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Evaluation tools and auditor lists

Updated .

There is no official list of “ADA certified” vendors, because no federal body certifies a website as ADA compliant. What does exist is a short set of official lists: of testing tools, of certified people and of the report format vendors use. Here is each one, who runs it, what it proves and what it does not, with the date we read it.

Line drawing of a box of index cards with one tab ringed in orange and a magnifier
Fig. 1An index box with one card ringed in orange, because a list is only useful once you know which card to pull

Scroll sideways to see every column.

Seven official lists and programmes, who runs each, and what a listing does and does not prove
ListRun byWhat it listsWhat a listing proves
W3C Evaluation Tools ListW3C WAITesting tools, entered by their providersThat a provider submitted the tool. Not its quality or accuracy.
W3C ACT Rules implementationsW3C WAITools and test methods scored against W3C's rule examplesHow a tool did on W3C's examples, as its vendor reported it.
Section508.gov Tools for Testing ICTGSAThe free tools the Trusted Tester process usesThat a federal test process uses the tool. Not an endorsement.
IAAP Certified Professional DirectoryIAAPPeople holding a current IAAP credential who opted inThat a person holds the credential. Absence proves nothing.
DHS Trusted Tester programDHSNo public list. A tester shows the certificateThat a person passed the DHS exam. Never a product.
ITI VPAT® template pageITIThe blank template, in four editionsNothing about a product. The vendor fills it in.
Section508.gov ACR LibraryGSAReports for GSA's own tools and coursesWhat a plain machine-readable report looks like.

Lists of testing tools

W3C and the US government keep three lists of the software people use to test a website. None of them ranks the tools, and W3C, which writes WCAG, puts the limit plainly: “Tools cannot check all accessibility aspects automatically. Human judgement is required.”

  • W3C Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List

    Run by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), the group that writes WCAG.

    The standards body's own catalogue of checkers: browser extensions, online scanners, desktop apps, command-line tools and CMS plugins. On the day we read it, it showed 119 tools. Its filters are the useful part: you can narrow it to automated or manual testing, to websites, documents or mobile apps, to free tools, to a WCAG version (2.0, 2.1 or 2.2), to a file type such as PDF, and to whether a tool checks one page or a whole site.

    Providers write their own entries. W3C says it does not endorse the products or verify the information, and that the list is neither a review nor complete. It includes free checkers from companies that also sell overlay widgets, so a listing says nothing about a company's other products.

    Good for
    Finding a free checker for one job: a contrast pair, a PDF, a single page or a whole site.
    Official page
    w3.org/WAI/test-evaluate/tools/list
    Read

  • W3C ACT Rules implementations

    Run by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative, through its Accessibility Conformance Testing (ACT) work.

    ACT Rules are W3C's shared test rules, each written with pass and fail examples. This page shows, for each tool and each written test method, how many rules it has implemented consistently, meaning it got every example right, and links to the full report. Tools are split into test methods, semi-automated tools, automated tools and code linters. The federal Trusted Tester method below appears here too.

    W3C says inclusion is not an endorsement, and the figures come from data the vendors publish themselves. A tool also tests things no ACT rule covers yet, so a higher count is not a score for the whole tool.

    Good for
    Asking a scanner's seller how its results line up with a public, published yardstick.
    Official page
    w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/act/implementations
    Read

  • Section508.gov Tools for Testing ICT

    Run by the US General Services Administration (GSA), on Section508.gov.

    The short list of free tools the federal government's Trusted Tester process uses, chosen, GSA says, for ease of use, ease of teaching and accurate results. It names ANDI, a free bookmarklet built by the Social Security Administration that inspects each element's accessible name and description; the browser's own developer tools; a free desktop contrast analyser; a web contrast checker; and a sample-size calculator for deciding how many pages to test.

    GSA's disclaimer says naming a product is not an endorsement. The kit is for a person who follows a written method; on its own it runs nothing for you.

    Good for
    A free starter kit that a government test process already relies on.
    Official page
    section508.gov/tools/tools-for-testing-ict
    Read

Lists of people and credentials

Two programmes certify the people who test, one run by a professional association and one by the federal government. Both certify a person's knowledge. Neither puts a seal on the work that person does for you, so ask for the credential and then ask for the method.

  • IAAP Certified Professional Directory

    Run by the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP), a professional association.

    A public search of people who hold a current IAAP certification. It shows each person's name, employer and country, and you can filter by credential, name or country without an account. The credentials it covers, all valid for three years and renewed with education credits:

    • CPACC Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies, the foundational credential: disability, laws and standards, assistive technology.
    • WAS Web Accessibility Specialist, the technical credential: accessible code, testing and audits. Applicants need at least 3 years of hands-on experience.
    • CPWA Certified Professional in Web Accessibility, IAAP's highest credential, awarded for passing both CPACC and WAS.
    • ADS Accessible Document Specialist, for people who make accessible PDFs and other documents.

