Lighthouse alternatives: 8 open-source accessibility testing tools
Metrics as of , from the GitHub or GitLab API of each repository. Refreshed monthly.
About Lighthouse
Lighthouse is a listed accessibility testing tool: Web page auditing tool for performance, accessibility and SEO, run from Chrome DevTools, a Node CLI or module.
Order: Listed tools in the same category, with tools in the same primary language (GitHub API) first, then by GitHub stars. Each line gives one fact from the tool's own documentation where it differs from what Lighthouse's documentation states, with its source.
8 alternatives to Lighthouse
Lighthouse CI: Rules or standards: Lighthouse regression checks for accessibility, SEO, offline support and performance. source: README
Pa11y: Rules or standards: WCAG2A, WCAG2AA (default), WCAG2AAA (HTML_CodeSniffer runner only). source: README
equal-access: Rules or standards: Rule policies such as IBM_Accessibility (default) and WCAG_2_1. source: Docs: accessibility-checker usage
axe-core-npm: Rules or standards: axe-core rules selected by tag, such as wcag2a (CLI --tags). source: Docs: @axe-core/cli
Pa11y CI: Browsers: Chrome (executable path set in defaults.chromeLaunchConfig.executablePath). source: README
axe-core: Rules or standards: WCAG 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2 at levels A, AA and AAA; additional rules outside WCAG. source: README
Accessibility Insights for Web: Rules or standards: WCAG 2.2 Level AA success criteria (Assessment). source: Docs: Assessment
cypress-axe: Rules or standards: axe-core rules; README example filters by tag wcag2a. source: README
Repository metrics
| Lighthouse | 30,7991 | 2026-09-181v13.5.0 | 2026-09-181 | Apache-2.0 | JavaScript | active |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| axe-core | 7,5421 | 2026-08-051v4.13.0 | 2026-09-211 | MPL-2.0 | HTML | active |
| Lighthouse CI | 7,0941 | 2025-06-261v0.15.1 | 2025-06-261 | Apache-2.0 | JavaScript | inactive |
| Pa11y | 4,5361 | 2026-08-28110.0.0 | 2026-08-281 | LGPL-3.0 | JavaScript | active |
| Accessibility Insights for Web | 9521 | 2026-09-081web@2.49.0 | 2026-09-151 | MIT | TypeScript | active |
| equal-access | 7781 | 2026-09-0814.0.34 | 2026-09-081 | Apache-2.0 | JavaScript | active |
| axe-core-npm | 7241 | 2026-08-111v4.13.0 | 2026-09-021 | MPL-2.0 | JavaScript | active |
| cypress-axe | 6411 | 2025-08-291v1.7.0 | 2026-09-031 | MIT | TypeScript | active |
| Pa11y CI | 6331 | 2026-05-1214.1.1 | 2026-05-121 | LGPL-3.0 | JavaScript | slow |
1 Fetched from the GitHub or GitLab API on . Hover a value for its own date.