WAVE Evaluation Tool

Name: WAVE Evaluation Tool
Rating: 4.104166666666667 (144 reviews)
Author: WebAIM

Evaluate web accessibility within your browser.

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WAVE Evaluation Tool by WebAIM.org is a powerful Chrome extension designed to evaluate web accessibility directly within your browser. It overlays icons and indicators onto web pages, providing visual feedback that helps developers identify and understand accessibility issues aligned with WCAG 2.2 and Section 508 standards. This tool facilitates thorough human evaluation rather than automated pass/fail judgments, making it ideal for secure environments including intranet, local, and password-protected pages.

Consistently updated with performance improvements and expanded testing capabilities such as advanced contrast checking, accessibility attribute verification, and navigation order insights, WAVE assists professionals in creating inclusive, compliant web content. Its seamless integration, contextual menu access, and detailed reporting empower users to enhance site usability for all.

Extension Accessibility Developer Tools

By:

WebAIM

Users:

600,000

Rating:

4.10

(144)

Version:

3.2.7.2 Last updated: 2024-09-20

Creation date:

2020-04-20

Risk:

Permissions:

activeTab
contextMenus
scripting

Host permissions:

file:///*
http://*/*
https://*/*

Size:

352.26K

Email:

de*****@webaim.org

URLs:

Full description:

Source:

Chrome Web Store

Updated:

20 hours ago

Ranking

# 582 ▲ 30

Other rankings

#347 in Accessibility

#1 in tool keyword 66

#2 in version keyword 27 ▲ 3

#3 in bug fixes keyword 38

#5 in plugin keyword 70

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Other platforms

WAVE Accessibility Extension (v3.2.7.1)

23,017 4.69

(52)

WAVE Evaluation Tool (v3.2.7.0)

42,148 4.50

(4)

Top 10 Best Accessibility Extensions for Chrome in 2025

User reviews

WAVE Evaluation Tool is a free and detailed accessibility extension highly valued for helping developers identify and understand accessibility issues. It is especially beginner-friendly and has improved through updates. Users appreciate visual markers and explanations. However, it lacks live dynamic reassessment, forcing reloads, and settings do not persist, which hampers usability. The UI sometimes overlays content and can be confusing with many errors. Some browser incompatibilities and stability issues have been reported. Overall, it is a useful tool with room for improvement in automatic updating, UI, and persistent settings.

Pros

Provides detailed and clear accessibility issue reports with visual markers on the page
Useful for developers, especially those new to accessibility, helping them understand and improve accessibility
Free to use with a comprehensive feature set, including basic WCAG checks
Has improved over time with recent updates enhancing UX and reducing page layout breakage
Offers toggling options like showing/hiding styles and desaturating the page which some users find helpful

Cons

Does not automatically reassess or rerun checks on dynamic content or page navigation; requires page reload or manual reactivation
Settings such as filtering error types do not persist between pages, forcing repeated adjustments
UI can overlay or obscure page content, making it harder to locate some errors
User interface can be confusing or cluttered, especially with many errors on the page
Incompatibility or failure to work on some browsers (e.g., Brave) or specific cases, with occasional crashes noted

Recent reviews

I do not get an option to run the wave product. When selecting the evaluation tool we are brought back to where we downloaded the product or the trial one. However, there is no way to run the program

De*****, 2025-06-12

Doesn't work in Brave

*****, 2025-01-28

Very good extension.

Ga*****, 2024-11-26

View all user reviews ›

Extension safety

Risk impact

WAVE Evaluation Tool requires a few sensitive permissions. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details

Critical Allows access to all websites, posing a significant security risk as it can monitor and modify data from any visited site.

Risk likelihood

WAVE Evaluation Tool has earned a good reputation and can be trusted.

Risk likelihood analysis details

Low This extension was updated more than 6 months ago. Older versions are more likely to be stable and safe.
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