    Certificants choose whether they appear, so a missing name proves nothing; IAAP has a separate form for verifying one person's credential. IAAP certifies people. It does not certify a company, an audit report or a website.

    Good for
    Checking that the auditor a firm names holds the credential it claims.
    Official page
    accessibilityassociation.org/certification-portal/s/certified-professional-directory
    Read

  • DHS Trusted Tester program

    Run by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with its official page on GSA's Section508.gov.

    A written, step-by-step manual test for whether web content meets the Section 508 Standards, which use WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA, and the certification for the people who run it. DHS trains testers through a free, self-paced online programme: certification needs a score of 85% or more on the Trusted Tester for Web exam, and the programme must be finished within 180 days. The current version is v5; DHS no longer trains or certifies on v4. Agencies that adopt the process accept test results only from certified Trusted Testers.

    The programme pages we read offer no public list of certified testers, so ask a tester for the certificate itself. Like IAAP, it certifies a person, never a product or a site.

    Good for
    Selling to a federal agency, or hiring a tester whose method is written down and repeatable.
    Official page
    section508.gov/test/trusted-tester
    Read

Where an accessibility report comes from

When a software or web vendor says its product is accessible, the document behind the claim is usually an ACR. These two official pages are where the format and the federal guidance live.

  • ITI VPAT® template page

    Run by the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI), a technology trade association.

    The source of the VPAT® template, free and open to anyone. A VPAT filled in for one product is an Accessibility Conformance Report, or ACR. The current version is 2.5Rev (April 2025), in four editions: the 508 edition carries WCAG 2.0, the EU edition WCAG 2.1, and the WCAG and INT editions WCAG 2.2.

    ITI does not review or approve VPATs, and there is no VPAT certification. The vendor writes its own report.

    Good for
    Checking that a vendor's ACR uses a current edition and the WCAG version you need.
    Official page
    itic.org/policy/accessibility/vpat
    Read

  • Section508.gov ACR guidance and ACR Library

    Run by the US General Services Administration (GSA).

    GSA's guidance for vendors that sell to the federal government, which it advises to publish an ACR, and its free ACR Editor, which writes one in the machine-readable OpenACR format. The ACR Library holds the reports for GSA's own tools and courses, written in that format.

    The library covers GSA's own products only. It is not a register of other vendors' reports.

    Good for
    Seeing what a plain, honest ACR looks like before you buy one or write your own.
    Official page
    section508.gov/sell/acr
    Read

How to use these lists

  • Checking your own site

    Filter the W3C list to websites, free and WCAG 2.2, and pick one browser extension and one contrast checker. Run them on your home page, a product or service page and your contact form, then do the parts no scanner can: our WCAG 2.2 AA checklist walks the manual checks, and the contrast check settles any colour pair a tool flags. Testing tools sold to small businesses are compared in accessibility testing tools compared.

  • Hiring an auditor

    Ask who will test, then look that person up in the IAAP directory or ask for their Trusted Tester certificate. Ask which method they follow (W3C's WCAG-EM 2.0 and the Trusted Tester process are both public) and for a sample report that cites success criteria by number. Firms that do this work are compared in WCAG audit services compared.

  • Selling to a government buyer

    A federal agency works to the Section 508 Standards (WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA) and expects an ACR on the 508 edition of the VPAT®; a state or local government works to WCAG 2.1 Level AA under the Title II rule. What Section 508 is and what a VPAT is explain both, and our VPAT template ACR builder lays out the rows.

What no list can tell you

There is no ADA certification for a website or a vendor

No federal body certifies a website as ADA compliant, and the Justice Department has no detailed web standard for businesses open to the public. So there is no official list of “ADA certified” vendors to look a company up in, and a badge or seal that says so is a sales word, not a credential.

Every list on this page records one fact: a tool was submitted, a person passed an exam, a template exists. None of them says your site meets WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 Level AA. The Justice Department's guidance warns that a clean report from an automated checker does not mean everything is accessible, and W3C adds that tools sometimes give false or misleading results. Only a test of your own pages, by a person, against the success criteria, answers that question.

The lists also cannot tell you whether a product works the way its seller says. A widget that promises to make a site conform on its own is the clearest case: why that falls short, and what the FTC alleged against one seller, is set out in accessibility overlays: what they do and what they don't. For the standard itself, start with what WCAG is.

This is general information, not legal advice. For your own situation, ask a lawyer.

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