Accessibility Heuristics vs. Accessibility Audits: What’s the Difference?
Both accessibility heuristics and accessibility audits are tools used to evaluate how inclusive and usable your digital products are - but they serve different purposes. Knowing when and how to use each can make your accessibility process faster, more effective, and easier to maintain across teams.
Let’s break down the difference between the two, when to apply them, and how they can complement each other for a more complete accessibility strategy.
What Are Accessibility Heuristics?
Accessibility heuristics are experience-based rules of thumb used to quickly identify potential accessibility barriers during the design or development phase.
They’re fast, informal, and don’t require expert-level knowledge or assistive technology testing. Designers and developers can apply heuristics as part of everyday decision-making - for example:
Can every interactive element be reached and activated with a keyboard?
Are color and contrast sufficient to distinguish content?
Is link text descriptive and meaningful out of context?
Does every image have a relevant alt text or label?
These checks help teams catch obvious accessibility issues early, reducing costly rework later.
What Is an Accessibility Audit?
An accessibility audit is a formal, systematic evaluation that measures how closely a website, app, or digital asset aligns with recognized accessibility standards, such as:
WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
ADA compliance requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act
Section 508 or EN 301 549 for organizations operating under government or international mandates
An audit often includes:
Automated testing for structural issues
Manual testing with assistive technologies (screen readers, voice control, etc.,)
Code-level analysis of ARIA attributes, semantics, and focus management
Accessibility remediation recommendations to fix violations and improve your overall accessibility score
Audits provide a clear, evidence-based picture of your accessibility health and are ideal for compliance validation or stakeholder reporting.
How They Work Together
Both are valuable - heuristics prevent issues, while audits verify compliance and guide remediation.
You don’t have to choose one over the other. The best approach is a layered accessibility process:
Apply accessibility heuristics early during wireframing and design reviews to catch common pitfalls.
Run an accessibility audit before launch to validate compliance with WCAG and ADA standards.
Perform accessibility remediation using audit insights to improve your accessibility score and long-term usability.
Re-test periodically to maintain compliance and track improvements over time.
By integrating heuristic reviews into everyday work and scheduling audits strategically, teams can maintain accessibility without slowing down delivery.
How Wally Can Help
Wally helps teams bridge the gap between quick heuristic checks and full-scale accessibility audits.
With Wally’s Accessibility Consultancy, you can:
Conduct expert accessibility audits across websites, apps, and documents
Implement accessibility heuristics into your design and dev workflows
Get automated testing insights directly integrated into CI/CD pipelines
Receive detailed accessibility remediation guidance and score tracking
Want to see how your product performs across both heuristic and audit evaluations?
Book a consultation with Wally and get a customized accessibility roadmap that fits your workflow and compliance needs.
