axe vs pa11y vs Lighthouse

These tools overlap, but they differ in rulesets, reporting, and what they emphasize. Combining engines improves coverage and reduces blind spots.

axe

• Strong rules coverage for common WCAG failures
• Widely used in dev tooling and CI pipelines

pa11y

• Good for scripted checks and configurable thresholds
• Works well in automated workflows

Lighthouse

• Browser-based auditing with broader quality context
• Helpful alongside performance and best-practice checks

Why combine them

• Different implementations catch different patterns
• Cross-validation helps reduce false positives
• Better coverage for dynamic pages and templates