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EnglishWhat is Pa11y and what does it offer?
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Pa11y is a project that publishes free and open source tools for automated accessibility testing. It is aimed at designers and developers who want to find accessibility issues in web pages, and it offers four main tools depending on whether you need a one-off check, ongoing monitoring, raw data, or CI integration.
The four Pa11y tools
| Tool | What it is | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Pa11y | A command-line interface that loads web pages and highlights any accessibility issues it finds | Running a one-off test against a web page |
| Pa11y Dashboard | A web dashboard that automatically tests web pages for accessibility issues daily, with graphs that track improvements and regressions over time | Non-developers who want to see how sites perform |
| Pa11y Webservice | The JSON-based webservice that backs Pa11y Dashboard | Building your own dashboard-like front end, or repurposing the data |
| Pa11y CI | A command-line tool that iterates over a list of web pages and highlights accessibility issues | Use in CI (continuous integration) |
How to choose between them
The decision mostly comes down to how often you test and who needs to see the results.
- One page, one time: use Pa11y. It loads a page and reports the issues it finds, which fits a quick manual check.
- Many pages, checked regularly: use Pa11y Dashboard. It runs tests daily and keeps graphs, so you can see whether accessibility is improving or regressing over time. The site notes this is useful for non-developers.
- You want the data, not the interface: use Pa11y Webservice. It is the JSON-based service behind the Dashboard, so it suits building your own front end or reusing the data elsewhere.
- You want tests to run as part of your build: use Pa11y CI. It iterates over a list of web pages, which is why the project describes it as more geared towards use in CI.
What the project is trying to do
Pa11y states that making the web more accessible improves it for everyone, and that its tools are published to help designers and developers make their web pages more accessible. All of the tools listed above are described as free and open source.
Getting involved
If you want to help, the project points to its contributors guide as the starting point. The site also links to a full list of its open source projects.