reala11y — Accessibility Checker & WCAG Scanner

reala11y is a WordPress accessibility checker and scanner that helps your site move toward WCAG 2.2 AA conformance by scanning for common issues and applying safe, code-level fixes — a skip link, a visible focus outline, minimum target size, a main landmark, rel=”noopener” on new-tab links, duplicate-id and positive-tabindex cleanup, restored pinch-zoom, and redundant image and tag-cloud title removal. Unlike accessibility overlay widgets, reala11y modifies the underlying HTML so screen readers and keyboard users encounter the corrected page.

What reala11y does

• Scans posts and pages against a WCAG 2.2 rule library.
• Applies safe, automated fixes at render time (per-rule on/off, one-click rollback).
• Generates a customizable accessibility statement.
• Suggests image alt text with your own AI key (OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google Gemini) — you review every suggestion before it is applied.

What reala11y does NOT do

• It does not guarantee WCAG, ADA, EAA, or Section 508 compliance. Automated tools detect approximately 30–40% of WCAG failures by criteria. Full conformance requires human review.
• It is not an overlay widget. The Federal Trade Commission’s April 21, 2025 order against accessiBe affirmed that overlay claims of automatic WCAG conformance are not supportable.

External services

reala11y is self-contained and contacts third-party services only as described below, and only when the relevant feature is used.

• WordPress.org — used for plugin update checks, as for any plugin hosted here. No personal data is sent beyond the standard update request.

• AI providers — OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google Gemini (optional, bring-your-own-key). The AI authoring features (for example, alt-text suggestions) stay off until you enter your own API key for a provider and run a feature. When you run a feature, reala11y uses your key to send that provider the input you selected — for example, the URL of an image or a block of your post’s text — together with a short instruction prompt. The response is shown to you for review and is never applied automatically. reala11y does not proxy or resell AI usage; the provider bills you directly. Remove a provider’s key to disable it.

  • OpenAI — Terms: https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use/ — Privacy: https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy/
  • Anthropic — Terms: https://www.anthropic.com/legal/commercial-terms — Privacy: https://www.anthropic.com/legal/privacy
  • Google Gemini — Terms: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms — Privacy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

• Freemius — the licensing service for the optional, separately sold reala11y Pro add-on. The SDK ships in this plugin so the add-on can license itself, but it sends nothing anywhere unless you explicitly opt in on the one-time screen shown after activation — choosing “Skip” keeps everything local, permanently, and every feature of this free plugin works identically either way. If you do opt in, Freemius receives basic diagnostic data (site URL, WordPress/PHP versions, admin email, and this plugin’s activation state) to power update notices and, for Pro customers, license checks.

  • Freemius — Terms: https://freemius.com/terms/ — Privacy: https://freemius.com/privacy/

See our privacy policy at https://reala11y.com/legal/privacy.

Source code

reala11y is open source (GPLv2 or later). The admin interface is written in React and TypeScript and bundled with Vite. The human-readable source for the compiled files in build/admin/ ships with the plugin under admin/src/. To rebuild it, run “npm install” and then “npm run build” in the plugin’s admin/ directory.

Why reala11y

• Code-level remediation, not an overlay widget.
• WCAG 2.2 (including 2.5.8 Target Size and the focus criteria).
• Bring-your-own AI key — no surprise quotas, no resold tokens.
• Honest claims. We never tell you you’re “fully compliant.”

Links

• Website and documentation: https://reala11y.com
• How reala11y compares to overlay widgets: https://reala11y.com/vs/accessibe and https://reala11y.com/vs/userway
• Our own accessibility statement: https://reala11y.com/accessibility-statement