accessibilityinsights.io

Accessibility Insights is a free set of tools from Microsoft for finding and fixing accessibility issues before they reach your customers. It comes in two main forms: a browser extension for Chrome and the new Microsoft Edge that tests webpages and web applications, and a Windows desktop tool that tests Windows applications. If you are a developer, tester, or designer who needs to catch common accessibility errors quickly, this is the toolset to look at first.

What the tools actually do

The site organizes the offering around two platforms:

Both share the same goal: ship accessible products to your customers. The Windows tool also brings together trusted Windows experiences such as Inspect and Color Contrast Analyzer in a single tool, so you are not juggling separate utilities.

Key capabilities

Visual Helper

Visual Helper helps you quickly spot accessibility errors through visualizations, and it pairs each issue with simple guidance on how to fix it. This matters when you are scanning a page or app and need to know not just that something is wrong, but where and why.

Dedicated Tests

Dedicated Tests cover the deeper, more specific checks:

• FastPass — runs a quick pass to catch the most common accessibility issues in under five minutes.
• Live Inspect — verifies UI Automation properties.
• Color Contrast Analyzer — investigates contrast ratios.

FastPass is the natural starting point: find common, high-impact issues first, then move to the more targeted tests.

Who it is for

The site frames the value around developers specifically: it is "easy for developers to address most common accessibility errors in under 5 minutes." That speed claim is the core pitch. If your team needs to fold accessibility checks into an agile workflow without a long ramp-up, FastPass is designed for exactly that.

It is also positioned as up-to-date: you can assess your websites for WCAG 2.1 AA coverage.

Open source and community

Accessibility Insights is open source on GitHub, and the project describes collaboration with the broader accessibility community as part of its approach. If you opt into telemetry, the site says you help the community develop inclusive software. That means you can inspect the code, file issues, and contribute rather than treating the tool as a black box.

How to get started

1. Choose your platform — Web or Windows — from the downloads page.
2. Install the browser extension or the Windows desktop tool.
3. Run FastPass to surface common, high-impact issues.
4. Use Visual Helper to locate and understand each issue.
5. Move to Dedicated Tests (Live Inspect, Color Contrast Analyzer) for deeper verification.

The site also provides Docs, Updates, and an FAQ, so you can check current guidance and release notes as you go.

When this is the right choice

Reach for Accessibility Insights when you want a fast, guided first pass at accessibility on web or Windows targets, and when you value an open-source tool backed by Microsoft's Windows accessibility experience. If your target is neither web nor Windows, or you need a fully automated CI-only pipeline with no manual testing step, check the documentation before committing — the site's own framing centers on interactive testing with FastPass and Visual Helper.

Accessibility Insights helps teams assess websites for WCAG 2.1 AA coverage and test Windows applications for accessibility, with the stated goal of catching issues before they reach customers. It does this through two platform-specific tools — a browser extension for Chrome and Microsoft Edge, and a Windows desktop tool — plus guided checks like FastPass and visualizations that point to common, high-impact problems. It is positioned as a developer-facing aid for finding and fixing accessibility errors, not as a certification or a guarantee of full conformance.

What the tool actually covers

The site describes two separate products, each aimed at a different target:

For web work, the stated coverage is WCAG 2.1 AA. That matters because WCAG 2.1 AA is the level most accessibility policies and procurement requirements reference, so a tool that maps its checks to that standard gives you a starting point that matches the language of those requirements.

For Windows apps, the tool consolidates trusted Windows experiences — Inspect and Color Contrast Analyzer — into a single tool, so you can verify UI Automation properties and investigate contrast ratios without switching between utilities.

How it fits into a WCAG 2.1 AA workflow

FastPass: the fast first pass

FastPass is described as running in under 5 minutes to catch the most common accessibility issues. Treat it as a triage step, not a final audit:

1. Run FastPass on the page or app you're working on.
2. Review the flagged issues — these are the common, high-impact errors.
3. Fix them and re-run to confirm the change.

