Research report
Primary data: Feb 2026
46 technologies
Reviewed: Aug 27, 2026

Web Accessibility by Technology Stack

Average detected accessibility errors per home page, broken down by content management system, JavaScript framework, library, and ecommerce platform, across one million sites.

Headline finding

Nearly every popular JavaScript widget library was associated with more accessibility errors than average, not fewer. The worst are carousels, lightboxes, custom selects, and alert replacements: the components teams install so they do not have to build them.

Source: WebAIM Million 2026. Correlation only. Automated results do not establish WCAG conformance.

Million-page average
56.1 errors
Lowest CMS
Adobe Experience Manager (29.9)
Lowest framework
Astro (9)
Highest library
SweetAlert2 (101.6)

Executive summary

The platform matters less than what you bolt onto it

Every mainstream content management system in the sample came in at or below the million-page average of 56.1 detected errors per home page. The libraries layered on top did not. That is the finding worth acting on, because it points at a decision teams make every sprint rather than once at the start of a project.

All figures are averages of the sites measured, not properties of the technologies themselves. The interpretation section explains what that distinction rules out.

01

The CMS spread is narrow

From 29.9 to 52.8 errors across every mainstream platform. Choosing a different CMS moves you less than fixing one bad theme.

02

The library spread is not

Popular widget libraries ran from 55.3 to 101.6 errors, and almost all of them sat above the average.

03

Less JavaScript, fewer errors

The lowest figure in the entire study was Astro at 9 errors, a framework whose entire premise is shipping less client-side JavaScript.

Read this as correlation, not causation

WebAIM states directly that additional errors correlated with a technology cannot always be attributed to that technology. A platform's score reflects the sites built on it as much as the platform itself. Ecommerce stores are more complex than brochure sites, and the teams choosing an enterprise CMS often have accessibility budgets that a hobbyist does not. Use these numbers to ask better questions about your stack, not to declare a winner.

Content management systems and site builders

Average detected errors per home page, against a million-page average of 56.1.

Most sites on a mainstream CMS scored better than the million-page average. The platform you publish on sets a floor, not a ceiling.

1. Adobe Experience Manager29.9

46.7% below average

2. Squarespace33

41.2% below average

3. Wix33.3

40.6% below average

4. Hubspot CMS35.1

37.4% below average

5. TYPO3 CMS38.5

31.3% below average

6. Drupal41.2

26.5% below average

7. Joomla45.7

18.6% below average

8. WordPress52.8

5.8% below average

9. 1C-Bitrix106.5

89.8% above average

Source: WebAIM Million 2026

JavaScript frameworks

Average detected errors per home page, against a million-page average of 56.1.

The spread here is the widest of any group, from 84% below average to 48% above it.

1. Astro9

84% below average

2. Next.js40.9

27.1% below average

3. React43.5

22.5% below average

4. Nuxt.js54.7

2.6% below average

5. Stimulus60.4

7.7% above average

6. Vue.js64.6

15.1% above average

7. AMP65

15.9% above average

8. RequireJS70.7

26.1% above average

9. AngularJS76.6

36.4% above average

10. Firebase82.9

47.7% above average

Source: WebAIM Million 2026

Web frameworks

Average detected errors per home page, against a million-page average of 56.1.

Bootstrap is on more home pages than any other framework in this group and sits above the average error count.

1. Next.js40.9

27.1% below average

2. Express52

7.3% below average

3. ZURB foundation54.3

3.3% below average

4. UIkit57.3

2.1% above average

5. Microsoft ASP58.4

4.1% above average

6. Bootstrap63.3

12.8% above average

Source: WebAIM Million 2026

JavaScript libraries

Average detected errors per home page, against a million-page average of 56.1.

Almost every widely used library in the sample was associated with more detected errors, not fewer. The carousel, lightbox and custom-select widgets are the worst of them.

1. Lodash55.3

1.5% below average

2. Modernizr57

1.5% above average

3. jQuery Migrate57.5

2.5% above average

4. jQuery64.9

15.7% above average

5. Slider Revolution67.2

19.8% above average

6. DataTables69.6

24% above average

7. Lightbox70.5

25.7% above average

8. OWL Carousel70.7

26.1% above average

9. Slick70.9

26.4% above average

10. Underscore.js73.5

31% above average

11. Swiper74

31.8% above average

12. jQuery UI79.9

42.3% above average

13. prettyPhoto80.4

43.3% above average

14. Moment.js80.6

43.6% above average

15. Select282

46.2% above average

16. Clipboard.js89.2

59% above average

17. FancyBox90

60.3% above average

18. SweetAlert2101.6

81% above average

Source: WebAIM Million 2026

Ecommerce platforms

Average detected errors per home page, against a million-page average of 56.1.

