Questions people ask

Yes. Checking a site is free, with no account. A full report for a business site asks for your email so we can send you a link to keep it; government pages in the index are always public. Accessible Index is run by Dynamosys, a web firm that offers to fix what the check finds. You never have to use it.

Up to 20: your homepage first, then one of each kind of page, with forms and search ahead of the rest. We also check how pages fit a narrow phone screen and press Tab through your homepage the way a keyboard user would.

Your homepage result arrives in seconds. The full check takes a few minutes, because we open one page at a time with a pause between them, to keep the load on your site light.

No. We read your public pages the way a visitor does. We never sign in, submit a form or change anything.

Ready: no automated failures found on the pages checked. Almost ready: a few problems found, none a critical barrier. Behind: many problems found, or at least one critical barrier; any one critical barrier keeps a site here, whatever its score. Far behind: many problems found across the pages checked. Each band describes what our automated checks found on the pages we checked, on the date shown. “Ready” never means compliant: automated checks cannot see everything.

The first view shows every problem we found and who it affects. Your email unlocks where each problem is, a screenshot of each, the order to fix them in and a free recheck every three months. We email you a link to keep the report, with an offer from Dynamosys to fix what it finds; one click stops it. We never sell or share your address.

We never try to get around a block. A website that turns our scanner away has no score, so it never counts as failing. If you would like it checked, our scanner page explains how to let it in.

Yes. Our free PDF check tells you whether a screen reader can read a PDF, and what to fix first. We read the file in memory and keep no copy.

WCAG 2.1 AA, the standard the ADA Title II rule sets for state and local governments and the Section 504 rule sets for health and human services providers. It also covers the WCAG 2.0 that Section 508 uses for federal sites, and it is the standard most ADA Title III settlements with businesses point to.

No scanner can tell you that. Automated checks reliably find many problems, but some need a person to judge, such as whether an image description is accurate. A site with no automated failures is a strong start, not a guarantee.

Governments serving 50,000 people or more by April 26, 2027; smaller ones and special districts by April 26, 2028. The Department of Justice moved both dates a year later in April 2026, and they could still change. The duty not to shut people out under the ADA applies whatever the date.

Yes. Federal agencies follow Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act rather than the ADA’s Title II rule, so their pages show no Title II deadline. Section 508’s standards are built on WCAG 2.0 AA, which our checks include.

There is no federal rule setting a technical standard for business websites, but the ADA covers businesses open to the public, and complaints and settlements usually point to WCAG 2.1 AA.

No. Widgets, often called overlays, change how a page looks without fixing its code, and sites using them are still sued. In 2025 the Federal Trade Commission ordered one overlay company to pay $1 million for claiming otherwise.

A government website is a public service, and residents with disabilities have a right to use it. The public page shows what is wrong and who it affects. Where each problem is, and what needs to change, is shown only to your own staff when they claim the page.

Use “Claim this page” on your government’s page with an email address on the domain of the website we check, such as name@yourcounty.gov for yourcounty.gov. We send a link; opening it signs you in. You can then set your page’s status for residents, see where each problem is, and scan again.

Every government is checked again every three months, in January, April, July and October, and its page shows the date of the latest check and when the next is. Anyone can also check any website now, free, from our home page, for a report of their own. Staff who claim the page can also scan again once a day to see their fixes, and the new result is published on the page like our regular check, marked as checked at their request.

Tell us through the dispute form. A person checks it against the evidence we keep from that scan, and if we were wrong we correct the page and date the correction.

Dynamosys Inc., a web firm in Virginia. It may offer to fix what the check finds, and says so openly. Every site is scored by the same published method, Dynamosys’s own clients included, and buying anything never changes a score. Read our commitments.

We never sell personal information, and never hand over email addresses or lists of sites to vendors, law firms or anyone looking for leads. Results for government websites are public: that is the index. A report on any other site is unlisted, seen only by people with its link. Companies that run parts of the site for us, such as hosting and email, handle data only to provide that service; our privacy policy names them. Researchers can get bulk access to the index’s results, which hold no personal information, under a signed agreement that forbids contacting anyone in it. We disclose information only when the law requires it, and we never publish which company runs a website or who works there.

We use it to send you your report, the recheck every three months and, if you ask, replies to your messages. The emails that carry an offer include a one-click unsubscribe. Our privacy policy has the details.