The value is speed and repeatability: you can run it during development rather than waiting for a formal review.

Visual Helper: seeing the problem

Visual Helper surfaces accessibility errors through visualizations and pairs them with simple guidance on how to fix them. This is useful when a rule name alone doesn't tell you what's wrong on the page — the visualization shows you where the issue lives.

Dedicated tests: going deeper

Beyond the fast pass, the tool provides dedicated checks. For Windows, that means verifying UI Automation properties with Live Inspect and investigating contrast ratios with the Color Contrast Analyzer. These are the checks you reach for when you need to confirm a specific property rather than scan for common errors.

What it does not do for you

Automated checks — including FastPass — cannot establish full WCAG 2.1 AA conformance on their own. The site frames the tools as helping you "assess" coverage and "solve accessibility issues before they reach your customers," and describes FastPass as catching common issues. Plan for manual testing of things automation handles poorly, such as meaningful reading order, sensible focus behavior, and whether alternative text actually conveys the right information.

Also note the scope split: the web extension covers web content, and the Windows tool covers Windows apps. If your product spans both, you'll use both tools.

Practical conditions for adopting it

• If you build for the web on Chrome or Edge: the browser extension is the relevant entry point, and its stated WCAG 2.1 AA coverage lines up with common compliance language.
• If you ship a Windows desktop app: the Windows tool gives you Inspect and Color Contrast Analyzer capabilities in one place.
• If you want fast feedback in development: FastPass's sub-5-minute runs fit an iterative loop better than a periodic audit.
• If you need an audit trail or formal conformance claim: use these tools as evidence-gathering aids alongside manual review, not as a substitute for it.

The tools are open source on GitHub, and the site notes that opting into telemetry helps the community develop inclusive software — relevant if your organization has restrictions on telemetry in development tooling.

Yes. Accessibility Insights is open source on GitHub, and its own site describes the project as embracing collaboration with the broader accessibility community. Two practical signals back that up: the tools are published as open-source repositories you can visit, and the product includes an opt-in telemetry option that the site says helps the community develop inclusive software.

What "open source" means for this tool

The site states plainly that the tools are "now open source in GitHub" and links to its GitHub repos. In practice, that gives you two things beyond using the tool:

• You can inspect how the accessibility checks are implemented rather than treating results as a black box.
• You can file issues, follow changes, and contribute fixes or rules through the repositories.

The site frames this as a step in an ongoing journey of collaboration with the greater accessibility community, not a one-time release.

How the community angle shows up in the product

Community involvement isn't only about code contributions. The site describes telemetry as opt-in and explains that by opting in, you help the community develop inclusive software. That's a deliberate design choice: data collection is your decision, and the stated purpose is improving inclusive software rather than tracking individuals.

The tools themselves are also positioned around shared, public standards rather than a proprietary checklist — the site says you can assess your websites for WCAG 2.1 AA coverage, which keeps results comparable across teams and organizations.

Who this matters to

What to check before relying on it

• Confirm current repository activity and licensing on the GitHub repos linked from the site, since those details can change.
• Treat the "under 5 minutes" and "less than 5 minutes" FastPass claims as the vendor's own description of typical use, not a guarantee for your codebase.
• The site does not state pricing terms on the pages referenced here, so don't assume free or paid access from this description alone — check the download and support pages.

Where to start

Go to the site's Get Started section, choose your platform (Web or Windows), and follow the GitHub link if you want to review or contribute to the source. If you want to support the community effort without writing code, the telemetry opt-in described on the site is the documented path.

Accessibility Insights supports two platforms: Web and Windows. For Web, it is a browser extension for Chrome and the new Microsoft Edge, used to test webpages and web applications. For Windows, it is a desktop tool used to test Windows applications. Both are built to help you find and fix accessibility issues before they reach your customers.

Accessibility Insights for Web

• What it is: A browser extension for Chrome and the new Microsoft Edge.
• What it tests: Accessibility of webpages and web applications.
• Coverage: Assess your websites for WCAG 2.1 AA coverage.

