut off at 200% zoom or with wider text spacing, and keyboard traps, and it finds text inside images.

Honest about certainty

Every result is a Barrier, Needs review, or Informational, so you know what to fix now and what a person should confirm first. What the groups mean.

A documented data boundary

The privacy page lists what stays on your computer and the few things Axcess connects to. Read what stays local.

The workbench

An evidence workbench, not a scorecard

One score hides the details that make accessibility work actionable. Axcess keeps the page, the element, the screenshot, the rule, and the level of certainty together, so anyone can check a result for themselves.

Diagram of the three report groups. Barrier holds rule-engine failures from axe-core and Siteimprove Alfa, including problems found after clicking or after a configured search; confirm them on the page, fix, and rescan. Needs review holds browser checks, the keyboard trap check, motion checks, text in images whose alt text is missing or does not match, AI checks, and Alfa "cannot tell" results; a person tests and records a decision. Informational holds images whose alt text already matches and older records kept for history; no action is needed.

The three report groups and the checks that feed each one. Read more about the report groups.

29 of 55WCAG 2.2 A and AA success criteria where Axcess contributes evidence. The other 26 need a person, and each one comes with test steps.
0Bytes of scan data sent to a cloud service. There is no telemetry and no account.
AAAThe level of axe-core rules that Axcess tests its own interface against.
Who it's for

Made for the people who do the work

Accessibility analysts

Triage findings with evidence, pair them with manual testing, and verify fixes on a rescan.

Editors and developers

See what to change, where it is, and how you will know it is done.

Leadership

See how thoroughly a site was checked and what to fix first, without a misleading score.

IT and security

Review a tool with no cloud dependency, no telemetry, and a documented data boundary.

Evidence, not a verdict. Axcess gives you evidence to review. Its results can't prove WCAG conformance, legal compliance, or that a whole site is accessible, and they don't replace testing with people who use assistive technology.

Get started See what Axcess checks Read the glossary