# The Web Is Less Accessible Than a Year Ago — The WebAIM Million 2026 Report > WebAIM Million 2026 scanned the top million home pages: errors per page rose to 56.1, up 10.1% in a year, reversing years of progress. Covers the top 6 recurring errors and the ARIA paradox. **Published:** 2026-07-28 | **Updated:** 2026-07-28 --- What happens when you run one million home pages through an automated accessibility checker? **About 56 million accessibility errors** come pouring out. That's an average of 56.1 per page. The number alone might get a shrug — "that's just the web." The problem is the direction. Last year it was 51. In a single year, errors grew by **10.1%**. After years of slow-but-steady progress, web accessibility just took a step backward. What grew, and why? Let's dig into the WebAIM Million report — built on February 2026 data and released that March. {{< img src="images/contents/og_bg_thumb.png" alt="A falling line chart and the number 56.1 - an illustration symbolizing the WebAIM Million 2026 finding that web accessibility regressed after years of progress" >}} ## What Is the WebAIM Million, Anyway? First, some background on the survey itself. **WebAIM** (Web Accessibility In Mind) is a web accessibility organization based at Utah State University — also known as the maker of the **WAVE** testing tool. Since 2019, WebAIM has run an annual automated analysis of the **home pages of the top one million websites** using the WAVE engine. That's the **WebAIM Million** report. Two things to keep in mind before reading: 1. **It measures automated checks only.** It counts errors a machine can reliably detect — missing alt text, insufficient contrast, unlabeled form fields, and so on. Problems you only find by actually using a page, like keyboard traps or illogical focus order, aren't included. 2. Which means these numbers are **flattering**. Passing an automated scan doesn't make a page accessible. Treat this as a *floor*, not a ceiling. Keep that in mind: the *floor* is 56 errors per page. Now, this year's report card. ## This Year's Report Card: The Trend Reversed The headline numbers: - **95.9%** of home pages had detectable WCAG 2 failures (94.8% last year) - **56.1** errors per page on average (51 last year, **+10.1%**) - **1,437** elements per page on average (**+22.5%** in a single year) {{< img src="images/contents/errors-trend-en.png" alt="Chart of average accessibility errors per page from 2019 to 2026 - a gradually declining line that bends back up to 56.1 in 2026" >}} Looking at the trend, average errors had settled around 50 since 2021. There was a spike in 2024, a return to 51 in 2025 — and now a climb back to 56.1. One detail worth noting is **error density**. Errors as a share of all page elements sit at 3.9%, which suggests individual elements didn't suddenly get worse — rather, **pages got much heavier**, so the absolute error count ballooned. A single home page now carries nearly twice as many elements as it did seven years ago (782 in 2019). That's not just an accessibility problem. It's a sign that quality control isn't keeping pace with how fast the web is growing more complex. ## The Culprits Are the Same Six, Every Year This report has a tradition that would be funny if it weren't sad: the top of the error list **barely changes**. This year, six error types accounted for 96% of all detected errors. {{< img src="images/contents/top6-errors-en.png" alt="Bar chart of the six most common accessibility error types by share of pages affected - from low-contrast text at 83.9% down to missing document language at 13.5%" >}} | Error type | Pages affected | |-----------|-----------------| | Low-contrast text | 83.9% | | Missing image alt text | 53.1% | | Missing form labels | 51.0% | | Empty links | 46.3% | | Empty buttons | 30.6% | | Missing document language (lang) | 13.5% | Here's the thing: every one of these is **first-semester web development material**. These aren't errors caused by a lack of advanced technology. - Low-contrast text → one pass with a contrast checker at the design stage catches it. - Missing alt → it's one line: `...`. The million pages contained 66.6 million images, and 16.2% had no alt text. Worse, 45% of those alt-less images were **used as links** — a screen reader user has no way of knowing where that link goes. - Missing form labels → a `