Accessibility Insights for Windows

• What it is: A Windows desktop tool.
• What it tests: Accessibility of Windows applications.
• Integrated experiences: Test your Windows app with trusted Windows experiences such as Inspect and Color Contrast Analyzer in a single tool.

Testing capabilities

FastPass

FastPass is a quick check that catches the most common accessibility issues in under 5 minutes. It is available for both Web and Windows, and is described as easy for developers to address most common accessibility errors quickly.

Visual Helper

Visual Helper helps you quickly spot accessibility errors with visualizations and learn how to fix issues with simple guidance.

Dedicated Tests

• Live Inspect: Verify UI Automation properties.
• Color Contrast Analyzer: Investigate contrast ratios.

Platform and capability summary

Additional notes

• The tools are open source on GitHub, and the project states a commitment to collaboration with the greater accessibility community.
• Telemetry is optional; opting in helps the community develop inclusive software.
• To get started, choose a platform (Web or Windows) and download Accessibility Insights.

FastPass is a guided test mode in Accessibility Insights that runs an automated scan for common, high-impact accessibility issues and returns results in under five minutes. It is available in both Accessibility Insights for Web (a Chrome and Microsoft Edge browser extension) and Accessibility Insights for Windows (a desktop tool). It is the right starting point if you want to catch frequent errors early in development rather than run a full manual audit.

What FastPass actually does

FastPass combines automated checks with visualizations and fix guidance. According to the site, it is designed to "swiftly catch most common accessibility issues in less than 5 minutes," and the Visual Helper feature lets you "quickly spot accessibility errors with visualizations and learn how to fix issues with simple guidance."

So the speed comes from two things working together:

• Automated rules that flag common failures without you inspecting every element by hand.
• On-screen visualizations that point to the failing element in context, so you spend time fixing rather than searching.

How to run it

The exact menu labels differ between the Web extension and the Windows app, but the flow is the same:

1. Install the tool for your platform. For Web, add the browser extension for Chrome or the new Microsoft Edge. For Windows, install the desktop application.
2. Open the target. Load the webpage or web app in the browser, or open the Windows application you want to test.
3. Launch FastPass from the tool's test options.
4. Run the automated checks and wait for the scan to complete — the site positions this as under five minutes for common issues.
5. Review each flagged result. Use the Visual Helper overlay to locate the element on the page or in the UI.
6. Apply the suggested fix, then re-run FastPass to confirm the issue is resolved.

Expected result: a list of common accessibility errors tied to specific elements, each with guidance on how to correct it.

What FastPass covers — and what it does not

The important caveat: FastPass is a fast first pass, not a complete conformance audit. Automated checks cannot catch every WCAG 2.1 AA criterion — things like meaningful reading order, sensible focus behavior, and whether alt text is actually accurate still need human judgment. Treat FastPass as the step that clears the obvious errors before you invest time in manual testing.

Where it fits in a development workflow

The site frames the tool around shipping accessible products, and FastPass is the entry point for that. A practical sequence:

• Run FastPass as soon as a page or screen is functional, to catch common errors while the code is still fresh.
• Fix what it flags, using the built-in guidance.
• Move to deeper manual checks for the criteria automation cannot verify.
• For Windows apps, the same tool also exposes Live Inspect for verifying UI Automation properties and a Color Contrast Analyzer for investigating contrast ratios, so you can dig into specific issues without switching tools.

Common sticking points

• Assuming a clean FastPass means accessible. It means no common automated failures were detected. Manual testing is still required for full WCAG 2.1 AA coverage.
• Skipping the re-run. After fixing, run FastPass again — a change that resolves one issue can introduce another.
• Testing only one platform. Web and Windows are separate tools with separate results; a passing web scan says nothing about your desktop app.
• Ignoring the visualization step. The overlay exists to shorten the fix loop. Reading raw results without it usually takes longer.

Accessibility Insights is open source on GitHub, and the site notes that opting into telemetry helps the community develop inclusive software — relevant if your team has questions about data collection before rolling it out.