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Email Accessibility Checker

Paste your email HTML. We score it against WCAG standards covering alt text, color contrast, structure, and dark-mode rendering. More accessible emails get read and forwarded more, which feeds the engagement signal that drives inbox placement.

Want the bigger picture? Read content and creative best practices in the Email Almanac.

Paste the HTML source of your email. We check it against WCAG standards and email accessibility best practices, entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.

How it works

Six weighted checks, one score

The overall score out of 100 blends six categories. Each one appears in the breakdown so you can fix the right thing first.

  • Images and alt text (20 pts). Every image needs an alt attribute. Missing alt on a linked image is critical because the alt text becomes the link text for screen readers. Filename-style alt text gets flagged too.
  • Color contrast (20 pts). We compute the WCAG 2.1 contrast ratio for every element that sets both a text and background color inline, and flag anything under 4.5:1 for normal text or 3:1 for large text.
  • Semantic structure (20 pts). A lang attribute on the root element, sequential heading levels, role="presentation" on layout tables, and strong/em over b/i.
  • Links and buttons (15 pts). Generic link text like "click here", full URLs used as link text, and image-only links with no alt all make links hard to navigate by keyboard or screen reader.
  • Text and readability (15 pts). Tiny font sizes, cramped line height, justified text, and long all-caps blocks each hurt readability for a wide range of readers.
  • Dark mode (10 pts). A color-scheme meta tag, a prefers-color-scheme dark media query, and text colors paired with light backgrounds so nothing vanishes when a client inverts your email.

When to use it

Three moments worth checking

Accessibility is cheapest to fix before a template ships and hardest to fix after it is live across every send.

  • Before a new template goes live. Run the final HTML once. Fixing contrast and alt text in the master template fixes it for every future send at once.
  • When you inherit a design. Templates bought or handed over often fail contrast in footers and skip alt text on hero images. A quick check surfaces both.
  • Compliance and legal review. Accessibility laws increasingly apply to email. A documented score and issue list is a useful starting point for that conversation.

Related reading

From the Email Almanac

Two short reads that pair with this tool.

Want more than an accessibility score?

Accessibility is one input. We read every signal that affects whether your mail reaches the inbox and write you a plain-English report.

Try it deeper with RME