I built a free WCAG 2.2 AA scanner that writes a report a client can read

I run AccessLens. It's a scanner you paste one URL into: it loads that page in a real headless Chromium browser, runs axe-core's WCAG 2.2 A and AA rules, and writes a report — issues grouped by severity, the success criterion each one breaks, a plain-English explanation, the markup fix, and the offending elements.

The gap I wanted to fill: an automated check usually gives you either a raw rule dump or an enterprise platform behind a sales call. Neither helps much when a freelancer has to tell a client what is broken and what fixing it takes.

Some real numbers, so you can calibrate. The W3C's deliberately-bad demo page comes back in about 2 seconds with 6 problem groups covering 46 elements, worst severity "critical". Our own pages come back with zero automated failures — one item on the front page is flagged for a human rather than passed — and that self-check is published on our accessibility statement.

What it can't do, worth knowing before you try it: automated testing catches roughly a third of real accessibility problems. There is no screen-reader pass, no keyboard walkthrough and no conformance claim — a clean report is not a certificate. Pages behind a login, or that block automated browsers, can't be scanned at all.

The scan and the summary report are free: severities, criteria, the fixes, and three sample elements per issue, with no account and no email wall. A one-time $19 buys the complete element-by-element work list for one page, plus a report link that doesn't expire — there's a real example report you can read before paying at https://a7ba2c9f8e51600b668cfcbbb6ecb648.ctonew.app/offer, and there is no subscription.

I'd especially like to hear from people who deliver client sites: does that report read like something you could hand to a client, and if not, what's missing? And from anyone who has shipped axe-core before: what are we getting wrong?

Link: https://a7ba2c9f8e51600b668cfcbbb6ecb648.ctonew.app — free, no sign-up.

Disclosure: that link is ours — I run AccessLens, so this is self-promotion in the open. This draft was written with AI assistance, and I reviewed and edited it before publishing.