Every ecommerce platform measured sat above the average, consistent with the Shopping category being one of the worst-performing sectors.

1. Shopify75.1

33.9% above average

2. Magento75.8

35% above average

3. Prestashop143.2

155.3% above average

Source: WebAIM Million 2026

Interpretation

What to do with this

The useful signal is not a leaderboard. It is that the pieces you add to a page carry more risk than the platform you start from.

Your CMS sets a floor, not a ceiling

Every mainstream CMS in the sample came in at or below the million-page average, and the spread between the best and the worst is smaller than the spread inside any one of them. Picking a different CMS will not fix a theme, a page builder or a plugin that emits inaccessible markup.

Widget libraries are where it goes wrong

Almost every popular library measured was associated with more errors than average. The pattern is telling: the worst are carousels, lightboxes, custom selects and alert replacements, the exact components teams install so they do not have to build them. Reach for a native element first, then a headless library that documents its keyboard and ARIA behaviour.

Ecommerce carries the most risk

Every ecommerce platform measured sat above the average, and Shopping was one of the worst-performing sectors overall. Online stores also attract the most accessibility litigation, so this is the stack where the gap between measured errors and legal exposure matters most.

If the library findings match your stack, the component guides are the place to start: accessible carousels, dialogs and modals for lightbox and alert replacements, and comboboxes or listboxes for custom selects. For framework-level patterns, see the React, Vue and Angular guides, and for storefronts the ecommerce accessibility guide.

Data Sources

  • WebAIM Million 2026

    Automated WAVE evaluation of the home pages for the top one million websites in February 2026. Technology and category detection was performed alongside the accessibility scan.

Sample Size

1,000,000 home pages, of which 2,173,756 technology detections are represented across the groups above

Date Range

February 2026 sample, published 2026-03-30

Limitations

  • Automated tests evaluate only a subset of WCAG requirements and cannot establish conformance. A low error count does not mean a technology produces accessible sites.
  • WebAIM states that additional errors correlated with a technology cannot always be attributed to that technology. These are observed averages, not causal effects.
  • Technology detection is inferred from the rendered page, and a single home page can match several groups at once, so the groups overlap and do not sum to the sample.
  • Sample sizes vary enormously, from a few thousand home pages to over 500,000. A small sample moves more between years.
  • Only home pages were evaluated, so checkout flows, dashboards and authenticated pages, where many platform differences actually show up, were never tested.
  • The averages describe the sites built with a technology, which reflects the budgets, themes and plugins of the teams that chose it as much as the technology itself.

Last updated: 2026-08-27

Use the research

Download, cite, and share

Reuse the findings with a clear citation, and keep the link to WebAIM when publishing extracts.

Download the data

The PDF contains every group as a table with the methodology note. The CSV contains one row per technology for your own analysis.

Cite this report

Accessibility.build. (2026). Web Accessibility by Technology Stack. https://accessibility.build/research/accessibility-by-technology

LinkedInPrimary dataset

Questions about the data

Frequently asked questions

What these averages support, and what they do not.

Get the data

Every number on this page is available as CSV and JSON under a CC BY 4.0 licence. Cite Accessibility.build and the underlying sources (WebAIM Million 2026). Last updated .

Whole dataset (JSON)

Essential Accessibility Resources

Comprehensive tools, checklists, and guides to help you create inclusive digital experiences

Vue Accessibility Guide

Semantic templates, reactive :aria-* binding, focus on Vue Router navigation, dialogs with Teleport and focus traps, live regions with v-show, the inheritAttrs/$attrs fallthrough fix, accessible forms, and testing with eslint-plugin-vuejs-accessibility and vitest-axe
vue accessibility
vue 3 accessibility
View guide

State of Web Accessibility Report

Annual data-driven research report on web accessibility across the top websites with interactive charts and downloadable data
accessibility statistics
View resource

Web Accessibility Statistics 2026

Sourced, dated figures on disability, WCAG failure rates, screen readers, lawsuits, regulation and cost
statistics
webaim
View resource