Website accessibility score and whole-site checks
A website accessibility score is a number from 0 to 100 that summarises how many automated accessibility rules a page fails. It is useful for comparing pages and tracking progress, but it measures only what a machine can test, so a high score does not prove a page is accessible.
Updated October 14, 2026 · 4 min read · How we write and check our guides
To know where the problems are, check every page of the site, not just the home page: product pages, forms and checkout usually have problems the home page does not.
How accessibility scores are calculated
| Tool | How the score works |
|---|---|
| Lighthouse (Google) | A weighted average of its accessibility audits, weights 3 to 10 based on axe user-impact ratings. Each audit is pass or fail; a page gets no points for partly passing one. Manual and best-practice audits do not count. |
| WAVE AIM report (WebAIM) | A site AIM score that measures end-user impact, combined with WAVE test data and expert manual testing. |
| Pandus (browser extension and rankings) | 100 minus points for every failing WCAG A or AA rule: critical −15, serious −8, moderate −3, minor −1. How often a problem repeats does not change the score, so a long page is not punished for its length. |
Every score depends on its rules and weights, so scores from different tools cannot be compared with each other. Compare the same tool over time instead.
What a score cannot tell you
- Whether people can use the page. Keyboard order, screen reader announcements, clear error messages and meaningful alt text need a person.
- How bad one problem is for your customers. A single unlabelled "Pay" button can block every screen reader user, yet it costs only a few points.
- Anything about pages you did not check. A home page score says little about the product, cart and checkout pages.
- Legal status. No score shows that a site meets WCAG, the European Accessibility Act or the ADA.
How to check the whole site
- One page, free. The free check and the WCAG checker test one page and explain the main problems. The free browser extension shows the score of any page you open, including pages behind a login.
- A one-off report for 20 pages. The express report checks up to 20 pages once and sends a PDF report.
- Every page, every week. On a paid plan Pandus reads your sitemap and follows the links on your pages, respects robots.txt, and checks every page it finds — up to 2,000 per check — every week. The report groups problems by WCAG criterion and severity, shows on which pages each one appears, and highlights what is new since the last check.
Agencies get the same checks for 10, 25 or 50 client sites with white-label reports; see pricing.
Using the score well
- Track the score of your key templates — home, category, product, cart — rather than one number for the whole site.
- Fix critical and serious problems first; they raise the score most and affect customers most.
- Re-check after every theme update or new app.
- Read the rule library to see what each failing rule means.
Pandus is an automated check, not a full audit, and not legal advice. To see how online shops in five countries score, look at our accessibility rankings.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good accessibility score?
A higher score means fewer failing automated rules, nothing more. A page can score 100 and still be hard to use with a keyboard or a screen reader, because a score counts only what a machine can test. Use it to compare pages and track progress, not as proof of accessibility.
Why is my Lighthouse score different from the Pandus score?
They weigh failures differently. Lighthouse uses a weighted average of its audits with weights from 3 to 10; Pandus subtracts points from 100 for every failing WCAG A or AA rule by severity. Both count a rule as failed even if only one element fails.
How do I check the accessibility of every page of my site?
Use a tool that crawls the site. Pandus reads the sitemap and the links of your site, checks every page it finds (up to 2,000 per check) every week on a paid plan, and shows which pages have which problems and what is new since the last check.
Does a score of 100 mean the site meets WCAG or the EAA?
No. Automated rules cover only a part of WCAG. Meeting WCAG or a law such as the EAA also needs manual testing, and only a lawyer can assess your legal position.
Sources
- Google, Lighthouse accessibility scoring: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/accessibility/scoring
- WebAIM, WAVE and the AIM report: https://wave.webaim.org/