Free alt text checker

Paste a page address. See every image on it with its alt text, and which ones need fixing.

Example A made-up clinic's home page. Enter yours to check it.

6 of 8 images need attention

1 image is marked decorative, which only a person can confirm.

Images on https://example.com/ that need attention or a person's check, worst first
Image	Alt text	Status
reception.jpg	None	Missing A screen reader reads out the file name, or skips the image
calendar.svg	Left empty	Link has no name Empty alt, and the link has no other text, so a screen reader says only "link"
dr-okafor.jpg	“IMG_4031.jpg”	Suspicious Reads like a placeholder or a file name
dr-lindqvist.jpg	“Doctor”	Duplicate Same alt text as dr-haddad.jpg
dr-haddad.jpg	“Doctor”	Duplicate Same alt text as dr-lindqvist.jpg
waiting-room.jpg	Left empty	Confirm decorative Empty alt, but at 1200×800 it probably shows something. Describe it, unless it really adds nothing.
divider.svg	Left empty	Marked decorative Empty alt. Only a person can confirm it adds nothing, and many sites leave alt empty by default.

1 image with alt text

garden.jpg “Two nurses in blue scrubs talking with a patient in the clinic garden”

This reads the HTML the server sends, not images a script adds later, and cannot tell whether alt text describes its image. The free audit runs nine more checks on the page as a browser renders it.

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The fix, in HTML

The hero photo on a clinic home page has no alt attribute. A screen reader announces the file name instead.

HTML

<!-- Broken: no alt -->
<img
  src="/images/reception.jpg">

<!-- Fixed: says what it shows -->
<img
  src="/images/reception.jpg"
  alt="Wooden desk, two chairs">

<!-- Fixed: decorative -->
<img
  src="/images/divider.svg"
  alt="">

WCAG criteria

Findings from this check name one of these criteria. How much of each the audit can decide on its own:

WCAG criteria covered by the alt text check
Criterion	Level	Automation
1.1.1 Non-text Content Missing alt text is found automatically. Whether the text describes the image well needs a person.	A	Partly automated
1.4.5 Images of Text Not checked automatically. Whether a picture of words could be real text needs a person.	AA	Needs a person

What still needs a person

No automated tool can confirm these. AccessGuard marks related findings as Review, so nobody mistakes them for a pass.

Whether the alt text describes what matters about the image in its context.
Whether an image is decorative and should have empty alt text.
Complex images such as charts and maps that need a longer description.

Questions

Does every image need alt text?

Every img element needs an alt attribute. Images that carry information need text that describes them. Purely decorative images should use an empty alt attribute (alt="") so screen readers skip them.

Can an automated check tell whether alt text is good?

It can find missing alt text and obvious placeholders such as file names. Whether the text describes the image well in its context needs a person to judge, so AccessGuard marks those cases for review.

How long should alt text be?

As short as it can be while still saying what the image contributes to the page. A sentence is usually enough. Charts and diagrams need a longer description elsewhere on the page.

Checks
Link text checker
Finds links with no accessible name, vague text like "click here", and links that open new windows without warning.
Form labels checker
Finds inputs without labels, placeholders used as the only label, and fields that don't say what they collect.
ARIA checker
A page's URL in, every ARIA problem out, with the element and what is wrong with it.
Guides
How to Write Alt Text: Examples and the HTML alt Attribute
Good alt text does more than satisfy WCAG 1.1.1. Learn when to use descriptive alt text, when to leave it empty, and how to write image descriptions that actually help screen reader users understand your content.
Most Common WCAG Violations (With Code Fixes for Each)
The same handful of WCAG violations appear on nearly every website we scan. Here's what they are, why they matter for compliance, and exactly how to fix each one with code examples.
Lighthouse Accessibility Score: Why 100 Is Not an Audit
What the score measures, the checks Google itself leaves out of it, and what to say when someone points at the green circle.

Every check, not only alt text

The free audit runs this check and every other one. Results in about a minute.

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